Accelerating Rural Broadband Adoption

With over seven billion dollars committed to deployment of broadband in the stimulus package, increasing U.S. broadband adoption is a legislative priority.  Crucial to this national goal, our latest Broadband Now video takes a look at rural connectivity, focusing on the state of rural access.

While some organizations claim that the U.S. is lagging far behind much of the world in broadband penetration, it's fair to say these rankings are misleading.  Case in point: the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development actually compares the U.S. to Luxembourg (a country the size of Rhode Island) in its broadband rankings.

U.S. broadband companies in the last two years alone have invested $120 billion, so it's no wonder that U.S. Internet infrastructure ranks among the world's best. The fact is three out of four Americans who connect to the Internet do so via broadband. Naturally, given our nation's vast geography, the U.S. does face unique challenges that leave room for improvement.  Right now, nearly 40% of rural Americans have broadband at home, and adoption is advancing with 25% year-over-year growth.

And in some cases, the challenges are not in deployment - but in adoption.  When asked why they don't have high-speed Internet, less than one in five rural Americans say it's because high-speed Internet isn't available.  Instead, most say they either don't need the Internet, lack computer literacy, or simply don't own a computer.  

How can we close this digital divide?  Innovative public-private partnerships like Connect Kentucky address technology literacy and seek to remove all barriers to access.  Since Kentucky began its efforts,  broadband availability has spiked from 60% to 95% as well as led to the creation of 18,000 new IT jobs that have kept more residents in state.  New wireless long-term evolution (LTE) technology also holds promise to help bridge the gap.

From speeding greater access to educational opportunities, specialty medical care, and diverse economic opportunities, rural Americans can make tremendous gains from high-speed Internet connectivity.  Together, we can accelerate these opportunities through creative collaborations and solutions that bring broadband to more rural Americans.

For more on rural broadband, tune into our latest Broadband Now video.