Our podcast guest today is one of the premier voices in providing well-researched strategic analyses of the communications industry. Jeff Johnston serves as Lead Economist in Communications for CoBank, a national cooperative bank serving vital industries across rural America.
Broadband is now critical infrastructure necessary for the long-term viability of communities, regardless of their size or location. But it isn’t cheap. Indeed, it’s quite expensive to build and operate. And the smaller the community, in terms of population and people per square mile, the more difficult it is to build a sustainable business case, absent some support.