As an electronic highway, telecommunications allows urban-based industries and customers to access rural products, services, and markets more easily. Without a modern telecommunications infrastructure, however, rural communities may be left behind and denied the economic and quality of life opportunities new technologies have created. Telecommunications and information technology can also provide increased opportunities for health care delivery, education and community development generally available only in urban areas. Access to sophisticated databases, information services and value-added networks can improve the efficiency and productivity of rural firms. It can be a useful tool to make traditional rural economies such as agriculture and mining, more competitive in a global marketplace.
Telecommunications offers a unique opportunity for rural development.
Telecommunications systems and their effective use can help overcome the geographic boundaries and isolation of rural communities and promote their participation in the global economy. In rural and urban areas alike, traditional activities increasingly rely on telecommunications. Rural areas need to access and use the information highways just as the urban areas. Participant communities received technical assistance from the Colorado Center for Community Development at the University of Colorado at Denver and the Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program at the University of Colorado-Boulder. The Center aided communities in the development of a telecommunications- based strategic action plan.