Rural vs. Urban Connectivity

Politicians have sometimes pitted rural and urban residents against each other in the competition for federal funds. In this lesson we will be reading “Farm Fresh Broadband: the Politics of Rural Connectivity,” by Christopher Ali. The next topic includes an interview with the author.

Watch or listen to the video

Especially note the emphasis on cooperatives bringing electricity to the farm land during the 1930s.

… the internet and Broadband connectivity more specifically, represents a very local phenomenon, of which co-ops are crucial stakeholders. These are member-owned companies that began as electric or telephone cooperatives funded by the REA in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Their very names recall these earlier endeavors: the People’s Rural Telephone Cooperative in Kentucky, Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative in Alabama, and Citizens Telephone Company in Georgia. Today, hundreds of co-ops provide high-speed Broadband to parts of the country neglected by major national incumbents. They demonstrate how the solution to rural Broadband deployment lies not exclusively, or even primarily, with the national providers but at the local and state levels, and powered by coordinated policies at the federal level.… the internet and Broadband connectivity more specifically, represents a very local phenomenon, of which co-ops are crucial stakeholders. These are member-owned companies that began as electric or telephone cooperatives funded by the REA in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Their very names recall these earlier endeavors: the People’s Rural Telephone Cooperative in Kentucky, Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative in Alabama, and Citizens Telephone Company in Georgia. Today, hundreds of co-ops provide high-speed Broadband to parts of the country neglected by major national incumbents. They demonstrate how the solution to rural Broadband deployment lies not exclusively, or even primarily, with the national providers but at the local and state levels, and powered by coordinated policies at the federal level.

Farm Fresh Broadband, Christopher Ali