Obama Administration Adds 7 Million Broadband Subscribers To Rural America

According to an August, 2011 report, "Jobs and Economic Security in Rural America," the federal government has recently "Expanded broadband access to over 7 million rural Americans, including 3 million rural households and over 350,000 rural businesses. This expansion of rural broadband access is helping to lower costs for businesses and bring jobs back to rural communities."

On June 9, 2011, President Barack Obama created the White House Rural Council to "create jobs and economic opportunities through increased access to credit, promote innovation through renewable energy and broadband expansion..." and expand other federal programs. The administration made clear the need for this action. Despite a population of nearly 50 million, "Many rural communities have lower incomes, higher poverty rates, worse health outcomes, and lower educational attainment than urban and suburban areas."

With an emphasis on growing the new technologies in underserved areas, "the President established a Wireless Innovation Initiative with a goal to create wireless broadband access for 98% of all Americans." The report highlighted the following results of this policy:

• Through the USDA's Distance Learning and Telemedicine Program, more than 2,500 healthcare and educational facilities have received access to distance learning and telemedicine services.
• Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has invested $4.5 million to support 17 Telehealth Network grantees, which provided over 17,000 teleconsultations to patients in isolated areas across 207 locations.
• As a result of USDA's Broadband Initiative Program under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), 2.8 million households will have new or improved broadband services, reaching nearly 7 million people and 364,000 businesses across more than 300,000 square miles.
• The U.S. Chief Technology Officer launched the "Text 4 Baby" program to use mobile technologies to provide healthcare information to expecting and new parents. The service now has more than 135,000 subscribers.
• The SBA / SCORE Broadband Initiative helps small businesses accelerate growth through the use of broadband technologies, many of which are in rural communities. To date, its online resources have been leveraged by over 11,000 small businesses.

Speed Matters has supported efforts by both government and industry to bring the benefits of broadband to all Americans.

Jobs and Economic Security for Rural America (White House Rural Council)