David Herszenhorn's article (NYT February 3, 2009) referred to the proposed $9 billion investment in rural broadband as potential "cyberbridge to nowhere."  The implication seems to be that such efforts in rural America would be spending money that is not needed and would not be used.  Once again, we see rural interests being pitted against urban interests, when the good of the country requires that public investment should enable all regions and all citizens to be given the tools to enable them to participate in the 21st century economy.  

 

No one seems to disagree with the short-  and  long-term benefits of accessing the Internet  - whether using the current network or some future version of it with many more capabilities.  However, if the stimulus bill plans on simply accelerating programs that are already in place, the job of connecting rural America to high speed communications simply will not get done.  One estimate  is that one-third of households in rural America cannot subscribe to broadband Internet services at any price.  While the large telecommunications vendors, slowly rolling out cable modem and DSL services in rural regions, might be happy to accept funds or tax breaks to continue to do so, our nation needs to move quickly and efficiently with an eye on innovation, getting people what they really need and want, on expanding competition, and on monitoring and assessing the outcomes.  Many communities, nonprofits, or other local institutions across rural America are anxious to establish wireless or other types of broadband; to the extent that new opportunities to turn their dreams into realities can be programmed into the new stimulus bill, our rural communities will be better off:  a broader base of technologies and providers should be encouraged.   

 

But it is not technologies alone that will make the difference.  The real opportunity resides in giving people the knowledge and skills to use these tools, and the chance to get trained - and for our rural institutions such as community colleges to train others.  Matching technological opportunities to peoples' will to make use of such tools is the best way to achieve results with broadband.  Our research in many rural communities underscores that there are plenty of rural small businesses that would profit from understanding and using broadband, but they don't have access to the network or the expertise to put it to use.  The same goes for that 17% of the population residing in rural areas whose educational opportunities, health care options and even their ability to participate in government would be improved with access to broadband.  Moreover, research has shown that once rural consumers do gain access and become familiar with the possibilities afforded by fast Internet access, their online activities are much the same as urban users and benefit equally from participation in online services. 

 

Let's get broadband to rural areas but let's explore new technologies, invest in some R&D, add training programs, and get network opportunities to communities prepared to use broadband, and add some layers of accountability.