For decades now, mobile carriers, and local, state, and federal governments have been trying to solve the digital divide that plagues rural U.S. communities. Despite all the advancements in wireless technologies, and understanding the severity of the problem at hand, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says almost 40% of rural households still don’t have broadband connection.
With each passing year, the digital divide implications worsen as people and businesses increasingly rely on connectivity for everything. Those without adequate connectivity face educational disparities, limited access to employment opportunities, healthcare, and much more. As a result, the size and scope of the world is much smaller for rural communities.
Due to this, there have been many federal and state investments to help close the gap. This includes the Affordable Connectivity Program, BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment), and Senate Bill 156 in California to provide $6 billion for broadband access, including $3 billion to create an open-access middle-mile network, $2 billion to expand the last-mile network, and $750 million to help local governments complete last-mile projects.
At ADRF, we are also doing our part to help fix the digital divide by developing products such as our 4G/5G SDRX Series repeaters to help close cellular coverage gaps indoors and outdoors. Our high-power repeaters are used by the major U.S. carriers to cover the entire broadband radio service (BRS) or C-band spectrum, supporting the most widely used mid-band spectrum across the country.
In keeping with ADRF’s flexible design philosophy, the SDRX-43-N77H and the SDRX-43-BTF can be individually wall-mounted where needed to provide coverage in cellular dead zones or installed in the chassis of our popular indoor/outdoor repeater, the SDR-ICS, as a modular upgrade to existing infrastructure. The SDRX’s high gain of up to 95dB and up to 20-watt of composite downlink output power ensures wireless coverage in even the toughest rural locations. It can also be used in times of crisis, including natural disasters where carriers place our repeaters on wheels to provide undisrupted cellular coverage.
As the reliance on connectivity grows, the disparities in access to broadband services become more pronounced. Programs like the Affordable Connectivity Program and BEAD, along with state initiatives are vital steps towards bridging this gap, but it is also up to the OEMs like us to make sure we have strong solutions to make proper use of these government funds and support.
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