Experts Call for More Internet Exchanges to Bridge the Digital Divide in Rural Areas

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) form the unseen backbone of digital communication. These physical infrastructures allow different internet service providers (ISPs), content delivery networks (CDNs), and other network operators to exchange traffic directly without relying on costly transit routes. When data flows through an IXP instead of a distant upstream provider, latency shrinks, speed improves, and operational costs drop.

For urban centers, IXPs have long been a pillar of efficient connectivity. Yet in rural regions—where long-haul routing and limited infrastructure dominate—the lack of local exchanges directly impacts both quality and affordability of access. Expanding the presence of IXPs in these underserved areas will not only reduce dependence on remote internet hubs but will also help democratize the flow of information. Experts argue that closing this infrastructure gap is fundamental to delivering fast, equitable, and cost-effective internet across every corner of the country.

Where Rural America Stands: Internet Access by the Numbers

Stark Digital Divide Backed by Data

According to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) 2022 Broadband Deployment Report, approximately 14.5 million people in the U.S. lack access to fixed broadband meeting the benchmark speed of 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload. Of those, 11.5 million reside in rural areas. That means rural communities represent nearly 80% of the nation’s underserved population—despite making up just 20% of the total U.S. population.

However, independent research points to even higher figures. The Internet Society and Microsoft have suggested that FCC maps significantly overstate national coverage. Microsoft’s 2019 data analysis indicated that 162.8 million people in the U.S. are not using the internet at broadband speeds, highlighting major inaccuracies in self-reported Internet Service Provider (ISP) data.

Disconnected Communities, Diminished Economies

The economic impact of limited rural broadband access isn’t subtle—it’s quantifiable. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Technology Engagement Center estimated in 2021 that the U.S. could add $65 billion to its GDP annually by closing the rural broadband gap. Businesses in areas without adequate connectivity face persistent challenges: limited access to e-commerce platforms, slower adoption of cloud-based services, and reduced competitiveness.

Education suffers greatly in these zones. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the digital divide became harder to ignore. A PEW Research Center survey from 2021 found that 15% of U.S. school-age children lacked a home internet connection, with Black, Hispanic, and rural students disproportionately affected. In rural districts, teachers reported students doing homework in public parking lots to access Wi-Fi—an unsustainable workaround with long-term academic costs.

Outdated Infrastructure and Incomplete Coverage

Much of rural America relies on legacy infrastructure that cannot support modern data demands. A 2023 report from the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society outlines that many rural ISPs still deploy DSL through outdated copper telephone lines. These lines were not designed for high-speed data and deteriorate rapidly, leading to frequent interruptions and poor upload speeds.

Fiber—and even high-capacity wireless options—remains concentrated in urban and suburban areas. In rural regions, fewer than 20% of residents have access to a fiber-optic network, compared with over 65% in metropolitan areas. Middle-mile connections, which link major data centers to local last-mile service zones, are also sparse, severely restricting bandwidth.

Current infrastructure fails to support the increasing demand for telehealth, remote work, digital learning, and cloud services. Without scalable upgrades and more aggressive expansion of Internet Exchange Points, these rural networks will continue to lag, unable to deliver the performance modern applications require.

• 14.5 million Americans have no broadband—11.5 million in rural zones
• Rural America could unlock $65 billion in GDP growth through connectivity expansion
• Many rely on obsolete DSL via copper lines, inadequate for modern usage
• Less than 1 in 5 rural residents have fiber-optic access
• Middle-mile infrastructure gaps severely limit last-mile service quality

The Economic Case for Expanding Rural Internet Connectivity

Broadband as a Catalyst for Rural Economic Development

Every 10 percentage-point increase in broadband penetration is associated with a 1.21% increase in GDP growth in developed economies, according to a World Bank study. In rural areas, the impact compounds as internet access unlocks markets, automates agricultural processes, and lowers transaction costs for small and medium-sized enterprises. Regions once isolated by distance or infrastructure gaps gain the ability to engage in the digital economy—selling products globally, accessing training resources, and attracting remote workers and startups that rely on reliable connectivity.

Broadband enables precision agriculture, remote healthcare services, and online education—all foundational to sustainable growth. Farms integrate IoT sensors for soil analysis and machinery that communicates in real time, reducing costs and increasing yields. Local clinics tap into telehealth for specialist consultations. School districts provide virtual learning, connecting rural students with national academic networks.

