Innovative ways companies are looking to close digital divide

In a previous article, SSTI detailed the limitations of public funding in solving the country’s rural broadband issue. While increased public funding is certainly part of the equation to bring internet capabilities to the near 14 million people who do not have access, there is potential to leverage new innovative technologies to bridge the broadband gap across America. Telecommunications companies and tech companies have developed many innovative ways to build out broadband capabilities in rural areas. In this article, SSTI analyzes some of the developing broadband innovations and solutions.

Telecom innovations

Telecommunications companies are perhaps in the best position to deploy practical and scalable broadband solutions across the country. Broadband innovations from national telecom companies tend to center around 5G or fiber optic cables. Not all of the burden to expand rural broadband has fallen to national providers, however. Regional providers have begun to develop initiatives in their respective regions as well, primarily funded by state agencies, federal agencies, or competition awards.

National telecom companies have begun building out their 5G networks because it is believed that as the technology develops, they will be able to deploy high-speed connections over low-band frequencies. In turn, this will cover more distance in rural areas and allow for broad expansion. In some cases, the geographical landscape makes it difficult to lay fiber. Because 5G can be provided either by a fixed wireless access service or a 5G Mi-Fi portable hotspot device, there is no need for expensive infrastructure buildout.

While much has been made about the potential for 5G to bridge the digital divide, there are a number of concerns. Perhaps chief among these concerns is the fact that accessing 5G capabilities will require a more advanced and expensive device to get onto the network. Some have argued that 5G is an enormous technological innovation, but it does not guarantee affordable access.

Fiber optic cables rely on lasers reflecting through thin tubes of glass. Fiber connections bring about speeds up to 1000 Mbps and connect directly to the home, business, or neighborhood. The most significant obstacle for fiber buildout in rural areas is the steep infrastructure cost. There are many factors impacting the cost of fiber construction, but some estimate the cost to be between $18,000 and $22,000 per mile. Because of this cost, there is little incentive for telecom companies to buildout new fiber infrastructure in rural areas on their own without subsidy.

As a result, agencies like the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have implemented a number of initiatives to help companies combat the upfront cost in building out new fiber networks.

Another project in development called AirGig looks to attach broadband equipment to telephone lines. The innovative patents filed for the project including low-cost plastic antennas, radio distributed antenna system (RDAS), millimeter wave (mmWave) surface wave launchers, and inductive power devices could be instrumental in minimizing broadband infrastructure expansion cost in rural areas.

Regional providers, defined as companies which provide internet service in no more than three contiguous metropolitan statistical areas, have also begun developing innovative broadband solutions aiming to service underserved populations. This has primarily been done through competitive grant awards like U.S. Ignite’s Project OVERCOME. The grants, underwritten by the National Science Foundation (NSF), are designed to connect the unconnected through novel broadband technology solutions.

For example, one regional provider will undertake a Radio Frequency over Fiber (RFOF) deployment project using intelligent routing and multiple last-mile wireless technologies to serve a rural community in Clinton County, Missouri. Project OVERCOME is just one of the many funding programs aiming to provide regional service providers with the resources to buildout their broadband innovations in rural regions.

Tech company innovations

Some of the most idealistic and novel broadband innovations have come from large technology companies. The most promising innovations that have come from tech companies are satellite internet networks.

The primary type of satellite used to deliver internet is the Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite. The most notable and well-funded satellite internet program utilizing LEOs is Starlink, operated by SpaceX. The project is currently in semi-public beta and was awarded $886 million by the FCC under the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. A London-based satellite operator called OneWeb, who is now majority-owned by the British government and whose satellites are produced in Florida, has also begun providing LEO satellite internet services to customers.

Amazon plans to invest nearly $10 billion into Project Kuiper, their attempt to provide internet via LEO. The company will launch its first satellites in rockets owned by United Launch Alliance, a Boeing-Lockheed Martin venture. 

A small project at Facebook aims to minimize the infrastructure cost associated with building out fiber networks, presenting an opportunity for a joint venture with telecom companies. Bombyx is a robot that crawls along powerlines and installs fiber optic cables as it moves. The project vastly reduces the cost of installing fiber cable and Facebook plans to launch a pilot program this year.

Other tech companies like Alphabet have also attempted different broadband expansion projects, however the project was recently scrapped. The Loon project set giant helium-filled balloons to float 60,00 to 75,000 feet above the Earth and deliver the Internet to an area 200 times larger than a cell tower’s coverage. The balloons relied on AI-based system to ride swirling stratospheric winds back and forth to maintain position over a station. While the project is no longer in development, it represents some of the possible innovations in the future.

The technological innovations coming from telecom and tech companies will likely change the broadband landscape in the coming years. Combined with the variety of funding opportunities available to tribal, state, and local governments and utilities companies, these innovative projects could bring the U.S. one step closer towards closing the digital divide.