Rural areas go it alone on high-speed Internet – Small towns giving up waiting for providers to install service

Fewer than half of Arizona’s rural residents have access to high-speed Internet.

Tired of waiting for big telecommunications companies to bring broadband access to them, small communities throughout the state are going after it themselves.

Arizona’s Government Information Technology Agency estimates that about one-quarter of Arizona’s towns with more than 500 residents have no access to broadband. And in towns counted as having broadband, only half of the residents are able to access it.

"There are several communities that don’t have what they need for services," said David Evertsen, a consultant with Municipal Solutions, which specializes in rural telecommunications development. "Some communities are just off the superhighway."

Lisa Nicita
The Arizona Republic

Full Story: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0918ruralinternet.html