关键词：农村地区；宽带；电信；通讯网络
摘 要：With the growth of the digital economy, more economic activities are taking place on the Internet, potentially reducing geographic constraints, increasing efficiency, and improving growth prospects for rural communities. Rural America, however, may be at a disadvantage in reaping the benefits of this growth because rural households are still less likely to subscribe to the Internet than are urban households. By 2010, only 62 percent of U.S. rural households and farms had home subscriptions to the Internet, compared with 73 percent of urban households. Broadband technology has become the technology of choice for Internet users (wherever it is available)-96 percent of urban and 92 percent of rural household Internet subscribers use broadband. Nevertheless, broadband Internet connections (which offer higher speed Internet access than dial-up connections) are not available as often, nor used as readily by rural households as by urban households.