Why Embrace Broadband?

Top Ten Reasons Why Your Community Should Embrace Broadband Connectivity

Reason #10 Your Community Should Have Broadband: E-Government
Governments with online interactive services provide faster and more efficient services, have greater interaction with citizens, and communicate that they are up to speed in the global economy.

Reason #9 Your Community Should Have Broadband: Teleworking
Broadband enables rural communities to pro-actively attract and keep entrepreneurs and employees of distant employers. Time, distance, and cost to do business are eliminated or greatly reduced through broadband connectivity.

Reason #8 Your Community Should Have Broadband: New Business Recruitment
To recruit new businesses and sustain an economic standing in a competitive world, broadband is a necessity. Manufacturers, retail businesses, and many home-based businesses require online capabilities for on-line transactions and research.

Reason #7 Your Community Should Have Broadband: Business Retention
With broadband they are better able to conduct business with their suppliers and customers. Without broadband, existing businesses may close or relocate to where they can move their services and products online.

Reason #6 Your Community Should Have Broadband: Distance Education
Communities with active distance education capabilities and programs are better able to attract new residents and businesses, and equip its citizens to compete in the global economy. Connectivity between public schools allows more courses to be offered, even if a school district cannot afford to hire teachers to teach more advanced courses.

Reason #5 Your Community Should Have Broadband: Virtual Customer Support
Customer support is increasingly being performed on-line, and so communities without broadband have difficulty accessing this support, a competitive disadvantage in the global economy.

Reason #4 Your Community Should Have Broadband: Workforce Education
Communities and employers that utilize broadband connectivity to educate their workers reduce down time and travel costs, while equipping them with knowledge and skills from the best sources in the world. Technology literacy is perhaps the most relevant work force development skill for jobs in the 21st century.

Reason #3 Your Community Should Have Broadband: Public Safety
Local homeland security issues are addressed with on-line technologies for first responders to access floor plans, hazardous materials information, and detailed locations of people living in the most rural areas. In addition, videoconferencing allows prisoners to appear in court virtually, saving travel expense, time, and lives.

Reason #2 Your Community Should Have Broadband: Telemedicine
Citizens and prospective businesses prefer communities with access to advanced medical procedures through telemedicine, and physicians prefer hospitals with telemedicine capability to participate in advanced seminars Hospitals require broadband for transcription, inventory control with affiliates, and most operations.

Reason #1 Your Community Should Have Broadband: Build It Or They Will Leave
You can build it now or you can build it later. One way or another you will build it or your community will die. Today’s generation of young people will not live in communities without broadband.

Mark Peterson, Maureen Rose,
Jeff Jones, and Darlene Garrett
Arkansas VISION 2010