Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue often describes broadband as the water, sewer, and roads of the 21st century—fundamental to economic growth. Thinly populated Saguache County in southwestern Colorado, which lies between the San Juan and Sangre de Christo ranges, finished at the bottom of a FiveThirtyEight analysis of national broadband usage. According to its report, in Saguache County, “only 5.6 percent of adults were estimated to have broadband.”
“But Saguache isn’t alone in lacking broadband,” said FiveThirtyEight. “According to the Federal Communications Commission, 39 percent of rural Americans—23 million people—don’t have access. In Pew surveys, those who live in rural areas were about twice as likely not to use the internet as urban or suburban Americans.” The FCC defines broadband as the ability to download information at 25 megabits per second and to upload it at 3 mps.
A 1996 law says all Americans should have access to internet services. “In 2017, many co-ops see bringing high-speed internet to the most isolated places in the United States as the 21st century’s answer to rural electrification,” said FiveThirtyEight.
During its tour of Saguache County, FiveThirtyEight heard complaints about slow connections, even that large telecoms did not want to provide reasonable internet service. The chief executive of the Rural Broadband Association said that lack of amenities can create resentments: “I think rural America kind of sat back and roared a little bit” in the 2016 elections.