Rural Broadband Access Research Articles

Mapping and Spatial Analysis to Expand Rural Broadband Access

High-speed broadband internet access is a critically important issue for many aspects of daily life, yet populations in rural areas are often unserved or underserved with reliable internet connectivity. Expanding broadband internet coverage in rural areas may have significant economic potential, especially since it enables precision farming which in turn increases yields, particularly for row crops such as corn and soybeans. This paper introduces methods that utilize GIS spatial analysis and remote sensing to assist in efforts to expand rural broadband access using case study counties in Illinois. Specifically, the methods presented here: (1) quantify current cropland production as well as future potential production in currently unserved or underserved rural areas; and (2) automate mapping of vertical assets from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data that may be utilized as high points to expand broadband coverage. Collectively, these methodologies may be used for policy advocacy and to inform the decision-making process as future broadband expansion initiatives are considered in rural areas.

Roles of Wireless Networks in Bridging the Rural Smart Infrastructural Divide

The past decade has seen a rise in the availability of modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) for developing smart societies and communities. However, the smart divide, characterized by inequalities in ICT infrastructures, software access, and individual capabilities, remains a significant barrier for rural communities. Limited empirical studies exist that explore what and how ICT infrastructures can be developed to bridge the smart divide. The paper aimed to address rural broadband access in the context of infrastructural dimensions of smart divide (i.e., smart infrastructural divide) in the United States, focusing on the wireless network infrastructure’s role in narrowing the gap. It examined the broadband specifications needed for smart applications like smart education and telehealth, emphasizing the importance of wireless network capabilities. While fixed broadband offers higher speeds, wireless networks can support many smart applications with decent flexibility and ease of access. To further understand the implications of wireless broadband to rural communities, we conducted a case study in Carbondale and Cairo, two rural towns in Southern Illinois, using on-site user-inspired speed testing. An Android application was developed to measure download/upload speeds and Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) for broadband quality. Results suggest both Carbondale and Cairo experienced below-average speeds with high variability among census blocks, which highlights the need for improved wireless network infrastructure. The paper culminated in the technological and policy recommendations to narrow down the smart infrastructural divide.

Internet of things: Cotton harvesting and processing

Cotton requires multiple processing steps to convert the raw agricultural products into finished textiles. Genetic and environmental factors, crop management decisions, and processing practices interact to affect optimal end use, product quality, and process efficiency. Currently, only limited data sharing occurs between sectors of the cotton industry, primarily the official USDA classing data used to determine the value of cotton bales. Increasing digitization could improve productivity, sustainability, and competitiveness with synthetic fibers. Current research has focused on utilizing RFID technology incorporated in a recently introduced harvest system for logistics and associating cotton fiber quality with field locations. Gins and textile mills use some connected sensors; however, their use is primarily limited to remote monitoring and diagnostics.In the future cotton industry, a much larger number of connected devices and sensors can provide information on the production and processing history of raw materials. Developments in agricultural robotics will offer a platform for measuring yield and quality on a site-specific basis in the field. Additional networked sensors and devices at gins and textile mills will provide additional information on product quality and process efficiency. Networking these connected devices will allow for the development of advanced analytics for optimizing logistics and processing industry-wide. Several challenges must be addressed to successfully implement IoT devices in the cotton industry. Improved rural broadband access and more suitable wireless networking protocols for field sensors are needed, although recently introduced technology may offer potential solutions. The cotton industry needs to develop appropriate data standards and data sharing policies. Integrating these data sources creates a new management paradigm, but research will be needed to optimally use this data.

Broadband Futures Forum: Regional and Rural Broadband Access

On 24 March 2021, TelSoc hosted the sixth Broadband Futures Forum, held online, with a focus on regional and rural broadband access. Mr Gavin Williams from NBN Co, the developer of Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN), spoke about developments in Fixed Wireless and Satellite services and described NBN Co’s commitment to ongoing enhancement of broadband access in regional and rural Australia. A question-and-answer session followed the presentation in which Mr Williams fielded a variety of questions on broadband access and technological developments.

Get Connected Now: A Conversation with School Leaders and Policy Makers about Expanding Rural Broadband Access

At the most recent National Forum to Advance Rural Education in November of 2020, editor Devon Brenner led a panel discussion about current and future efforts to expand broadband access for rural schools and communities with Brandon Presley, Public Service Commissioner for the Northern District of Mississippi; John Conradi, executive director of Connect Americans Now; and two Mississippi school leaders, Wayne Rodolfich, superintendent of the Pascagoula-Gautier School District, and Tyler Hansford, superintendent of Union City School District and chair of the Mississippi Rural Education Association. Their conversation is excerpted here. Some portions have been edited for cohesiveness and clarity.

