Rural Broadband

Extracted Attributes

• Key Challenge

  Inconsistent and unreliable mobile hotspot programs due to funding

• Definition of Poor Access

  Less than 40% of households in a county have broadband

• Prevalence of Limited Access

  Up to 50% of rural Americans lack access to broadband (as of 2020)

• Government Spending (criticized)

  Approximately $50 billion allocated to rural broadband and EV charging infrastructure

• Regions with Most Limited Access

  Delta region (Southeastern United States) and Native Lands

• FCC Definition of High-Speed Broadband

  At least 100Mbps download and 20Mbps upload

• Economic Benefit (potential from e-connectivity)

  $18 billion annually for the U.S. economy

• Economic Benefit (potential from digital agriculture technologies)

  $47 billion annually in additional gross benefit for the U.S. economy

Timeline

• The Rural Electrification Administration (REA), the predecessor to the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), was created as a New Deal agency to promote rural electrification. (Source: wikipedia)

  1935-XX-XX

• The USDA introduced the ReConnect Program, which has since invested over $1 billion to expand high-speed broadband infrastructure in unserved rural areas and tribal lands. (Source: web_search_results)

  2018-XX-XX

• According to Busby, Tanberk, and BroadBand Now Team, as many as 50 percent of rural Americans lacked access to broadband. (Source: web_search_results)

  2020-XX-XX

• In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the lack of broadband access further widened the 'digital divide' in rural communities. (Source: web_search_results)

  2020-XX-XX

Rural Utilities Service

The United States Rural Utilities Service (RUS) administers programs that provide infrastructure or infrastructure improvements to rural communities. These include water and waste treatment, electric power, and telecommunications services. It is an operating unit of the USDA Rural Development agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). It was created in 1935 as the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), a New Deal agency promoting rural electrification.

Web Search Results

• A Snapshot of Broadband Access in Rural Communities

  Broadband Deployment Report. Those rural areas with the most limited access to broadband internet include the Delta region (comprising counties in an eight-state region in the Southeastern United States) and Native Lands (comprising a combination of American Indian reservations, trust lands, tribal jurisdiction statistical areas, tribal designated statistical areas, Alaska Native Regional Corporations, and Alaska Native Villages). 1 A county has “poor access to broadband” when less than 40 [...] unmet need. According to Busby, Tanberk, and BroadBand Now Team (2020), as many as 50 percent of rural Americans lack access to broadband. Key Findings § Rural counties in the United States, particularly in the Delta and Native Lands regions, experience limited access to broadband internet. § Inadequate access to broadband internet is a significant barrier to both rural county residents and human services providers. In the wake of COVID-19, this lack of access has further widened the “digital [...] community areas, such as libraries and schools, help rural residents to gain access to broadband by offering free internet access to the community. However, due to compounding barriers such as lack of transportation and long travel distances, these efforts can sometimes fall short. Several staff noted that while some programs offer mobile hotspot units temporarily to rural residents without broadband access in their own homes, this effort is inconsistent and unreliable due to funding

• Best Rural Internet Providers for 2025

  Broadband service has never been widely available in rural areas, and the Federal Communication Commission's overdue ruling classifying a high-speed connection as at least 100Mbps down and 20Mbps up means reliable broadband connections are even harder to find. Wired services, especially those of the cable internet or fiber-optic variety, are scarce, so many households in rural areas rely on fixed wireless internet that doesn't require wired networks or a direct line of sight to the home. [...] Other rural internet providers, including CenturyLink, Kinetic and Rise Broadband, are also worth considering if available in your area. In locations where wired or fixed wireless connections aren’t available, satellite internet from Hughesnet and Viasat is always an option, but you'll likely get faster speeds and better overall value with Starlink. [...] Among popular rural internet options, Mediacom is the cheapest internet provider, with service starting as low as $15 monthly for speeds up to 100Mbps. If you’re looking for speed, Ziply Fiber has the fastest multigigabit speeds of any ISP, rural or otherwise, with its 50,000Mbps plan.

• Broadband | Home

  We found that enhancing digital agriculture technologies already in use today - and increasing producers’ usage to full-scale - could create at least $47 billion each year in additional gross benefit for the U.S. economy. Rural broadband e-connectivity is the driver of more than one-third of that potential value, equal to $18 billion of annual economic improvements for our nation. [...] Next Generation Precision Ag & Broadband Report ----------------------------------------------- USDA embarked on a groundbreaking analysis about the potential benefits of rural broadband infrastructure and emerging on-farm technology for modernizing the United States’ agriculture industry and all who depend on its success. [...] USDA has been investing in rural telecommunications infrastructure for decades. Hundreds of millions of dollars are annually available in the RUS programs both by loans and grants all to support modern broadband e-Connectivity in rural communities. In 2018, USDA introduced the ReConnect Program, which has invested over $1 billion to date to expand high-speed broadband infrastructure in unserved rural areas and tribal lands.

• Report: The role of broadband in rural economic growth ...

  opportunities, especially when broadband adoption is high and broadband infrastructure is utilized effectively. In this report, we show that higher broadband utilization in rural communities drives economic growth by increasing entrepreneurship while mitigating underemployment and increasing incomes, whereas low broadband utilization is linked to economic decline. When it comes to broadband infrastructure investments, rural communities have lagged behind metropolitan [...] 5Beyond Connectivity: The Role of Broadband in Rural Economic G rowth and Resilience Recognizing the importance of closing rural broadband gaps, recent investments have connected millions more Americans across the country (see Figure 1). Many locally operated rural broadband service providers, including cooperatives and small commercial companies, have taken significant steps to bring broadband internet to areas that previously lacked access, similar to the role [...] growth of entrepreneurship in rural places and helping economies grow from the ground up, broadband can change the growth path of rural communities when it is leveraged and utilized effectively. Business ownership can also work to build rural wealth creation. When rural residents are business owners, the benefits of their work accrue more to them and their community than might be realized by firms headquartered outside of the rural community.

• The unique challenge of bringing broadband to rural America

  But as I talked to different towns about their experiences with broadband, I was reminded of that old saying, “if you’ve seen one rural town, you’ve seen … one rural town.” Along the same lines, if you’ve seen one rural broadband project, well, you’ve seen one rural broadband project. In my conversations across rural America, as local residents and stakeholders try to bring broadband home, the local circumstances always seem to have their own unique twist. [...] As Joe Turnham, executive director of the Macon County Alabama Economic Development Authority, suggests, every moment that a rural community goes without high-speed internet puts a damper on its potential. But putting together all the pieces to make a broadband project happen in rural America is a unique challenge. [...] And here’s where it gets tricky for rural places. When internet service providers look at revenues, rural areas just don’t seem like a good investment. The cost of laying fiber in a rural place is no cheaper than a suburban or urban place—and sometimes it’s even complicated by the topography—but the number of customers will be fewer.