Broadband is more than a luxury

The clamor for rural broadband is almost as old as the internet itself. At at time when big cities fight for 5G investment, folks in some rural communities seek speed and connectivity that would bring their technology into the early 21st century.

It was always easy to throw them a bone with a grant or a line item in a budget somewhere. But the vastness of rural America makes any kind of widespread infrastructure deployment difficult, so it always seemed like a race with no finish line.

The coronavirus should add urgency to the need to bring broadband access to farms and small towns. More than 21 million people in America lack advanced broadband internet access, according to the latest report from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

Read full article.