Rural Broadband Investment to Grow with Stimulus Funds
State and local governments are busy spending stimulus funds on shovel-ready highway and bridge repair projects but did you know that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 also provides for
broadband investment? The feds are ready to spend $7.2 billion to boost broadband access to residential markets. A study recently released by PivotMedia indicates that the rural market for residential broadband access is particularly attractive.
Rural markets tend to be served by Tier 3 and 4 companies such as:
- Fairpoint
- HictoryTech
- IowaTelcom
- CenturyTel
- nTelos
PivotMedia’s study shows that demand for rural residential broadband access exceeded the demand in urban areas during 2008. This increased demand may have stemmed in part from the astonishing drop in the number of traditional land lines in rural America. The first quarter 2008 drop of 4.27% in traditional land lines accelerated to 7.14% by the fourth quarter. Clearly, U.S. consumers in rural markets are ready to make big changes when it comes to communications.
If you are working with cable or other communications firms that serve rural markets, remind these clients that a new marketing campaign to reach consumers who have been underserved by high speed capabilities should be a top priority.
[Source: Pivot Media study, Spring 2009]
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