Rural community full fibre

Connecting rural communities with full fibre

Connectivity has always been about more than just technology. It’s about access, community need, and rural people finding a way to connect when the larger companies or infrastructure has failed them.

One of the most important historical telecom documents wasn’t written by Bell.

It was a practical manual that circulated through rural America in the 1890s explaining how farmers could build their own telephone systems on a mutual or cooperative basis.

The idea was remarkably simple:

1. Gather a group of neighbours.
2. Share the cost of construction.
3. Build the line yourselves.
4. Maintain it together.
5. Connect everyone who participated.

And they did.

Thousands of rural telephone systems appeared across the country. Farmers strung wire along fence lines, built local exchanges, and connected communities that the larger companies often considered too remote or too expensive to serve.

By 1912 there were more than 3,200 rural telephone systems operating in the United States. Many were owned by the people who used them.

When we talk about rural communities coming together to increase connectivity today, we sometimes treat the concept as something new.

It isn’t.

The problem and the solution is the same now as it was then. Local communities coming together to plan, organise and instigate a solution to provide rural connectivity for homes and businesses.

It’s exactly what Hampshire Community Broadband’s full fibre is all about.

This article is based on a post by Vanessa Wells on LinkedIn