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Recently, the Benton Foundation held a discussion on independent broadband. And as Ars Technica reports, rural broadband providers wanted to clear the air about rural areas and demand—namely, that despite reports to the contrary, there is a demand:
“It clearly is a myth,” declared Gary Evans of Hiawatha Broadband Communications, a rural ISP based in Minnesota. “We are not a low priced provider in any community that we serve, but we are a broadband provider.” In one rural region, Evans noted, 60 percent of the population signed up with the company “before we put a shovel in the ground.”
“Now, I would suggest to you that if there’s no demand out there, that simply would not be the case,” he insisted.
