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Comment by cptskippy | Hacker News Reader

According to the article it's $50,000 a mile to run fiber.

According to Wikipedia:

    The Delta has some of the lowest population densities in the 
    American South, sometimes fewer than 1 person per square mile.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas_Delta#Today

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That’s surprisingly high. Surely locals who already have tractors and experience digging trenches would take the job for less?

It’s not like unrolling a spool of fiber is rocket science either.

I’m with you. I suspect this is in places where you need to be careful. If you go “we provide service to this node - last mile is your problem” and sell wholesale fiber optic I’m sure you could make it cheaper. Let the guy run his own repeaters and cable. You just provide the link to the closest node.

I wonder if there are consumer laws that make that infeasible.

Also from the Wikipedia article:

    Urbanization and the shift to mechanization of farm technology during 
    the past 60 years has sharply reduced jobs in the Delta. People have 
    followed jobs out of the region, leading to a declining tax base. This 
    hampers efforts to support education, infrastructure development, 
    community health and other vital aspects of growth. The region's
    remaining people suffer from unemployment, extreme poverty, and 
    illiteracy.

Sounds about right. They wanted me to pay $180k for 10mb fiber to my place. It was a 12 mile pull for them with plenty of people along the way for them to sell to though.

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