CenturyLink: Universal broadband depends on public, private partners

The US federal government’s universal broadband goals can only be achieved by public and private entities working together, according to Tom Gerke, executive vice chairman of CenturyLink, whose brand recently supplanted that of its latest acquisition, Embarq.

“Broadband for all Americans just isn’t going to happen without public-private partnership,” Gerke told a keynote audience on the first day of the Supercomm trade show Wednesday. “CFOs on just private money can’t get there.”

Deploying wireline broadband to rural homes is, on average, five times the cost of deploying it to dense urban areas, he said. That makes it hard for private companies to justify in many cases. But rural carriers have a unique ability to maximize broadband deployment spending, since regulatory requirements have already forced them to extend their networks to rural areas.

“It only takes an additional incremental spend,” for telcos to reach rural areas, he said.

The federal broadband stimulus program has prompted a wave of public-private partnerships to target underserved areas in the hope of snaring federal grants and loans with which to do it. Some rural carriers have declined to participate in the program, however, due to some of its requirements related to information disclosure and network neutrality. Those carriers have worked to convince federal administrators to change the rules for the program’s second funding round. Similarly, Gerke cautioned regulators against making the perfect the enemy of the good.

“We’d love to get everything we want, but at some point, you have to match what’s the right speed and penetration,” he said. “There’s got to be some sliver that gets served by satellite. I don’t know how big that sliver is.”