Economic Gains Evidenced by Case Studies

• Chattooga County, Georgia: After fiber broadband was introduced, local manufacturers reported faster order fulfillment and improved inventory management. A study from the University of Georgia found a 7.7% job growth in the area within three years of broadband deployment.
• Okanogan County, Washington: The presence of regional IXPs reduced latency for businesses, enabling local IT firms to compete for contracts that previously required proximity to major data hubs.
• Emporia, Kansas: With the installation of high-speed fiber and access to a closer IXP, a logistics company expanded operations, adding 85 new jobs. The local chamber of commerce cited reduced connectivity costs by 30%.

Corporate Interventions: Disney and Others Taking a Lead

The Walt Disney Company has invested in rural broadband through its Reimagine Tomorrow Tech Access program, launching pilot projects in Arkansas and Alabama. These initiatives deliver high-speed internet to underserved school districts in coordination with local ISPs and infrastructure providers.

Other major players have followed suit. Microsoft’s Airband Initiative now covers over 13 million people in rural America through partnerships with regional fixed wireless and fiber providers. Meanwhile, Amazon’s Project Kuiper—the forthcoming low Earth orbit satellite network—aims to serve hard-to-reach communities outside the footprint of traditional fiber backbones, potentially routing traffic through localized IXPs to reduce congestion and improve performance.

One outcome is clear: when corporations invest in digital access in rural zones, local economies expand. Commerce scales, logistics streamline, and education levels rise—each creating a self-reinforcing cycle of development directly linked to sustained broadband availability and efficient internet routing infrastructure.

Insights from Industry Leaders on the Urgent Need for Rural Connectivity

Experts Push for Decentralized Internet Infrastructure

Telecommunications engineers, broadband advocates, network architects, and data infrastructure analysts converge on a singular point: rural regions remain excluded from the core fabric of internet infrastructure, and more IXPs are a non-negotiable requirement for change.

Dr. Jane Coffin, former Senior Vice President at the Internet Society, emphasizes that the current concentration of IXPs in urban areas places rural communities at a systemic disadvantage. "Data has to travel too far. That introduces latency, increases costs, and reduces performance. It’s an inefficient topology," she states during a 2023 roundtable hosted by the Global NOG Alliance.

Bill Woodcock, Executive Director at Packet Clearing House, quantifies the issue. "Over 85% of the United States' IXP capacity is located in just 12 metropolitan cores. Rural throughput suffers not because of demand but because there’s no infrastructure to handle convergence locally."

Recommendations Centered on Regional Resilience

Experts don’t stop at problem diagnosis. They advocate aggressive action plans for INX deployment in non-urban clusters. The Broadband Equity Partnership calls for an "Edge-to-Core" framework—deploy smaller IXPs closer to edge users, then interlink them with core IXPs through diversified fiber backbones. This would allow data to route locally within regions such as the Midwest, cutting round-trip times and reducing reliance on coastal hubs.

In 2022, the Fiber Broadband Association ranked the absence of IXPs among the top five inhibitors to rural connectivity in its annual industry survey. Their recommendation? Create micro-IXPs anchored around community colleges and local government data centers—facilities that already possess fundamental technical capabilities and often sit on county-owned dark fiber.

Another prominent voice, Deb Socia from The Enterprise Center in Chattanooga, points to policy gaps. "Power grids evolved through rural co-ops. Why can’t IXPs? We need to enable rural operators to build and govern their own exchange points. That’s local autonomy in digital form."

• Stand up regional IXPs within 50 miles of population clusters >10,000 residents.
• Integrate IXPs into electric cooperatives’ existing infrastructure.
• Develop incentive programs for small ISPs to peer locally instead of relaying through distant metros.

When asked about timelines, Doug Dawson

Bridging the Urban-Rural Connectivity Gap

Analyzing the Disparity Between Urban and Rural Internet Access

Digital access remains staggeringly uneven. In urban areas across the U.S., fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) capabilities and 100+ Mbps download speeds are routine. In contrast, rural regions still fight for consistent access to connections above 25 Mbps, which the FCC defines as broadband. According to the Federal Communications Commission's 2022 Broadband Deployment Report, 97% of urban Americans have high-speed broadband available. This figure drops to 65% in rural communities and plunges even further to only 25% in tribal lands.

