A survey from the NTCA--The Rural Broadband Association found that many rural broadband customers are receiving broadband via fiber-to-the-home (FTTP).
More than 128 rural telecom and cable companies were surveyed by the NTCA. About 31 percent said that customers were getting broadband via copper, including DSL, while 18 percent said their customers were getting service via cable modems and 12 percent responded that customers were getting broadband via fiber-to-the-node. Only 1 percent said they were delivering broadband via licensed fixed wireless, and satellite was cited by less than a fraction of 1 percent of respondents.
Some 45 percent of responding companies said that they had made FTTP available to at least 50 percent of their customer base. This represents an improvement, as only 33 percent of respondents reported making FTTP available to at least half of their base in a survey that was conducted in late 2012.
Deployment costs were cited by 92 percent of respondents as a barrier to FTTP rollouts, with 74 percent citing regulatory uncertainty as a barrier. Length of loops was cited by 54 percent of respondents, with 46 percent pointing to current regulatory rules. Smaller percentages pointed to financing, customer demand, fiber order fulfillment delays and obtaining cost-effective equipment as barriers.
One technology that appears to be making rapid gains is VoIP. Some 31 percent of respondents said that they currently offer VoIP to their customers, up from only 19 percent one year ago.
Video is also being rapidly added, as 28 percent of companies not offering video plan to do so before the end of 2017. Currently, 73 percent of responding companies offer video.
NTCA member companies are generally very small, as only four of them serve more than 40,000 lines.
For more:
- see this NTCA press release
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