Repercussions of Poor Broadband Connectivity for Students in Rural and Small Town Michigan

This paper examines the repercussions of discrepancies in Internet connectivity for high school students in rural and small-town locations in Michigan. It provides detailed analyses of the interrelations between broadband connectivity, educational outcomes, digital skills, and broader life outcomes. While the disadvantages of insufficient Internet access are well established, existing research has not fully investigated the extent of student performance gaps resulting from varying levels of home connectivity. Our research uses a granular, yet fully de-identified original data set focused on rural broadband access that allows assessing the effects of discrepancies in connectivity on several measures of educational achievement, including grades, standardized test scores, and educational aspirations. With the help of intermediate school districts and Merit Network, we collected and combined information from three sources: a detailed survey of middle and high school students from 173 classrooms in 15 predominately rural Michigan school districts, SAT/PSAT standardized test scores, and home speed tests. This approach resulted in unique original data set of 3,258 observations. This data includes many households that are either cell phone dependent or cannot get broadband access at home (see Hampton et al., 2020). The paper explores the relations among infrastructure, sociodemographic variables, and student achievement outcomes, using multiple statistical approaches, including hierarchical linear models to address the nested structure of the relationships and path analysis. We find that students who do not have access to the Internet from home or are dependent on a cell phone only for access, perform lower on a range of metrics, including digital skills, homework completion, and grades. Students lacking home Internet, and those dependent on a cell phone, are also less likely to consider post-secondary education. A deficit in digital skills compounds inequalities in access, contributing to lower standardized test scores and less interest in STEM careers. Consequently, lack of broadband access not only impacts school performance, but also has broader repercussions for career choice, life income, and the ability to adapt to emerging demands of the workforce. We believe the findings are generalizable to rural America. Our analysis suggests that infrastructure availability and sociodemographic factors affect outcomes. Unlike most sociodemographic factors, access affects outcomes in indirect paths, particularly through its effects on digital skill. Based on these findings we offer policy considerations and practical recommendations for narrowing and eliminating these digital inequalities. Our analysis suggests a multi-pronged, polycentric policy approach. Whereas it is important to mobilize local creativity and initiatives, effective measures require the collaboration of local, state and federal decision-makers across traditional boundaries and jurisdictions.

Doing the Same (or More) With Less: The Challenges Regional Public Universities Face in Serving Rural Populations

AbstractRegional public universities play a critical role in providing postsecondary education access in rural communities. This chapter explores that role by considering the distribution of these institutions across geographic areas and how that shapes the postsecondary options available to rural students. Federal data are used to demonstrate disparities in revenue sources between rural institutions and those in cities and suburbs, and a recent survey of individuals leading state higher education agencies and systems highlights the most pressing issues rural‐serving institutions face today. Policy recommendations in this chapter include the expansion of rural broadband access and increased expenditures on instructional activities. The chapter concludes with a call for additional research on rural students’ retention and completion outcomes, in‐college experiences of rural students, and the specific financial challenges facing rural‐serving institutions.

Broadband Internet and New Firm Location Decisions in Rural Areas

Improving rural broadband access has been touted as a rural development strategy, but there is limited evidence that broadband service affects rural economic growth. We measure the effect of broadband deployment on location decisions of new rural firms. Location‐specific fixed effects are controlled by a counterfactual baseline that measures how local broadband service in the early 2000s affected local new firm entry in the early 1990s before broadband was available anywhere. The change in location choice probability of new firms from the counterfactual baseline to the actual response ten years later is the difference‐in‐differences estimate of the effect of broadband deployment on locations of new firms. We find that broadband availability has a positive and significant effect on location decisions of new firms in rural areas, which is confirmed by a robustness test using ZIP Code dummy variables. The broadband effect is largest in more populated rural areas and those adjacent to a metropolitan area, suggesting that this effect increases with agglomeration economies.

Does Broadband Matter for Rural Entrepreneurs and Creative Class Employees?

Efforts to attract entrepreneurs and “creative class” workers have become important components of economic development strategies for rural communities. One commonly held perception is that broadband access is important for these types of employees; however, empirical research on the relationship between the two is generally lacking. This study uses county-level data from the continental U.S. to estimate spatial and first-differenced regression models on the association between broadband and measures of entrepreneurship/creative-class employees in rural areas. The results suggest that high levels of broadband adoption may in fact serve to reduce the numbers of entrepreneurs and creative class employees in rural America. These findings serve as a reminder that broadband is not a panacea for all issues of importance to rural communities and provide evidence that there may be negative implications associated with efforts to increase levels of rural broadband access and adoption.

Does Broadband Matter for Rural Entrepreneurs or ‘Creative Class’ Employees?

