Rural broadband strategies connect rural America to new possibilities.

Today, I'll present Microsoft's views about the gap in broadband coverage for rural areas within the United States at lunch organized by the Media Institute in Washington, D.C. This is an excellent occasion to discuss a matter which is getting an amount of attention. For more related articles visit unlimited 4g rural internet.

Still, there aren't many solutions available. While we do not have all the explanations, Microsoft has spent several years researching the issue, and today we released our whitepaper containing our top suggestions for a rural broadband strategy that is national in scope. The summary of our white paper can be found available here.

The current ceremony is taking its place in the Willard Hotel. In the same place, 800 of America's most notable people in science, business, and politics gathered 100 years ago to celebrate Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone and consider the future of long-distance communications. The event, dubbed "Voice Voyages," was organized by The National Geographic Society and featured the world's first public demonstration of the coast-to-coast phone capability, which would connect all communities big and small in the United States.

One hundred years later, a new generation of connectivity issues is emerging in an incredibly critical moment. Broadband connectivity isn't just a convenience for streaming YouTube videos on tablets (as fun as it might be). It is now a vital connection to better education and a better life. Cloud services have made broadband essential to establish and expand a small-scale business and take advantage of technological advances in agriculture, telemedicine, and education. Broadband is now a crucial component of 21 21st technology.

However, today, 34 million Americans are still without broadband internet connectivity, as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) describes a connection of 25 Mbps. Of those, 23.4 million live in rural areas of our country. Residents of these communities are becoming in a position to miss the opportunities in education and business that urban residents enjoy.

Yet, despite this stark discrepancy, real progress in bridging the broadband gap for rural areas has been slow in recent times. The high cost of broadband, the lack of innovative technology, and the absence of alternative ones, along with the regulatory and market conditions, have all hindered efforts to improve the reach of broadband. However, this is changing because of recent technological advancements, recently adopted standards, new business models, and rising demand for more cloud-based services.

A brand new Rural broadband plan

It is time for the nation to establish an ambitious and clear but realistic goal - to close the broadband gap for rural communities in the next five years by July 4 2022. We believe that the United States will bring broadband connectivity to rural America within this time frame, built on a method of strategic planning that integrates private sector capital investment focused on expanding broadband coverage using innovative technologies, paired with targeted and affordable support from the public sector.

The need for a new strategy is based on our personal experience as a business working across the globe to utilize what's known as the TV White Spaces spectrum. This is an unexplored spectrum within the UHF television spectrum. This powerful bandwidth is located in the 600 MHz frequency band and permits wireless signals to traverse hills and through trees and buildings. This is why people could watch TV shows in rural areas before the advent of satellite television. Microsoft has extensive experience in this area and has deployed 20 TV white space projects across 17 countries, which 185,000 viewers have used.

In 2010, the FCC issued rules allowing white space utilization within the United States. It has required many years of extra work to create the foundations needed to allow the utilization of this spectrum to grow at a reasonable cost. We have also worked to refine the software and hardware technology to create industry-wide standards and invent our way to an efficient business model. The technology has now crossed an important threshold with the increasing demands for cloud services. The market is expected to expand when we take the appropriate steps.

We've collaborated with the Boston Consulting Group on a research study to determine the best method to provide broadband requirements in rural America. The findings of BCG lead to several crucial conclusions. The country's first and most effective strategy is to utilize different technologies to reach rural communities. In particular, TV white spaces are the most effective way to reach the majority of this rural population living in communities, between two and 200 individuals each square mile. Satellite coverage is recommended in areas with a population density of fewer than two people per square mile. On the other hand, fixed wireless and fiber access to the home is recommended for areas with more than 200 inhabitants per sq mile.

One of the main advantages of this approach is a significant reduction in the expense of providing broadband speeds to rural areas. With this mix of technologies and methods, the total capital and operating costs required for eradicating the broadband gap in rural areas are estimated to be between $8-12 billion. It's about 80 percent lower than the cost of fiber cables on their own and is more than 50% less than the price of the current fixed wireless technologies like 4G.

