- Broadband providers sometimes have to use ferries, planes and cross international borders to deliver broadband to remote areas
- President Trump's tariffs and international relationships are challenging for providers as well
- Ongoing operations and maintenance in the most remote locations are expensive
FIBER CONNECT, NASHVILLE — A panel at this morning’s Fiber Connect in Nashville, Tennessee, discussed the challenges of delivering broadband to the absolute hardest places in America — using ferries, planes and crossing international borders.
One example came from panelist Donna Hilty, COO at Whidbey Telecom, which is in the Northwest corner of the state of Washington. The company’s footprint covers several islands. Hilty said their most remote site is part of Washington but requires techs to take a plane or boat and also to cross the Canadian border to get there.
She said it used to be difficult — even before President Trump's tariffs entered the picture. “Now we have a problem with the tariffs and a situation in Canada, so it's not nearly as friendly, and we may have some problems bringing materials over there."
Meanwhile in Hawaii, Jason Thune, VP of Fiber Strategy & Deployment with Hawaiian Telcom, said, the company's "plan is to be the first state of the nation where every home and business and government building has broadband available to them.”
Easier said than done, though. Thune said in order to bring materials to one small and remote Hawaiian island with a population of about 3,000 people it had to bring the materials from a ship off the West coast and then transfer them to a barge that only goes once a week to the island. And then to get workers to the island, they had to fly on a small plane, which is expensive.
“We used some of our federal RDOF money and built out to that remote island," said Thune.
He also said the company has to consider ongoing operations and maintenance in the most remote locations. “If something comes up, you can't just drive down the street or drive down the road and get whatever tool that you’re going to need.”
At this point Hawaiian Telcom’s take rate on the island is “well above 50%,” he said. But he noted that, “Oftentimes, people who live in remote locations, live there because they like to be disconnected.”
'No broadband, no economy'
Bill Hetherington, CEO of Bandera Electric Cooperative in Texas, noted that the state is huge with 254 counties, the vast majority of them being very rural. He said the company got into the business of fiber broadband to manage its own electric business because Texas operates a real-time energy market where prices change every 15 minutes. “So we place 96 bids a day in the market, and it's very challenging. It necessitates we have communications infrastructure that is extremely reliable and fast,” said Hetherington.
But he said the co-op’s fiber optics business model for broadband customers has to stand on its own. “In 2017 we had zero fiber installed. But if we don’t do it, these small communities won’t exist in 10 years. If there is no broadband there is no economy.”
Hilty indicated that Whidbey Telecom has always preferred buried fiber because of its reliability. But the company may have to use aerial fiber in some instances to serve the most remote locations. “It’s our reputation that’s involved,” she said. “As a buried system, we’re known for our reliability. We sell on quality of service. We’re concerned that when we go aerial, that’s a little bit of a ding. People are also proud of their views. We have these beautiful mountains and the ocean, and putting up lines is not a popular thing to do.”
Thune from Hawaiian Telcom said planning a timeline to build to remote locations is important. He likened it to planning a large event such as a telecom conference like Fiber Connect. You have to source materials and line up crews. “It's literally like putting a production together,” he said.
Regarding the level of production involved in delivering broadband, panel moderator Kathryn de Wit with Pew Charitable Trusts, said the idea that it’s no big deal if BEAD is delayed for several months is wrong-headed. “It does really matter for planning."
Taking into consideration the panelists' stories, it's easy to see why delaying BEAD can cause chaos.
Catch up on all the news from Fiber Connect 2025 here.