By Denise Ouellet

In the past week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced plans to begin ramping up access to broadband across America, particularly in rural areas. The government has set aside a $7.2 billion in funding to develop the networks. The first step is to solicit feedback from across the nation for the next 60 days.

According to Businessweek, Tennessee, Colorado, Virginia and Ohio are already interested in receiving federal money to build out broadband networks. City and state governments that are budget deprived and eager to bring economic development to their areas see broadband as a way to attract new businesses and boost struggling economies.

Perhaps the most shocking news to come out of this story was the response from households across the nation that they did not see the point to high-speed Internet access. In addition to cost, one of the main reasons respondents gave to a 2008 Pew Internet and American Life Project survey for not connecting to broadband was that “respondents did not see Internet content as relevant to their lives.” That’s a remarkable statement to consider – it means that a significant portion of our population does not think there is anything on the Internet worth viewing.  That makes me reconsider where the users that helped Facebook hit 200 million users last week and are about to make either Ashton Kutcher, Britney Spears or CNN reach their millionth Twitter fan are living. Maybe they’re concentrated in more populated areas.

Hopefully state and local governments will be able to convince constituents of the value of Internet content or at least the potential economic opportunities broadband might bring to their state if the FCC’s plan is going to work.

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