Efforts to attract entrepreneurs and ‘creative class’ workers have become important components of economic development strategies for rural communities. One commonly held perception is that broadband access is important for these types of employees; however, empirical research on the relationship between the two is generally lacking. This study uses county-level data from the continental U.S. to estimate spatial and first-differenced regression models on the association between broadband and measures of entrepreneurship / creative class employees in rural areas. The results suggest that high levels of broadband adoption may in fact serve to reduce the numbers of entrepreneurs and creative class employees in rural America. These findings serve as a reminder that broadband is not a panacea for all issues of importance to rural communities, and provide evidence that there may be negative implications associated with efforts to increase levels of rural broadband access and adoption.

Unlicensed Operations in the Lower Spectrum Bands: Why is No One Using the TV White Space and What Does That Mean for the FCCCs Order on the 600 MHz Guard Bands?

In 2008, the FCC authorized unlicensed use of vacant channels in the TV bands (TV white space) following the digital TV transition. Supporters of the FCC action asserted that giving unlicensed devices access to the lower bands would forestall congestion at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, provide mobile broadband coverage to underserved areas, and power a new wave of innovation (Google’s CEO famously said TV white space would bring about “Wi-Fi on steroids”). We were among a small minority who countered that the TV white space could not support effective unlicensed operations both because the limited bandwidth would make it inferior to 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz for Wi-Fi-type applications, and because the necessarily stringent power limits and lack of interference protection would preclude most long-range applications. We also argued that the TV white space could be used for licensed services, generating billions of dollars in auction revenue. In this paper we analyze a) the impact to date of the FCC’s TV white space policy and b) the implications of this for the FCC’s 2014 proposal to allow unlicensed operations in 600 MHz guard bands following the incentive auction, which is an extension of the TV white space policy.The FCC’s TV white space policy to date has been a flop, as evidenced by the anemic market response. The FCC has approved only nine products for operation in the TV white space, and none of the major manufacturers of Wi-Fi routers or Wi-Fi chips fields a product that can be used there. Nor does any major smartphone or tablet vendor offer a product with the capability to use TV white space. As another indicator, users in this country have registered fewer than 600 individual devices (registrations are a proxy for sales), in contrast to the tens of millions predicted. Although regulatory uncertainty may be a factor, the market’s anemic response to the TV white space has far more to do with fundamentals, in particular the predictably slow data rates for short-range, Wi-Fi-type applications. The maximum data rates for TV white space devices range from 3.25-16 megabits per second (Mbps), which is below the FCC’s new threshold for what constitutes broadband, compared to 600 Mbps to 1.7 gigabits per second for unlicensed devices that operate at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. For long-range applications, TV white space faces other challenges (key are the 4 watt power limit and the risk of interference from short-range devices), making licensed spectrum a superior choice.The FCC’s decision to allow unlicensed operations in the (post-auction) 600 MHz guard bands is likely to meet the same fate. For short-range applications, because of limitations on bandwidth (six megahertz) and transmit power (40 milliwatts), unlicensed devices operating in the 600 MHz guard bands will have a data rate that is one-tenth to one-hundredth that of a Wi-Fi device operating at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. That handicap will trump almost any propagation advantages that the 600 MHz band may offer. For long-range voice and data communications, unlicensed operations in the 600 MHz guard bands will have even less to offer. With a power limit of 40 milliwatts, unlicensed guard band devices will simply not be capable of providing rural broadband access and other long-range communication services on any meaningful scale.

Rural Utilities Service Broadband Loans and Economic Performance in Rural America

This paper examines the Rural Utilities Service’s (RUS) Rural Broadband Access Loan and Loan Guarantee Program, which finances the development of broadband infrastructure in rural areas, and provides estimates of the effects of the program on economic performance. Access to broadband is often seen as vital to economic growth and improved quality of life, and broadband access is no less and perhaps more critical in rural areas, where the possibilities of advanced communications can reduce the isolation of remote communities and individuals. Provision of broadband infrastructure in rural areas has occurred at a slower pace than in more densely populated areas. Issues of density, among other factors, affect the expected returns to rural telecommunications projects. Profit-motivated lenders or other providers of project financing may rationally view the expected revenues derived from rural broadband projects as insufficient to justify investments in them. In response to limited funding from private sources, the Congress authorized the RUS broadband loan program, which finances the construction of broadband projects in rural areas. We use information on the RUS broadband loan program to estimate the effects of the loans on economic performance. From program records, we know the geographic footprints of projects that submitted loan applications to RUS. We know whether RUS approved or rejected the loan application, and in the case of approvals, we know the timing of that approval. We map the geographic footprint of projects into counties served. While county level observations may not be a perfect level of observation, previous studies have used county-level data as there are advantages with respect to data availability. We develop a time series data set of county-level measures of employment, payroll, and the number of business establishments over the relevant time period, and examine different rural definitions to filter the set of counties used in the analysis. Using a panel model with county and year fixed effects, we produce estimates of the effect of the broadband loan on the three measures of economic performance. Our estimation technique is best thought of in treatment terms, where the loan approval represents the treatment. The selection of control groups is important in a treatment context, and to this end, we develop several distinct control groups of rural counties. Specifically, we develop a control group of rural counties that were in the footprint of projects rejected for RUS funding; this control group represents a set of counties that may be similar to the treatment group in unobservable ways. We also use a propensity scoring technique to generate two control groups based on demographic characteristics of approved counties and on the pattern of economic growth leading up to the evaluation time period. Finally, we define a control group of rural counties adjacent to the set of counties with approved loans. In general, we found modest but statistically significant relationships between the RUS broadband loan program and county employment and payroll, but no relationship between the program and the number of business establishments. These estimates suggest that economic performance was in the range of 1 to 4 percent higher in counties receiving a RUS broadband loan. These results were robust across the set of control groups. However, very few loans went to projects in the most rural of counties, such as those with only very small towns. Results restricting the sample to this set of rural counties showed no relationship between the RUS broadband loan program and economic performance.

