LTTE: Pay cable companies to extend internet

Editor:

I was reading your article regarding rural internet. I’ve been building cable TV-telephone for the last 50 years and fiber optics systems since 1982, however, I’m now semi-retired.

Here is the problem with our government, they waste millions and millions of dollars trying to reach rural regions of the country. Example, they gave a company out of Chillicothe, Ohio, millions of bucks to build about 3,000 miles of fiber all over eastern Ohio to include my area around Steubenville on the river.

There is miles upon miles of dead space (homes) before they hit an area of homes in rural America. What they should of done was just pay the local cable companies to extend their fiber systems out into the rural areas.

For cable TV systems, you need about 40-50 homes a mile to be profitable. That is why they don’t extend out into rural regions, but if the government gave them a grant to extend beyond the 40-50 miles, funds would be saved and more miles of plant could be constructed.

I’ve built fiber systems in auto plants, coal mines, steel mills, hospitals, prisons, college campus, municipalities, federal/state/county and local projects all around the USA, Alaska, Bahamas and Argentina.

The government providing internet to rural areas is a waste of taxpayer funds. As a taxpayer, I expect more bang for the buck.

Gary Ogden
Micro Network Service Group
Smithfield, Ohio