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Communications
& the Internet in Rural America—in Agricultural Outlook,
June-July 2002. Beginning with the telephone, communication and
information service innovations have penetrated rural America in
fits and starts. The marked decline in investment in telecommunications
since the dot-com bust in the late 1990s will slow the diffusion
of Internet and other new services, but demand for these services
is likely to continue growing. The availability of new services
and their affordability will be determined by four factors: public
policy, economic feasibility, technical limits of new technologies,
and market incentives.
Telecommunications
programs—The 2002 Farm Bill's Rural Development Title provides
for a number of telecommunication programs. The legislation renewed
the telemedicine and distance learning program. In addition, further
funding was authorized for two programs established since the last
farm bill. These two programs are designed to improve access to
broadband services and facilitate access to local television stations
in rural communities. Two new programs, rural telework and rural
e-commerce extension, are established by the 2002 Farm Bill.
Telecommunications
in Rural Economic Development: Issues for Latinos and Other Communities—A
debate is taking place in the country about the universal service
provision of modern telecommunications services. The debate revolves
around two questions. First, if many communities, and significant
segments of the population, are not able to participate fully in
the modern Information Age, will it result in their impoverishment?
Second, if there is too great a policy and regulatory intrusion
in the market place, will that cause significant misallocation of
resources, causing the entire society to be impoverished? It is
a debate with a mixture of facts and some conjecture. The purpose
here is to bring forth the basic telecommunication facts, as we
currently know them, relative to rural and Latino communities. This
is an occasional paper at the Julian Samora Research Institute at
Michigan State University.
Rural Telecommunications
in Rural Development Perspectives—Three articles on telecommunications
included as a special issue of Rural Development Perspectives
(October 1999) examine strategic planning for rural telecommunications,
telemedicine in rural communities, and access to telecommunications
by those with disabilities. The articles evolved from a 1998 workshop
organized by ERS and co-sponsored with Tennessee Valley Authority
Rural Studies and the Western Rural Development Center.
- Strategic
Planning for Telecommunications in Rural Communities—Broadband
Internet connections needed to take advantage of opportunities
are not available in many rural communities. To overcome this
disadvantage, some local leaders have been using a strategic planning
process in an attempt to meet top-priority goals and attract new
telecommunications investments. The most effective processes entail
involvement from both the private and public sectors.
- Telecommunications
Access for Rural Americans With Disabilities—Recent telecommunications
policies are faithful to the inclusion of rural people with disabilities.
Policy alone, however, cannot ensure equitable access in rural
areas. Grassroots understanding will help define access in advanced
telecommunications and determine how access can inform development
activities.
Rural Areas in the
New Telecommunications Era—in Rural Development Perspectives
(1997). The Telecommunications Act, enacted in 1996, was the first
comprehensive rewrite of the Communications Act of 1934 that had
ushered in an era of universal phone service for rural areas. The
1996 Act's provisions fall into five major areas: telephone service,
telecommunications equipment manufacturing, cable television, radio
and television broadcasting, and the Internet and online computer
services. All these provisions affect rural areas, but universal
service is the most critical. Without the universal service provision
rural areas may rapidly fall behind urban areas.
Telecommunications in Rural Economic Development: The Promise for
the United States, Western Europe, and Poland—This report is
part of proceedings from "Rural Development in Central and
Eastern Europe," published/sponsored by Slovak National Agricultural
University in 2000. The provision of advanced rural telecommunication
services reduces socioeconomic isolation and potentially primes
new economic opportunities, as well as presents some threats. The
United States and Europe have traditionally dealt with the challenge
of getting advanced telecommunication services into rural areas
in different ways, with the major difference arising from the original
ownership structure of the telephone companies. Poland's rural areas
have both advantages and disadvantages over rural areas in the United
States and Western Europe, not least because only half of the rural
population has a telephone at present. Governmental policy may be
a critical element in enabling infrastructure investment and encouraging
uptake and use of new services. For a copy of this paper, contact
Peter Stenberg.
Telecommunications in Rural Economic Development—Proceedings of
a workshop organized by ERS and co-sponsored with Tennessee Valley Authority
Rural Studies and the Western Rural Development Center in December 1999.
Telecommunications are an essential part of a modern economy. The provision
of advanced telecommunication services provides: (1) improved access to
information and markets for farms, businesses, individuals, and organizations;
(2) better access to educational, medical, government, and other services;
(3) opportunities for developing new information-rich businesses; and
(4) greater ability to participate in civil and political life. For rural
areas the problem, historically, has been that they have been at the end
of the line in terms of telecommunication infrastructure investment. The
papers in this collection address some of the issues and problems facing
rural regions in the use and adoption of new telecommunication systems
as well as some of the solutions used by rural communities. For a copy
of these proceedings, contact Peter
Stenberg.
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