Making Rural Broadband Affordable : Synchronizing Installation with Other Public Works
The high cost of extending Internet service beyond urban areas and the relatively low number of potential subscribers has combined to stall the expansion of this enabling technology in much of the developing world (and even in some advanced economi...
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| Language: | English en_US |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2016
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/08/26682172/making-rural-broadband-affordable-synchronizing-installation-other-public-works http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24964 |
| Summary: | The high cost of extending Internet
service beyond urban areas and the relatively low number of
potential subscribers has combined to stall the expansion of
this enabling technology in much of the developing world
(and even in some advanced economies). Installing cables
over land by exploiting existing infrastructure to carry the
line eliminates most of the construction costs of domestic
Internet networks—but that colocation option is much less
available for remote or thinly populated areas. A way
forward is to synchronize the installation with work on
other suitable infrastructure projects (transport, energy,
water, gas). The developmental value of high-speed Internet
and the strategy of colocating cable with transport and
power corridors are well understood. The missing piece is a
legal and regulatory push to ensure that cable is
accommodated when private or public infrastructure is built
or renovated in rural areas. With technical assistance
informed by precedents in advanced economies, the
international community and developing countries themselves
can accelerate adoption of such policies. |
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