• A senior Microsoft executive says the company will provide staffing and some financial resources as needed. Microsoft will provide small investments in capital expenditure to build the broadband networks, but like any commercial environment, it will take return on investment into consideration. “Any profit we make will reinvest back in networks,” he says.
• The coalition is focusing on these types of airwaves because they can carry communications over greater distances and can better penetrate through walls and other obstacles, like trees, than cellular.
• It’s hoping access to broadband will help rural communities improve their quality of life in different sectors, like health care, education and agriculture. For example, farmers can sell more goods online, and patients in distant areas can receive care remotely.

As part of its campaign, the Coalition will be urging the FCC to reserve vacant channels in every U.S. market to better enable access to broadband internet. Coalition members include Microsoft, the National Rural Education Association, Health and Library Broadband Coalition, HTS Ag, the Mid-Atlantic Broadcasting Communities Corporation, the American Pain Relief Institute, and others.

Microsoft has been at the forefront of this push and has invested in a series of pilot projects designed to serve as catalysts for widespread adoption across rural market:

• Microsoft president Brad Smith announced the company’s ambitious goal of connecting all 23.4 million rural Americans to high-speed internet this summer in Washington.
• The company started using vacant airwaves between TV stations to power broadband connections in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands that were severely damaged by hurricanes last year.

“There are amazing educational resources online, but students without broadband can easily fall behind their peers,” said National Rural Education Association Executive Director Allen Pratt.