Rural areas to get broadband internet

Members of the Northwest Missouri Regional Council of Governments and MoBroadbandNow met this week to discuss plans to beef up the area's broadband infrastructure.

Discussion during the town hall-style meeting covered problems and challenges associated with beefing up coverage in northwest Missouri and other outstate regions.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has set forth a goal of providing broadband access to 95 percent of Missourians by the end of 2014.

Much works remains to be done, but officials at Monday's session said the groundwork is in place, and that a number of key data lines have been installed.

Tim Haithcoat of MoBroadbandNow spoke of the need to "leapfrog" technology, and compared the rural broadband effort with building an airplane while it is already flying.

Though that might seem like a daunting task, Haithcoat said existing equipment can be used to support new fiberoptic lines capable of delivering high-speed internet access to areas still served by dial-up.

Broadband provides many advantages over dial-up, including higher speeds, higher quality and more consistent service.

Civic leaders and officials in rural areas say improved Internet access is key to economic development and will give outstate businesses the ability to compete in emerging regional, national and international markets.

Schools will also benefit, since students at schools with limited capabilities in certain subjects would be able to take online courses and access assignments, lectures and research materials from their home computers.

MoBroadbandNow proponents are also enthusiastic about the impact high-speed access will have on health care. The technology has the potential of providing first-responders, nurses and physicians with faster access to health records and other information during emergencies.

Arnold Kreek, an economic development planner with the Regional Council and this area's MoBroadbandNow coordinator, said the main reason why broadband has not been offered in many remote areas is cost.

"With rural areas it's a challenge because it is expensive to get broadband out there," Kreek said. "But it was also hard getting telephones to those areas. This is the same thing, but with new technology."

Funding for the rural broadband initiative includes federal Reinvestment and Recovery Act dollars earmarked for job creation and economic development.

Moving the effort forward, however, will require private-sector participation, and one of MoBroadbandNow's goals is to create competition in areas currently served by a single provider or none at all.