Brownfield Ag News reports…

Shirley Bloomfield is the CEO of NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association…

“I’ve got 850 community-based local companies and cooperatives across the country that are providing broadband to their communities,” she said. “They are now up to about 90% fiber to the home for their customer base. That covers 35% of the land mass of the United States.”

She tells Brownfield there’s been some good progress in recent years.

However, “The job is not done,” Bloomfield added. “There are still a percentage of Americans that are tough to serve. They live in remote areas.”

Bloomfield says many farmers and ranchers remain in need of broadband improvements.

“When you’ve got a farm that is three miles down the road, you’ve got to have a government program – like we’ve seen with the infrastructure act – that actually gives companies a business model and a business reason to go connect those most remote Americans.”