Despite recent developments of operators offering new satellite broadband services to rural clients, and even with increased reach of fibre networks in areas outside cities, the broadband gap between rural and urban America is widening, according to a report entitled, “Broadband for Rural America: Economic Impacts and Economic Opportunities.”
The report came from Hudson Institute which presented findings on Monday in Washington D.C., and Hanss Kuttner, a fellow from the institute and one of the writers of the study, warned that the broadband gap may hurt the US Economy in the long-run. The presentation in the capital was hosted by the Foundation For Rural Service, together with the D.C.-based public policy research organization.
Based on the report, only seventy-percent of Americans in rural regions have access to Internet download speeds of at least 10 mbps. This is in line with a recent FCC report that nearly 20 million American are still relying on DSL, or have no broadband access whatsoever. In urban regions, a hundred-percent of the residents received speeds of at least 10 mbps.
According to Kuttner, the low population density in rural areas has made it difficult and costly for operators to deploy broadband services, unlike in urban conglomerations where the high population densities made deployments costs lower.
He warned that the communities in rural America were missing out on economic benefits resulting from reliable broadband access. Some of these benefits include better education through the assistance of online resources and information. Rural communities also miss out on technologies like telemedicine which could greatly reduce the need for residents in the said regions to travel long distances for health consultations in hospitals.
In the end, Kuttner suggested that improving the broadband access rates in rural regions could also open up employment opportunities which could competed with urban-dwellers. Rural residents can offer themselves a as a low-cost alternative to those working in the city thanks to Internet from satellite access which could enabled them to work remotely.
Internet on Satellite 