In a just-released report, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Copps stressed the need for all Americans to have broadband internet access and outlined what needs to be done to make it a reality.  In the report, Copps said broadband “is the interstate highway of the 21st century for small towns and rural communities, the vital connection to the broader nation and, increasingly, the global economy. Our nation as a whole will prosper and benefit from a concerted effort to bring broadband to rural America.”  The report, titled “Bringing Broadband to Rural America: Report on a Rural Broadband Strategy,” stressed the need for cooperation between governments, tribes and agencies to expand broadband internet access in the U.S.  The report also recommended streamlining existing federal technology programs and improving broadband mapping efforts.

Here is an excerpt from Copp’s report:

In the end, my goal is that all rural Americans, like their counterparts in more densely populated areas of the country, have the opportunity to reap the full benefits of broadband services. Certainly the challenges of deploying broadband across vast rural lands are daunting. But as long as a grade-school child living on a farm cannot research a science project, or a high school student living on a remote Indian reservation cannot submit a college application, or an entrepreneur in a rural hamlet cannot order spare parts, or a local law enforcement officer cannot download pictures of a missing child without traveling to a city or town that has broadband Internet access, we cannot turn back from these challenges.

Several parts of Wisconsin still do not have access to broadband internet. This impedes the free flow of information, hinders economic growth and stalls the effective use of resources and connections within the state. Wired Wisconsin has traveled throughout Wisconsin, listening to the concerns of our neighbors without adequate internet access.  We will continue to work to address these needs by pursuing the expansion of service opportunities statewide.