NTCA Paper Delivers Affirmations and Examples of RLEC-Enabled Smart Rural Communities  

“A robust broadband network is the foundation of a smart rural community,” according to an NTCA White Paper entitled The Smart Rural Community; but “It is important to note that the mere presence of a robust, next-generation broadband network does not create a smart rural community.” The NTCA paper explores the meaning of “smart rural community” by providing insightful examples from rural areas across the country. The paper also makes declarations about how smart rural communities benefit local consumers and businesses by going above and beyond simply providing a fast, fat pipe to the premises. Generally speaking, “A smart rural community relies on broadband networks to enable a series of applications that the community can leverage for innovative economic development and commerce, top-notch education, first-rate healthcare, cutting-edge government services, enhanced security and more efficient utilities use.”

By reading the smart rural community examples in the NTCA paper, you can visualize a smart rural community as a stack of interrelated applications and services from the individual household level all the way up to the government level, and everything in between. A smart rural community will likely mean different things to different communities, and building a smart rural community will be a collaborative and unique experience for each community. The payoffs for investing in a smart rural community, NTCA argues, are significant: these investments and projects “create opportunities for community growth and viability.” Rural telecom providers are leading the way, and “Broadband networks that are currently being built by rural telephone companies are economic engines for the entire community.”

The abundant examples in the paper include projects in education, health care, agriculture, public safety, government, utilities, and home networking. In each category, NTCA highlights at least one rural broadband provider who is undertaking a smart rural community project by leveraging its broadband infrastructure and collaborating with other local institutions. In each example, the rural broadband provider is helping local residents and business to operate more efficiently, be more involved in the community, promote economic growth, or improve the quality of life in remote areas. Some of the RLECs highlighted in the paper include:

• Nex-Tech (KS) has developed a shared network for local schools, Interactive Television Networks Inc., which “enables students to learn from teachers located in a different location, and allows the schools to share curriculum and spread the overhead costs among participants.” Nex-Tech has also helped develop a mobile application with Fort Hays University, and “the app enables processors to post curriculum and allows students to review the campus map, enroll in courses, watch videos and interact with campus staff.”
• Madison Telephone Company (IL) has entered into a public-private partnership with a local health care provider. In this example, “Community Memorial Hospital transfers digital images in order to receive remote diagnostics services from larger hospitals and clinics in St. Louis and Springfield, Illinois…Madison Telephone worked in conjunction with the hospital to install fiber optic cable. The new fiber network enables the local hospital to expedite the transfer of images and diagnostic information.”
• Ayrshire Farmers Mutual Telephone (IA) provides high-speed broadband to area farmers, who use the network to make critical farming decisions. One local farmer uses broadband to decide when and where to sell commodities and purchase the lowest-cost inputs. The farmer also utilizes “real-time weather reports [which] provide important information about temperatures, wind patterns and precipitation levels, which dictate the best times to distribute herbicides and pesticides and perform other farm operations.”
• Valley Telephone Cooperative (TX) connects a local farm with 10 Mbps fiber-based broadband, enabling the farmer to “access county and state government offices online…to renew his vehicle licenses, contact his local tax bureau and perform other remote transactions, thus saving both on travel costs and time.”
• Dickey Rural Networks (ND) has collaborated with local water and electric utilities on smart grid projects. The company built a private broadband network for the water utility, where “The technology will be used to monitor and control 12 remote lift stations and reservoir sites, providing the utility with greater intelligence and insight into its operations.” Additionally, “Dickey Rural Networks has collaborated with its state network and several neighboring telecommunications companies to install a fiber-based virtual private network throughout the electric transmission network.”
• Horry Telephone Cooperative (SC) has developed Total Connect Remote Service, a home security system that is accessible from a consumer’s smartphone. NTCA explains, “The communications provider views its security service as a method to differentiate itself from its national and regional competitors, and entice home owners and developers to adapt a bundled package of services.”

NTCA concludes the paper with some thoughts on what type of infrastructure enables a thriving smart rural community. Some parameters include supporting sustainable economic activity, enabling any application a citizen or business may need, being “future-proof” and ubiquitous, uniting wired and wireless technologies, and maintaining the most current cybersecurity protection. NTCA recommends that broadband providers in smart rural communities offer at least 20 Mbps to the end-user and 1 Gbps in institutions.

NTCA ceo Shirley Bloomfield commented, “This paper confirms that the infrastructure and tech knowledge necessary to support smart applications exists in rural settings as well as big cities. It also underlines just how important broadband-enabled technologies are to the millions of people who live in rural America. Policy makers should take note and work to ensure that rural Americans have access to the same smart applications and the many economic benefits that accompany them as their counterparts in urban areas.”

One key-takeaway from reading this paper is that a single advanced (or “future-proof”) rural broadband network can literally provide innumerable customizable opportunities for citizens and businesses in remote areas. The underlying network can enable communities to tailor “smart” applications and technologies to their specific needs, such that the residents and businesses are more connected to the entire world than ever before. With one robust network, the sky is the limit for rural communities. However, the NTCA paper shows that it takes more than an “if you build it, they will come” attitude. Rural broadband providers have to collaborate with education, health care, local government, public safety, utility providers, local businesses and individual consumers in order to develop a truly smart rural community.