Perdue: Big Effort Needed To Provide High Speed Internet

Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue believes a huge, concentrated national effort is needed to bring high-speed internet access to rural America.  Last year, Congress appropriated $600 million toward that effort, and another $600 million this year, however, Perdue said that is only the tip of the iceberg.  He recently told the House Ag Committee the money appropriated so far will be used to demonstrate the best ways to get rural broadband projects done, by bringing in outside money and expertise.

The actual cost of bringing Internet access to everyone in rural areas, Perdue said, is going to be in the several of billions of dollars.

"The Federal Government, frankly, doesn't have enough money to do all this itself. What we're going to try and learn is how to optimize and leverage federal incentive where there is not an economic reason to do this, get people who are in that business to know how to do it and to do the most of it."

So, as Perdue points out, even $1 billion won't be nearly enough.​

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