In our contemporary world, high-speed Internet, or broadband, is considered essential to the advancement of professional and personal lives of residents of cities and suburban residents alike, contributing to a more vibrant economy, healthcare system and education. What is not widely understood, however, is the extent to which the Internet benefits rural Americans, and how a significant number of those residing in unserved and underserved areas remain in dire need of a robust, and dependable access to broadband.

Access to the Internet is increasingly perceived as a vehicle for jobs creation and retention, a major focus of the Obama administration. Broadband allows people to work and communicate from wherever they live and/or work, in complete coordination with colleagues, business partners, patients, healthcare providers, students and teachers located either close by or in a different state, country or time zone. Consequently, the need to move to “the big city” to get a job has subsided because telecommuting is now possible on a full-time basis, rather than only a couple of times a week.

Sadly, many rural areas in our country have limited or no broadband access. The 2010 census has begun, and it will doubtless show that well over 80 percent of the U.S. population has moved to metropolitan areas, away from what may well have been a much better quality of life, in pursuit of jobs in crowded cities.

Broadband is crucial to rural areas, just as it is important to urban and suburban settings. Let’s begin with healthcare and the medical profession. Many small cities in America go without board-certified specialists in cardiology, OB-GYN, ophthalmology, and so on. As the population of many rural areas continues to age, the need for specialized medical skills grows, but the resources may be many miles (and many hours) away. The growth of what is generally known as Health IT is helping to improve that situation. A specialist at a major medical center can “see” a patient – in real time - over a web cam or a high-resolution camera, have the patient’s vital signs sent over the Internet, and actually talk to the patient without the patient leaving his/her home town.

Follow-up care, even after a major procedure, is also much simpler, less costly and less painful for the patient through the use of telemedicine. Some studies indicate patients do better keeping up with their follow-up care because they can go to a more familiar setting in their home town, rather than travel to the medical center to find and meet with their physician which, even for those who are young and healthy, can be a daunting experience.

In the education sector, students benefit from online research when doing their homework, or when competing for a spot in their state university system (or the highly competitive private, or out-of-state public university). Without access to the Internet, those students are at a huge disadvantage vis-à-vis their urban and suburban counterparts, who have the ability to utilize the best research data on the planet at the click of a mouse. A student in a household without broadband who may have to depend upon going to a small-town library, with limited hours, is missing out on the richness of the information, which would otherwise be available.

Broadband is important for everyone in America. But it is crucial to rural America, and we must take extra steps to ensure that people who live outside metropolitan areas have the same access to the 21st century’s intellectual, medical, and economic bounty as those who live in the cities.

Luisa Handem, is Managing Director of the Rural Mobile & Broadband Alliance (RuMBA) USA