Ambiguity and Uncertainty in the “Last Mile”: Using Sense-making to Explore How Rural Broadband Networks Are Created

Broadband technology has captured the attention of many stakeholders, nations, and governments throughout the world as a “nation building” infrastructure enabling the future economic prosperity and improved living standards for many communities. Broadband networks are an important means by which rural communities around the world can gain access to global networks of knowledge and communication. They are also a means by which nation-states and regions seek to increase their economic and cultural sovereignty. Rural broadband can therefore be seen as a critical nexus between global and local flows of both capital and ideas.In 2005, the provincial government of Alberta in Canada completed a significant investment into the construction of a unique high-speed, high-capacity fiber-optic network connecting rural communities throughout the province. The network was the first of its kind in the world in terms of the advantages it represented for rural individuals to benefit from easy access to broadband. Paradoxically, as of 2008 Alberta was ranked last among Canadian provinces for rural broadband access. This article examines how ambiguity and uncertainty faced by industry decision-makers and broadband stakeholders contribute to the adoption of broadband by rural communities. Interviews were conducted with industry decision-makers. Through the application of Weick’s sensemaking framework, several areas of ambiguity and uncertainty are identified related to rural broadband adoption. A primary finding is that self-fulfilling prophecies about the broadband network's construction and use developed through collective sensemaking processes, resulting in an immobilizing effect on the development of rural broadband's "effective use" by communities.

HopScotch-a low-power renewable energy base station network for rural broadband access

The provision of adequate broadband access to communities in sparsely populated rural areas has in the past been severely restricted. In this article, we present a wireless broadband access testbed running in the Scottish Highlands and Islands which is based on a relay network of low-power base stations. Base stations are powered by a combination of renewable sources creating a low cost and scalable solution suitable for community ownership. The use of the 5 GHz bands allows the network to offer large data rates and the testing of ultra high frequency "white space" bands provides expansive coverage whilst reducing the number of base stations or required transmission power. We argue that the reliance on renewable power and the intelligent use of frequency bands makes this approach an economic green radio technology which can address the problem of rural broadband access.

Bringing broadband home

Investment in rural broadband access has been protected by the government. But is it enough, asks Chris Edwards, when evidence shows that even faster Internet access could help the UK recover from the recession more quickly?

Design of a TDD Multisector TDM MAC for the WiFiRe Proposal for Rural Broadband Access

The WiFiRe (WiFi Rural Extension) proposal for rural broadband access is being developed under the aegis of CEWIT. The system leverages the widely available, and highly cost-reduced, WiFi chipsets. However, only the physical layer from these chipsets is retained. A single base station carries several WiFi transceivers, each serving one sector of the cell, and all operating on the same WiFi channel in a time division duplex (TDD) manner. We replace the contention based WiFi MAC with a single-channel TDD multisector TDM MAC similar to the WiMax MAC. In this paper we discuss in detail the issues in designing such a MAC for the purpose of carrying packet voice telephony and for Internet access. The problem of determining the optimal spatial reuse is formulated and the optimal spatial reuse and the corresponding cell size is derived. Then the voice and data scheduler is designed. It is shown how throughput fairness can be implemented in the data scheduler. A capacity assessment of the system is also provided.

WiFiRe: rural area broadband access using the WiFi PHY and a multisector TDD MAC

The needs of Indian rural telecom, and the economics of currently available broadband access technologies, motivate a new system for rural broadband access, which we call WiFiRe (WiFi rural extension). The system leverages the widely available, and highly cost-reduced, WiFi chipsets. We, however, retain only the PHY from these chipsets and propose a single-channel, multisector, TDD MAC using directional antennas. The proposed WiFiRe MAC is similar to the WiMAX MAC in several respects. In this article we motivate our approach, describe the system architecture and the MAC, analyse the spatial reuse, and then, using a simple scheduler, provide an assessment of the voice and data capacity of a WiFiRe system