A survey of rural broadband operators has found that most are planning to seek federal stimulus money to extend their networks — and most say they are planning on laying fast-connecting fiber to homes rather than slower coaxial or copper cable. The survey of 100 rural operators was done by telecom-equipment maker Calix. The budgets reported by most operators were small, only $1 or $2 million. A third of those seeking money said they would ask for $21 million or more. Still, the amounts are small compared to the $7 billion set aside for rural projects. 

But their reach is large, according to Calix's survey. "The infrastructure builders are clearly not thinking in terms of just reaching the small area at the edge of their network, but they're actually looking at this much more broadly," said a Calix official. Several of the rural providers were planning projects that would serve up to 100,000 homes.

The survey found that rural providers were expanding on their own. More than half of the providers surveyed said the stimulus money would represent less than 40% of their planned capital expenditures on broadband projects. Meanwhile, many large providers (Verizon and AT&T) have said they may drop out of the broadband program altogether if government regulations are too "onerous."

Since 2001 the Rural Utilities Service has been charged with issuing $1.35 billion in loans to provide high-speed internet in underserved rural communities.

A 2005 analysis of these loans found many “irregularities” in the RUS program. Now a new federal report concludes: “We remain concerned with RUS’ current direction of the Broadband program, particularly as they receive greater funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, including its provisions for transparency and accountability.”

Among findings in the new study were that RUS had made loans to provide broadband in 148 communities “within 30 miles of cities,” including Chicago and Las Vegas, and  that 77% of all loans had gone to areas that already had broadband access available through private companies.

For us, the most startling finding, however, was that RUS continues to have more loan money than it can spend in the rural broadband fund, because too few eligible borrowers have applied for the federal loans.

Read the complete report here.

With GPS technology, today's farmers are monitoring yields better, spreading fertilizer more efficiently, and eating lunch on the job.

How will high-speed internet get to small towns? One example can be found in Carroll, a city of 10,000 in west central Iowa that is being completely rewired with fiber optic cable. It's an $11 million project that will be mostly funded with a $10 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "It will be a total overbuild," said Wesern Iowa Networks CEO Steve Frickenstein.

WIN officials estimate that Internet speeds will be 10 to 20 times faster with their fiber than what most businesses and homes in Carroll have now. Chuck Deisbeck, chief operating officer with WIN, says the company's fiber lines will allow customers to receive many forms of voice and video, from television (with an unlimited potential for channels and programming) to phone service to new products that WIN plans to unveil soon. The overbuild is expected to be finished by spring 2010.

"Broadband is today what asphalt and concrete were to us in the 1920s," said Carroll Area Development Corp. executive director Jim Gossett. "Plain and simple, that's what it is. We're going to be well above standards set by people who make decisions to locate their businesses and families." More than 2,000 voice access lines, more than 1,000 data lines and nearly 900 video subscribers are expected to be served.The $10 million loan is coming from the federal Broadband Loan Program, which targets rural areas. Terms of the USDA loan are that WIN pay for the project then be reimbursed.