It would cost nearly $12 billion to install 6 million new lines n...

plant but wouldn’t include maintenance and other ongoing costs, Victor Glass, NECA dir. of demand forecasting, said on a webcast news conference. “DSL over fiber is going to be the communications line of the future [so] policy makers need to develop policy with a longer view,” he said. NECA based much of its annual study on responses from about 20% of 1,100 rural companies that participate in NECA’s tariff pools; cost figures came from a more tightly targeted group of about 5% that either offer a triple play of voice, Internet and video or are rolling out video to complete the package, Glass said. NECA asked those companies to price service over 8-Mbps pipes supporting voice, 2 standard digital video streams and one 1.54 Mbps Internet connection. Most companies surveyed used DSL wireline technology to offer broadband, he said. Cost per line differed “substantially” by area served and whether copper or fiber was used, Glass said. The survey found rural companies now offering DSL don’t offer it to all customers because some areas are too expensive. The survey determined that triple play packages aren’t profitable for rural telecom companies unless they can get more revenue from advertising and premium services, Glass said. The study concluded rural companies can’t deploy advanced networks without “balanced cost recovery from a combination of end users, adequate intercarrier compensation and sustainable universal service funding.”