President Obama is to visit Cedar Falls, Iowa, today to promote widespread availability of high-speed Internet service, including in rural areas with poor or no service. As part of its efforts, the White House says USDA will re-open its Rural Broadband program with $40-$50 million in loans “to eligible rural carriers that invest in bringing high-speed broadband to unserved and under-served rural areas.” USDA also is accepting applications through its Community Connect program, which provides grants for broadband projects. The Rural Broadband Program was revised as part of the 2014 farm law.
Elements of the administration’s broadband initiative include a letter from Obama to the Federal Communication Commission calling for removal of barriers to local competition in providing broadband, launch of “Broadband USA by the Commerce Department to promote broadband deployment and adoption, and creation of an interagency council to speed up adoption of broadband.
“Every American should have the opportunity for better, faster broadband,” said Jeff Zients, director of the National Economic Council, who compared the economic potential of high-speed Internet today to the benefits gained in the 1930s by bringing electrical service to small towns and rural areas. The White House says three-quarters of Americans have only one Internet vendor or cannot get service “at speeds increasingly required for many online services.”
Broadband is less available in rural areas than in cities and service speeds tend to be lower in rural areas, studies say, a hurdle to development.
“We live in the innovation century,” said Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke during a tele-conference. He said the city’s creation of a 1 gigabyte-per-second broadband network has generated economic growth by attracting new businesses and investment. The White House cited Chattanooga as an example of the value of high-speed Internet service that is available to all.