While I was down in Minneapolis last week, enjoying conversation at my favorite coffee shop with Jack Geller of the Center for Rural Policy and Development, and Jack asked me about the Iron Range Community FTTH project. Thirteen Iron Range communities have come together to create a Joint Powers Authority to design, develop, and manage a state-of-the-art fiber Open Network. If completed, this project would spring board the Iron Range into a world class telecommunications environment. Not surprisingly, the estimated capital costs are very high, and to work, the project will need both private and public financing. Securing major public funding is a challenging proposition, for reasons both economic and philosophical. Jack pointed out how important it is to be able to talk to legislators in ROI terms – what are the concrete economic benefits this investment of scarce public resources will bring to my communities? How many jobs with house-hold supporting wages?

I’d had this conversation before. Lots of times. And so, I’m always looking for compelling evidence that IT infrastructure and literacy are really important and need our attention and investment, especially in low density and underserved rural areas. Continue reading →