Monday, July 29, 2013

USDA to hold discussions in each state on how to bring broadband to rural communities

One goal of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development program is to bring broadband access to more rural subscribers. To do that, officials will have a series of regional discussions in every state with stakeholders to address broadband infrastructure needs in rural communities, Tom Steever reports for Brownfield.

USDA official Doug O'Brien
Doug O’Brien, acting agriculture undersecretary for the program, told Steever that the agency wants “to determine if there are certain action points that the group needs to accomplish to make sure that the state and regions in the state make the most of this new asset."

"For many years, USDA has been putting resources into getting broadband services into rural areas," Steever writes. O'Brien said the next step is to determine how Internet services will be used. He told Steever, “What we’ve been doing at USDA is not only helping to finance broadband, but more and more we’re helping to convene and bring people together and educate about the opportunities once a small business or hospital or school adopts that Internet.” (Read more; to listen to the interview click here)

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