There is much interest in wireless systems right now, and rightly so. Wireless broadband is inexpensive and a great way to get people a broadband alternative quickly. But many of those wireless hotspots still need a wired connection to the Internet, and most homes and businesses will want both--it's not either/or. Fiber is going to be needed for high definition television, high quality videoconferencing, and network backups, among other bandwidth-intensive applications.

The good news about fiber is the falling prices. LENOWISCO Planning District, one of the nation's leaders in community fiber initiatives, was budgeting $30,000/mile a year ago for duct/fiber installations. Today, their cost is about $8500/mile, due in large part to the falling cost of fiber, which is now about the same price as copper. Fiber switches and Ethernet interfaces are also much less expensive than a year or two ago, so the overall cost of fiber to the home and fiber to the business systems is lower.

Communities that are rehabbing downtowns with new streets and sidewalks should be adding telecom duct and pullboxes to create high tech downtowns that will attract white collar businesses. It's inexpensive if you already have paving plans and/or are replacing the sidewalks. Those new streetlamps, benches, and brick sidewalks are not going to bring new businesses in....but low cost, high capacity broadband delivered by fiber will.