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Business Week highlights the digital divide

A recent article in Business Week provided an excellent look at the extent of the digital divide for Americans in rural regions. It starts with a story about Sandra Thornton, whose custom-uniform manufacturing plant in Centerville, Tennessee, is missing out on business opportunities because it can't take advantage of online contract bidding, supply ordering, and email with its dial-up Internet connection.

Situations like this are happening in rural parts all over the country. The result, as Business Week puts it:

The lack of fast Web access is helping create a country of broadband haves and have-nots -- a division that not only makes it harder for businesses to get work done, but also impedes workers' efforts to find jobs, puts students at a disadvantage, and generally leaves a wide swath of the country less connected to the growing storehouse of information on the Web -- from health sites to news magazines to up-to-date information on Presidential candidates. "Broadband is a distance killer, which can especially help rural Americans," says John Horrigan, a Pew researcher. "Broadband is not just an information source for news and civic matters, but it's also a pathway to participation."

For example, Karen and Daniel Fortin operate a farm in Northern Vermont -- one of the few family farms that has access high speed Internet access. Watch our video about how they use this technology both for their business and their family.

But most rural residents aren't as fortunate, and the Business Week article cites a familiar reason why: the lack of profit potential for Internet service providers. For example,

Comcast (CMCSA) is constantly looking for where to expand, and looks for areas that have at least 25 homes per one-mile stretch while meeting other criteria, says company spokeswoman Terri Weldon. "We are in business to make a profit," she says.

As a possible solution, the article cites Connected Nation -- the group developed out of the successful ConnectKentucky project -- which is working to encourage public-private partnerships in rural communities across the country.

Coverage of this issue by a national business publication is further proof of the vast potential of high speed Internet to boost economic opportunities for those on the wrong side of the digital divide.

Bringing Broadband to Rural America (Business Week)

Video: Speed Matters for Family Farms

Connected Nation

High speed in the blue grass