The issue isn’t limited to availability. Latency, reliability, and data caps continue to hamper broadband quality in less-dense regions. Limited backhaul infrastructure and long distances from core Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) compound the lag. While a high-speed Facebook Live stream is seamless in a downtown loft, the same experience breaks down on a remote family ranch. These infrastructural inequalities echo across education systems, telemedicine access, ecommerce opportunities, and even local government operations.

Advocacy for a Level Playing Field in Information and Technology Access

Without intervention, the digital divide reinforces the economic and social isolation of rural areas. Experts, including those cited by the Internet Society, champion the development of regional IXPs as direct mechanisms to reduce latency, lower bandwidth costs, and promote local content hosting. IXPs positioned in or near underserved regions cut the distance that data travels, making connectivity sharper, faster, and more affordable.

Advocates push for strategic infrastructure deployment as a matter of equity. The call isn’t for urban amenities in rural settings—it’s for functional, sustainable digital infrastructure that makes participation in the digital economy viable. Local leaders, nonprofit coalitions, and national broadband alliances have begun demanding targeted investments, not only in fiber networks but also in ecosystem enablers like IXPs, caching servers, and community-built networks.

The sharp contrast between city skyscrapers bristling with high-speed access points and small-town main streets struggling with DSL tells more than a story of geography. It marks a boundary between inclusion and exclusion. Close that gap, and the talent, creativity, and resilience of rural America gain a global platform.

Why More Internet Exchanges Are Essential for Rural Areas

Unpacking the Benefits of IXPs for Rural Communities

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) function as physical infrastructure where multiple internet service providers (ISPs), content delivery networks (CDNs), and other network operators connect directly. This direct interconnection shortens the path data travels, reducing latency and improving bandwidth efficiency. In rural areas, where internet traffic often has to route through distant urban IXPs, these benefits remain largely out of reach.

Establishing local IXPs in rural regions fundamentally shifts this equation. Instead of data taking hundreds or even thousands of miles to reach a major exchange, it travels shorter distances locally. This reduces load on transit links, lowers costs for ISPs, and slashes the time it takes for data to complete a round trip. The result? Faster internet speeds, less buffering, and smoother real-time applications like video conferencing or telemedicine.

Enhancing Local ISP Capabilities Through IXPs

When rural internet providers connect to local IXPs, they gain access to a streamlined network environment. These connections eliminate dependence on expensive upstream transit providers and allow for direct data exchange with other networks, including content-heavy services like Netflix, Akamai, or Google.

• Cost Reduction: Transit costs can decrease significantly. For context, paid transit in remote rural regions can range from $10 to $100 per Mbps, compared to less than $1 per Mbps at an IXP.
• Improved Reliability: When local ISPs exchange traffic directly at a nearby IXP, they bypass single points of failure in faraway core networks.
• Faster Speeds: With lower latency, ISPs can deliver better speeds to homes and schools, even during peak hours.

This ecosystem cultivates competition, motivates infrastructure investment, and levels the playing field for smaller providers often operating on thin margins.

Empowering Access to Critical Information and Services

A local IXP does more than optimize data paths—it anchors digital inclusion. In communities where hospitals rely on telehealth services, schools deliver digital classrooms, and emergency alerts must travel reliably, faster and more reliable internet is non-negotiable. Local IXPs allow sensitive, time-critical data to stay within regional boundaries, preserving speed and security.

Moreover, IXPs encourage local hosting of websites and services. A regional newspaper’s website, for example, can load faster when hosted within a nearby IXP-connected facility. The same applies to government portals, agricultural market updates, or education platforms. Latency drops from over 100 milliseconds to under 20—a meaningful difference for rural users navigating data-intensive applications.

These exchanges become digital hubs that energize the local economy, enhance education outcomes, and reinforce public services. Without them, rural communities remain digitally tethered to distant infrastructures that weren’t designed with them in mind.

Government Policies and Funding for Rural Broadband

Policy Frameworks Addressing the Digital Divide

Federal and state governments have committed billions in funding to drive broadband access in underserved rural areas. At the federal level, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) of 2021 authorized $65 billion for broadband expansion, with $42.45 billion allocated to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. This program directs funding to states for infrastructure development, planning, and adoption initiatives.

Additionally, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) continues to administer the Connect America Fund (CAF) and its successor, the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), which together have awarded over $11 billion in subsidies to broadband providers aiming to expand rural connectivity.

States have also launched individual initiatives. For instance, Minnesota’s Border-to-Border Broadband Grant Program has disbursed more than $176 million since 2014, funding 350+ projects and connecting thousands of households and businesses in isolated communities.