The next step is to encourage private sector investment and combine it with targeted and effective public sector assistance. Today, I will outline our thoughts about the best way to accomplish this.

Microsoft's new Rural Airband Initiative

At Microsoft, we're willing to contribute our resources as a catalyst to encourage wider market acceptance of this innovative model. We're committed to three components over five years:

In the beginning, we'll look at direct investments through partners. Microsoft's Rural Airband Initiative will invest in partnership with telecommunications companies to bring broadband connectivity to two million rural residents in America in 2022. Our partners and we are expected to have at minimum 12 initiatives set up and operating in 12 states over the next twelve months. We aim not to be in the telecommunications market ourselves or even make money as directly from these initiatives. We'll invest in early capital projects necessary to increase broadband coverage, seek an income share from the operators to recover our investment, and utilize the profits to invest in further projects to increase coverage. We're convinced that this strategy will be beneficial for our country as well as for our own business. If 23 million more customers can connect to the internet quickly, every technology business across America will gain.

Second We'll also invest in developing digital skills for individuals of all ages living in these newly connected communities. Utilizing Microsoft Philanthropies, our Rural Airband Initiative will assist in educating users on the latest technologies to utilize this connectivity to improve health, education, and agriculture and transform their business. We've announced a new, important alliance with the National 4-H Council, drawing on the organization's strengths and its members nationwide. We'll also offer an opportunity for Microsoft's employees to get involved in various projects, such as, for many, helping in the communities in which they were raised.

Third We'll encourage the investment of others via licenses for technology: Our objective is to be an incentive for market investment by other people to expand the reach of rural communities. In the end, even connecting two million people with our direct investment, it's only a step toward our larger ambition to serve 23.4 million people. Therefore, we're creating a new program to share the lessons we've learned with other businesses. We'll also encourage investment by providing royalty-free access to 39 patents and examples of source code related to technologies we've developed that will allow broadband connectivity using the TV white spaces spectrum in rural areas.

A critical function in the public sector

While we acknowledge that the private sector has the lead role in reducing the broadband gap in rural areas, the public sector plays an important role. Three similar measures from the government are required:

First, the FCC must ensure that it can continue using the spectrum required for this mixed technology model. Particularly, the FCC needs to make sure that three channels that are below 700 MHz are accessible to wireless devices for non-licensed use in all markets across the nation and with additional TV white spaces in smaller and rural regions. This, among other things, will encourage investment by hardware firms to develop the necessary chips for the new devices on a larger volume and with lower costs.

Second We believe that state and federal infrastructure investments should contain targeted funds on a matching basis for capital investment that can best extend coverage to rural areas that are currently not receiving broadband connectivity. These funds must be available for multiple technology options based on the region's most cost-effective, including TV white spaces, fixed wireless, satellite, and TV use. They should be granted by criteria that favor either increasing broadband coverage or encouraging private sector investments in areas in which they are not likely to be able to come through independently.

Third, better information collection about broadband coverage in rural areas is needed. The FCC could help by speeding up its efforts to collect data and release publicly about broadband connectivity in rural counties, helping policymakers and the private sector to make specific investment decisions.

Looking ahead, The importance of capital investment to improve broadband coverage.

In cities across America, We've become comfortable with ongoing capital investment to increase broadband connectivity in areas with broadband coverage. The time has come to extend this coverage to rural areas which are not covered completely. We believe that a fresh rural broadband strategy is feasible. With Microsoft's Rural Airband Initiative, we'll put our resources and efforts behind this initiative. We can all innovate together and accomplish the things that no one else can achieve on our own. We are eager to share the lessons we've learned and anticipate applying the lessons we will learn from other people in the coming five years.

As a nation, we shouldn't accept a scenario that leaves behind over 23 million rural residents. On the contrary, We can and must bring the benefits of broadband connectivity all over the country.