ISE Magazine, June 2019
ISE ICT SOLUTIONS EDUCATION 30 RURAL WIRELESS relatively low population density outside of urban areas United States Census Bureau 2017 Higher ranking states in terms of connectivity tend to be more geographically concentrated and thus offer lower unit costs per broadband customer Second even within urban areas in South Dakota and its neighboring states access to speeds higher than 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up is relatively limited compared with Mid Atlantic and Pacific urban areas For example while 188 of South Dakotans lack access to 100 Mbps down and 10 Mbps up broadband speeds 876 do not have access to 250 Mbps down and 25 Mbps up speeds Federal Communications Commission 2018 Being in an urban area in a rural state may not afford the same access to the Internet as a rural area in a relatively urban state A recent estimate by the South Dakota Telecommunications Association SDTA highlights the challenge of fixed broadband investments in less populated areas of the state The estimated average per mile cost of installing backbone fiber was 16000 for rural areas of South Dakota but was 60000 per mile in the metropolitan Sioux Falls area However while the SDTA estimated the population density of the Sioux Falls metropolitan area was 2490 residents per square mile it estimated that the population density of its rural customers was only 45 residents per square mile The low population density of rural areas meant that the average cost per resident of installing backbone fiber was 3571 per resident compared to 2554 in the Sioux Falls metro area South Dakota Telecommunications Association 2018 Final Thoughts Internet access has changed over the last 2 decades from a luxury to a necessity Not only does the evidence suggest that improved Internet access and speed is positively associated with employment it corroborates the argument that Internet access improves the acquisition of human capital agricultural productivity and a host of other positive outcomes The important policy question now is whether South Dakota and by extension other rural states can access these outcomes Investments in mobile coverage capacity and speed are likely to be a fundamental component of any future growth strategy For South Dakota the relatively low population density in rural areas means that public services may be infrequent or
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