Rural Broadband
Solving the Digital Divide
The digital divide in this country, and especially in Texas, continues to grow wider. While broadband internet use continues to rise, it continues to be unavailable to those who live in some rural communities. A recent study shows by Connected Nation, a nonprofit broadband lobbying group, shows the state of Texas could create 173,000 new jobs solely by ensuring every person in the state has access to affordable internet access. That’s not even taking into account the number of jobs that would be created building out the infrastructure to bring internet access to all communities and all people.
In the early part of the 20th century, we faced the same problem with bringing telephone service to our rural communities. Private companies would not act without government incentives and support. Government realized having telephone service was an essential connection to the outside world. So, the federal government created a universal service fee, a small tax on every phone company that subsidizes the building and maintaining of lines and facilities in rural areas that otherwise would be cost prohibitive.
The state of Texas needs to lead the nation by establishing a universal service fee on all internet service providers operating in the state of Texas. This small fee per customer would allow subsidies to go back to ISPs who build the fiber optic cable and/or wireless infrastructure to connect every part of Texas to the internet.
Just a Few Benefits to Universal Access to Affordable Internet:
Improve Rural Healthcare
Many counties in the state have no doctors and even more counties have 2 doctors or less. The majority of our state’s counties lack specialists. With a high speed data connection, patients could see a nurse practitioner in their local community who could communicate with a specialist via webcam to diagnose illnesses and provide medical care and advice. This would cut down on the travel times to visit major metropolitan areas for treatment and help ensure all Texans have access to top notch medical care.
Make Local Government More Responsive
The best local governments are transparent and responsive to the needs of their citizens. Through the internet, local governments can respond to people’s needs and post information about what they are currently doing. With many rural Texans living more than an hour away from their County seat, participating in government is at best a chore and at worst an impossibility. Utilizing E-Government solutions, these people could keep tabs on their leaders and even participate in virtual townhalls. Furthermore, the vast majority of people live a great distance from Austin. In order to see what state government is doing and hold them accountable, these people could utilize the internet.
Give All Students Access to Top Quality Education
Rural school districts, for the most part, are small school districts. With graduating classes of less than 50 students, it’s hard to offer advanced placement classes and other electives. Via distance learning, a teacher in a major metropolitan area could teach students in rural schools AP Calculus or Japanese. This will give these students the same opportunities urban and suburban students currently enjoy and will help prepare them to succeed in college.
Boost Rural Economies
Most of all, the internet is an economic tool. Unwired communities are being left behind, which is contributing to the decline of our rural populations and threatening all of our state’s rural areas.
Small Business Growth and Development in Rural Areas
Small business is the lifeblood of America. From being able to sell products online through being able to telecommute to meetings, the internet is making it easier than ever to own and operate a small business. In order to promote small businesses in rural areas, we must ensure those rural areas have access to high speed, reliable, affordable internet access.
Bring Manufacturing Plants and Industry into Rural Areas
Today’s manufacturing plants require internet access to coordinate with the corporate office, suppliers, customers, etc. A company absolutely will not open a plant in an area without internet access. In order to encourage companies to move their manufacturing operations to rural areas, we must ensure every area of our state has access to high speed internet.
Boost Agriculture
Farming and ranching has evolved significantly over the past few decades. Today’s farmers and ranchers need access to high speed internet to check commodity prices, contact suppliers, check weather reports and research the best practices to maximize yields. Agriculture is Texas’s second biggest industry and agriculture takes place almost exclusively in rural areas. In order to help boost this industry, these farmers and ranchers must have access to high speed internet.
