Over the last decade, virtually all rural telcos have begun offering broadband access services, the latest survey by the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA (News - Alert)) might suggest.
On the other hand, it appears that telcos continue to remain cautious about VoIP services, as 11 percent of respondents report they currently offer VoIP, down slightly from 14 percent of respondents in the 2011 survey.
One suspects the differences are due to slightly different sets of respondents, not an abandonment of VoIP by telcos that had been offering VoIP.
Some 48 percent of respondents not currently offering VoIP have plans to do so in the foreseeable future, virtually unchanged from 2011 levels. Some 48 percent of respondents perceive VoIP as a significant threat to their current operations, up from 46 percent in 2011. Some 39 percent perceive VoIP as a moderate threat, up from 36 percent in 2011.
About 72 percent of respondents offer video service to their customers, roughly unchanged from 73 percent in 2011. Some 21 percent of those respondents not currently offering video (six percent of all respondents) plan to do so by year-end 2012, and five percent (Two percent of all respondents) expect to do so by year-end 2014.
About 21 percent of all respondents currently have no plans to offer video service.
In the latest survey of 114 rural telcos by the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, all service providers reported they now offer the service, compared to 58 percent of respondents to the 2000 survey.
It might not be fair to extrapolate too much from the results about the current status of telco broadband availability in rural areas, since the responses came from firms representing about 23 percent of the NTCA membership.
Some 64 percent of respondents report supplying at least some of their customers using fiber to the home, while 29 percent use fiber to the node (FTTN).
14 percent use unlicensed wireless, 14 percent licensed wireless, 11 percent cable modem and five percent satellite access. Many service providers use multiple access technologies.
56 percent of 2011 survey respondents provide broadband via both digital copper loops and fiber broadband service, while 20 percent offer digital copper loops but not fiber. About seven percent of respondents use only fiber to home networks.
Some 78 percent of respondents offer downstream speeds between to 1 Mbps and 1.5 Mbps. About 84 percent offer speeds from 1.5 Mbps to 3 Mbps. About 78 percent offer service in speeds from 3 Mbps to 4 Mbps. Some 71 percent offer speeds of 4 Mbps to 6 Mbps.
About 46 percent offer downstream speed in the 6 Mbps to 10 Mbps range, while 32 percent offer speeds greater than 10 Mbps.
The overall take rate for broadband service is 66 percent, the survey shows. That’s an important figure, as it shows the extent of consumer demand, not the level of provider supply. It is one thing to say 66 percent of potential consumers buy the product. That is not the same as saying only 66 percent of locations physically have access, and can buy the product.
The survey also shows why so much of the funding in the “broadband stimulus” program went to “middle mile” backhaul projects. The survey shows the typical respondent is 111 miles from its primary Internet connection.
The survey also illustrates the relative paucity of business revenue opportunities. The median respondent serves 2,039 residential and 548 business lines.
Some 97 percent of survey respondents indicated they face some type of competition in the provision of advanced services from at least one other service provider in some portion of their service area, up from 66 percent of respondents to the 2003 survey.
Edited by Jennifer Russell
