NCTA documentary highlights challenges of rural buildouts

Today, NCTA – the Internet & Television Association released EVERY LAST MILE, a 20-minute docufilm that immerses viewers into the gritty reality of what it takes for internet service providers to extend broadband networks to unserved, hard-to-reach parts of the country. The docufilm follows three dedicated cable crews working in Alaska, Arizona, and Minnesota who offer firsthand accounts of the physical intensity, uncompromising terrain and weather, and unexpected challenges they face while building this critical infrastructure.

EVERY LAST MILE follows a GCI crew in King Cove, Alaska; a Mediacom Communications crew in Lakewood Township, Minnesota; and a Cox Communications crew in Congress, AZ. Collectively, the teams offer an intimate look at the wide variety of geographic, logistical, and regulatory challenges that make connecting rural America such a massive undertaking.

The premiere of EVERY LAST MILE coincides with an unprecedented national effort to expand internet access to unconnected Americans, including the ten million-plus who live in rural areas. The "Internet for All" initiative includes the historic allocation of $42.45 billion in federal Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funds, set to be distributed to states this year. This funding complements the $2.1 trillion in private capital invested since 1996 to build and upgrade America's broadband networks.

America's cable industry employs over 1 million highly skilled professionals and has a long, proven track record of success in building the networks Americans rely on in rural and urban communities. Between 2022 and 2023, the cable industry connected 1.3 million new rural homes and businesses and increased gigabit speed access to 5.4 million homes and businesses.

Read the full press release here.

NCTA