Trump Pushes To Expand High-Speed Internet In Rural America (reuters.com)

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday to make it easier for the private sector to locate broadband infrastructure on federal land and buildings, part of a push to expand high-speed internet in rural America. Reuters reports: "We need to get rural America more connected. We need it for our tractors, we need it for our schools, we need it for our home-based businesses," a White House official told reporters ahead of Trump's speech at the annual convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation. "We're not moving mountains but we're certainly getting started," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to preview Trump's actions. The White House described the moves as an incremental step to help spur private development while the administration figures out what it can do to help with funding, something that could become part of Trump's plan to invest in infrastructure. "We know that funding is really the key thing to actually changing rural broadband," a second White House official said. Reuters cites a 2016 report from the Federal Communications Commission, noting that 39 percent of rural Americans lack access to high-speed internet service.

Comments

He knows rural

[110010001000]

He is very familiar with rural people and their needs. He grew up in the small town of Manhattan. Upper West Side. He is one of US!

Re:He knows rural

[110010001000]

They could live as far away as Russia and still fully participate.

Re:He knows rural

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe the shift is partly due to farming automation,

That should read "corporate farming" -- ED

... and partly due to the fact if your job is easy to do remotely, it's also easy to outsource to a cheap-labor country.

That should read "click farming" -- ED

Those jobs left here tend to require heavier teamwork and personal interaction.

That should read "cube farming" -- ED

In the late 90's I thought telecommuting would take off and relieve population density. I was wrong.

That should read "idiot farming" because only an idiot back in the '90s would believe the corporations would EVER allow workers out of their sight (or site). -- ED

This is a good thing, right?

[magzteel]

You can't tell by some of the comments.

At this point if the executive order provided free high speed internet to all Americans the headline would probably be
"Trump signs order making it easier to spy on all Americans".

Re:Heard this line a few times ;~)

[lucm]

Just write a check to your cronies

You got it all wrong. The cronies are the one sending checks... Congress then pass appropriation bills and spending packages based purely on their conscience and on what they think is best for the country.

Re:Broadband?

[ClickOnThis]

Didn't the FCC just change the definition of broadband to 10 mbps down 1 mbps up? I don't think I understand what's happening in this administration.

Thereby massively expanding the number of rural broadband connections? Wow, results!