New research highlights the vital role of rural broadband infrastructure in supporting national goals for AI innovation, energy resilience, and economic development
FBA released a new paper this week, Opportunities for Rural Providers in the Age of Distributed AI and Edge Compute, outlining how rural ISPs and electric cooperatives can tap into a fast-growing market opportunity by repurposing their existing assets—fiber, substations, and real estate—to support the nation’s expanding need for edge computing and data center capacity.
FBA’s paper serves as both a roadmap and a call to action, encouraging regional collaboration to create shared power and fiber networks capable of supporting the next generation of digital infrastructure. The report details:
Market trends driving the shift from centralized to distributed computing and the growing strain on power availability in traditional data center hubs.
Business models rural ISPs and cooperatives can adopt—from colocation and rack leasing to GPU and edge AI services—and how each aligns with their existing strengths.
Practical steps for evaluating local resources such as power capacity, fiber routes, and real estate to prepare for partnerships with hyperscale and enterprise customers.
Community benefits, including job creation, rate stability for electric cooperatives, and improved use of renewable resources to support grid reliability.
“This week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee marked up the bipartisan, bicameral Broadband and Telecommunications RAIL Act, creating a pathway toward addressing permitting challenges, an issue of importance to Fiber Broadband Association members. According to FBA’s 'Railroad Permitting Challenges Survey,' rail coordination, high costs and fees, and lengthy processing times remain top obstacles to deployment in railroad permitting.
FBA thanks Senators Marsha Blackburn and Ben Ray Luján and U.S. Representatives John Joyce, Greg Landsman, and Scott Peters for their leadership in supporting reliable broadband connectivity through the RAIL Act. Streamlining access to railroad rights-of-way is a critical step toward expanding high-speed internet across the country. We look forward to working with Sen. Blackburn, Sen. Lujan, Rep. Joyce, Rep. Landsman, Rep. Peters, and members of Congress on both sides of the aisle as this legislation develops and advances."
- Gary Bolton, President & CEO, Fiber Broadband Association
The Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) recognizes the continued progress by states advancing through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, as the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) today approved nine additional Final Proposals from Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
“FBA applauds the hard work and leadership of state broadband offices that continue to move BEAD from planning to deployment,” said Gary Bolton, President and CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association. “States are demonstrating what’s possible when they stay focused on delivering fast, reliable, high-performance fiber networks that will serve communities for decades to come. FBA will continue partnering with states throughout implementation—providing technical expertise, workforce development support, and resources to help maximize the long-term impact of BEAD investments.”
Clearfield Launches Tribal Broadband Training Initiative
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Building a National Digital Skills Framework
This week’s Fiber for Breakfast episode, Gary welcomed Jessica Dine, Policy Analyst at New America’s Open Technology Institute and Wireless Future Project, for an in-depth look at one of the most persistent, and preventable, barriers to digital equity: the lack of a national digital skills framework. Dine recently authored Exploring Paths to a U.S. Digital Skills Framework, a report examining why the country still lacks a shared way to define or measure digital readiness, even as historic levels of funding flow into broadband deployment and adoption initiatives.
