Study Shows Gaps in Rural/Urban Internet Access in Montana
By Courtney Lowery, 11-24-08
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A study released Monday shows that while on average, Montanans have about the same access to the Internet and other electronic media as the rest of the nation, there is a large gap when it comes to the state’s most rural places.
The study, by Montana State University professor Richard Wolff and the group Montana Common Cause, shows Montana’s metro areas may have access to online services and information but rural areas are vastly underserved, particularly when it comes to options for providers and access to local government services via the Web. Also, while metro counties tend to have access to government services—many have county or municipal Web sites—they often don’t have suite of services that other local sites in the country offer.
By “services,” the report means things like school lunch menus, permit applications, tax filing forms, communication with elected officials, council minutes or agendas, license renewals or even real-time audio or videocasting of town meetings.
Only 64 percent of Montana’s rural counties have Web sites and those that do tend to one-forth the services of those in metro counties. “The rural areas are disadvantaged in both the availability of web sites (64%) and the number and types of on-line services provided,” the report states.
Download the full report here
On Internet access, the report found that 50 percent of the zip codes in Montana are served by three or fewer high-speed Internet Service Providers (ISPs) compared to 36 percent nationwide. Only 4 percent of zip codes are served by 10 or more ISPs, compared to 21 percent nationally.
Also, statewide, Montanans pay more for Internet service than the nation as a whole. In Montana, a cable Internet bill is about $70 while nationwide, the same service is $45-$55 a month. A monthly DSL bill here ranges from $30 to $70 while the national average is $30-$40.
The study also looks at access to other electronic media, such as TV and Radio. There too, while Montana’s cities are faring fine, Montana rural populations—which tend to be older, declining populations—have limited access to community information.
“Media consolidation has been an increasing concern for rural areas, where small market size has resulted in aggregation and with the potential for loss of local control and the availability of local content,” the report states.
Maps in the report show limited commercial FM Radio and low-power FM coverage in the most sparsely populated areas of the state, with the majority of locally-owned low-power stations being centered in the more populated Western Montana region. Low-power FM could still be be a good opportunity for local information flow, Wolff said, but already, of the 33 low-power FM stations in Montana, only half are locally-owned.
Wolff says overall, the data in the report is just the beginning. There’s more research to do, he said, specifically considering the provider numbers, which come from from the Federal Communications Commission, do not specify whether the entire area has access or just one community in the studied zip code. Also, because cable is not regulated by the FCC, there isn’t really a full picture yet on cable Internet access in the state.
Next, Wolff says he hopes to be able to get at more granular information, community-by-community, to better show “who the ‘haves’ and who the ‘have nots’ are.”
The report is the first of its kind looking broadly at Internet access and local information flow in Montana and while there’s more information to uncover, the project’s aim was to first “raise citizen awareness and start a conversation,” Wolff said.
To that end, the report makes several recommendations, including:
- That an in-depth study of rural internet penetration be undertaken to more carefully identify and quantify the
availability of high-speed services. Specifically, the FCC should collect data at the census tract level instead of zip
code level,
- That universal service funds be extended to include provision of high-speed internet service to high cost areas and
to support low-income citizens,
Montana’s rural places are well-funded through the universal service fund. In 2007, $4 million went toward connecting schools and libraries across the state, but the report found that while schools, libraries and hospitals are getting connected, access for the general public is not following. Universal service funds are for subsidizing telephone service and telecommunications services to libraries, schools and hospitals.
“That’s an opportunity,” Wolff said. “Maybe the time has come to think of Internet service as comparable with telephone service in importance.”
- That the Montana information technology plan to be extended to include standards for local government web site
and interactive services, and that resources be allocated to enable rural localities to implement these services.
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