Broadband Development in Rural America -- Capital Market Access
A prime objective of the National Broadband Plan is to ensure that unserved and underserved areas in the United States are not left behind and have access to the same broadband services available in served markets. There are problems with achieving this goal, including being able to access capital at reasonable rates for these projects of greater financial risk. Quite frankly, building broadband in unserved and underserved areas presents a financial challenge, with the return often being insufficient to attract both
equity and debt investors.
The discussion that follows sets forth a policy proposal for what we believe to be an efficient and immediately available program which will provide for the level of credit enhancement necessary. The program will allow both for-profit and not-for-profit broadband projects to access the necessary debt capital to move forward quickly and efficiently. Once debt capital becomes available, the opportunities for equity investment
increase concomitantly.