Virginia Uses Self-Help Program for Rural Broadband

While some states have a Connected Nation franchise leading their broadband efforts, the Commonwealth of Virginia has something better. It has Karen Jackson, a one-woman broadband evangelist who leads government effort to bring broadband to rural areas. She, her program, and the local officials who follow it, are a case study in how a high-energy, high-efficiency state program can save millions of taxpayer dollars and produce results in the most rural of areas. The bottom line for their approach to rural broadband is startling. Franklin County, Va., a rural county of 721 square miles, was able to help a local wireless broadband provider bring the cost of building a network down from an estimated $500,000 to around $80,000. And instead of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for outsiders to come into an area, local officials can instead consult a simple web site as a guide to bringing in broadband. Jackson is the director of the Office of Telework Promotion and Broadband Assistance, which was created two years ago by Va. Gov. Tim Kaine, but she has worked since the 1990s to develop a broadband program in Virginia.