Over the past two decades, the Internet has not only transformed commerce, government and education, but has made untold volumes of information accessible to citizens from the comfort of home. But access to high-speed network technology remains limited in many areas, and communities that lack such access risk falling behind.

The consequences of outdated network infrastructure are serious. Students suffer when they are unable to access online educational materials – increasingly in the form of video – due to slow network connections. Rural healthcare providers are limited in their ability to provide quality patient care and services that require online consultation or access an insurer’s online database. Businesses – which now consider Internet access to be as basic as electricity and water service – are hesitant to locate anywhere that can’t provide reliable high-speed connectivity. And these are only a few examples.

That’s why leveraging Internet technology continues to be a priority for RST. In addition to increased network speeds at reduced rates, installing all-fiber and other high-speed network infrastructure has other benefits. High-speed networks represent the perfect platform for content and digital transmission going forward; the growth of cloud computing requires “superhighway” transmission going forward; the growth of cloud computing requires “superhighway” the source to the consumer, which is only possible on this type of network.