Density Matters When Building Networks

Many cross-national studies suggest digital infra costs for access networks are higher than typical in the U.S. market. As always, there are reasons. Networks covering only dense cities require less capital, overall, than networks covering large or continent-sized countries. 

Networks covering largely rural areas cost far more than networks mostly covering urban areas, as the cost of a mile of infra varies inversely with population and housing density. 

Population Density	Cost per Mile
Urban (>10,000 people per square mile)	$60,000-$80,000
Suburban (2,500-10,000 people per square mile)	$75,000-$100,000
Rural (250-2,500 people per square mile)	$100,000-$125,000
Highly Rural (<250 people per square mile)	$125,000-$150,000

City states have the highest density. Other countries such as Australia and Canada have very low densities. Density can vary by five orders of magnitude. One also has to correct for currency and cost-of-living metrics between countries as well.

Country	Population Density (people per square kilometer)
Macao (China)	21,338
Monaco	17,285
Singapore	8,251
Hong Kong (China)	6,725
Gibraltar (UK)	4,807
Bahrain	1,909
Maldives	1,746
Bangladesh	1,330
India	425
China	150
United States	33.9
Canada	4.1
Australia	3.2
United Kingdom	277
France	122
Germany	233
South Africa	55
Malaysia	95
Thailand	75
Nigeria	222
Saudi Arabia	16