"(...)
May 20, 2010
Mark Wigfield, 202-418-0253
(...)
Progress made, but rural communities across the nation continue to lack access to broadband
More than 100 million Americans do not subscribe to broadband
(...) approximately 26 million Americans, mostly in rural communities located in every region of the country, are denied access to the jobs and economic opportunity made possible by broadband.
While the infrastructure of high-speed Internet is unavailable to those Americans, the FCC report also finds that approximately one-third of Americans do not subscribe to broadband, even when it's available. This suggests that barriers to adoption such as cost, low digital literacy, and concerns about privacy remain too high. The Report also notes limited broadband capacity for schools and libraries as a further indicator that broadband is not being reasonably and timely deployed and is not available to all Americans.(...) "
Will the FCC stay committed to rural America?
The Hill
Op-Ed
By Former Senator Byron Dorgan
Almost every month, a new telecommunications innovation is launched that has a profound impact on our lives.
Lately we've seen the impact of these telecommunication changes in ways we never could have imagined. In past months we've witnessed the Egyptian government being toppled by citizens using their cell phones to organize mass rallies and send videos of shocking violence against the demonstrators around the world. And in just recent days we learned it was through sophisticated tracking of a cell phone that led our soldiers to Osama bin Laden's doorstep in Pakistan. In both cases, a broadband wireline network infrastructure transported these important communications and changed history.
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/164691-will-the-fcc-stay-committed-to-rural-america