BRINGING ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY TO RURAL AMERICA - THE COST OF TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION

This study examines the factors that are working for and against the development of an advanced telecommunications infrastructure to serve rural areas of the USA. There is a notable difference between the costs of local network upgrades for existing rural telephone subscribers and of bringing service to new and physically remote subscribers. The latter group should be treated separately for policy purposes. The infrastructure serving the existing subscriber base could be upgraded to a digital network without necessitating large rate increases, provided there is sharing of network facilities between the energy, transportation and telecommunication sectors. The preferred medium is likely to be digital fibre.