Giving Broadband A Boost

Giving Rural Broadband A Boost. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. There's good news and bad news when it comes to internet access. 97 percent of the nation's schools and nearly all public libraries now have basic access. But if you live in a rural area, the chances of you having broadband internet access are a lot lower. You might ask, is Congress doing anything about this discrepancy? KARNEY: In this current Congress there was legislation that was brought forward, unfortunately that did not move past the subcommittee. It did not have the bipartisan support that was needed. American Farm Bureau Rural Development Specialist RJ Karney says there has been progress with a program from the Federal Communications Commission called the E-rate program, which works to bring fast, affordable Internet access to schools and libraries nationwide. KARNEY: The FCC updated and modernized the E-Rate program by providing what's called a "super-fast fiber." This will allow schools and libraries to connect to the fiber and provide them with a faster speed of internet. These allow communities to access the schools after the students leave. Any residents of the community can now go to that school and use the internet at the school as opposed to using the dial-up at home. Farm Bureau and other rural advocates will push the new Congress to do more to make sure all Americans can tap into 21st century technology. KARNEY: This is very important for us to continue to grow economically within rural communities. In order for us to revitalize our economy we cannot have those small businesses, farmers, ranchers, rural communities handcuffed by not having the same opportunities that urban communities have with broadband access. Karney talks about an area of the FCC's Universal Service Fund outreach that needs improvement. KARNEY: The E-Rate program benefits schools and libraries in rural and underserved areas. Currently 97 percent of schools and libraries have basic internet service. 78 percent of the E-Rate recipients said that they need faster speeds to be able to provide a world-class education for rural students. Karney says there is an aspect of the Universal Service Fund that just doesn't cut it. KARNEY: There are many aspects of this plan that we agree with, but there are many things that also need to be improved. One of these is the national broadband plan is calling for rural America to receive 25 times slower internet access than urban recipients. This is a disadvantage for rural farmers, ranchers, libraries, health care professionals. Small businesses need to be able to expand and the use of an affordable, modern, high-speed internet access is necessary for this. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.