When Policy Meets Implementation: Proven Outcomes

Federal and state policies have produced measurable improvements in broadband access. In Virginia, the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative (VATI) facilitated widespread fiber deployment across unserved counties. Between 2019 and 2023, VATI-supported projects expanded high-speed internet access to over 210,000 households, combining state grants with private investments from ISPs.

In North Dakota, consistent investment over a decade, supported by both federal grants and community-backed initiatives, positioned the state as a national leader—achieving fiber-to-the-home coverage for over 70% of its rural population. These outcomes weren’t driven solely by technology; sound policy decisions and structured funding mechanisms laid the foundation.

Government-backed funds don’t just enable infrastructure—they also attract competition. In areas where funding mechanisms support open access middle-mile networks, smaller ISPs and cooperatives enter markets previously monopolized by one provider. This creates better service options and pricing for rural residents.

Programs continue to evolve. The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), enacted under the IIJA, provides qualifying households with monthly service discounts. As of 2023, over 20 million households nationwide benefited from this initiative, with strong enrollment numbers in rural counties. By reducing the cost barrier, the ACP indirectly increases uptake, ensuring private investments in infrastructure turn into real-world usage.

• BEAD, VATI, and RDOF target high-capital deployments like fiber through competitive funding rounds.
• CAF and tribal broadband funds support remote and hard-to-reach populations with tailored financing models.
• State matching programs incentivize local governments and cooperatives to seek grants and invest in public-private builds.

Every successful program shares common traits: clarity in eligibility rules, accountability in deployment metrics, and sustained funding over multiple fiscal years. Agencies that tie disbursements to buildout milestones ensure faster, more complete project execution. Ask yourself—when funding aligns confidently with real-world expansion timelines, what becomes possible for the next generation of rural communities?

Unlocking Rural Connectivity Through Public-Private Partnerships

Highlighting Successful Public-Private Collaborations

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) have played a defining role in accelerating broadband deployment in underserved rural regions. By aligning government resources with private sector innovation and capital, these collaborations have delivered measurable results. The Connect America Fund (CAF) Phase II, administered by the FCC, exemplifies this synergy. Between 2015 and 2020, the fund provided $1.5 billion to ISPs to expand broadband to over 713,000 rural locations. Companies such as Frontier Communications, CenturyLink, and Windstream leveraged those public investments to extend fiber and fixed wireless services to communities beyond the reach of traditional infrastructure.

Another prominent example is Microsoft’s Airband Initiative, which collaborates with local ISPs, energy cooperatives, and public agencies to deliver wireless broadband via TV white space technology. Since its launch in 2017, the initiative has expanded broadband access to more than 4 million people across rural America, with a goal to reach at least 3 million more by 2025. Through coordinated funding, strategic spectrum use, and shared infrastructure, Airband has become a model for scalable rural broadband expansion.

The Expanding Role of Tech Giants in Rural Infrastructure

Major technology companies have started to move beyond advocacy and into active deployment. Alphabet’s Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners co-financed the deployment of open-access fiber rings in rural California, focusing on modular infrastructure that can attract multiple ISPs. Meanwhile, Amazon’s Project Kuiper and SpaceX’s Starlink are racing to provide low-latency satellite broadband, targeting territories traditionally avoided by legacy telecoms.

These tech-forward initiatives don’t operate in isolation. They often depend on interagency agreements, municipal partnerships, and multilateral funding approaches to gain right-of-way access, streamline permitting, and mitigate cost barriers inherent in rural construction. When public oversight meets private execution, deployment accelerates. In 2022, the USDA’s ReConnect Program funded $1.15 billion in rural broadband expansion projects—nearly 60% of those projects featured hybrid PPP models, involving both national broadband providers and local cooperatives.

What happens when Amazon provides infrastructure, Microsoft funds digital literacy programs, and a county government secures state grants for deployment logistics? Entire rural corridors transform into competitive digital economies. These alliances generate not just access but sustainable networks that attract business investment and higher education opportunities.

Rather than waiting for industry or the government to act independently, coordinated PPPs are producing tangible shifts in rural connectivity strategy. The data confirms it—progress accelerates when sectors converge.

Cutting-Edge Technologies Powering Rural Connectivity

Transformative Tools Driving Progress

Technological innovation is redefining what’s possible for rural broadband infrastructure. While fiber-optic networks remain a gold standard for speed and reliability, wireless and hybrid delivery systems are unlocking faster deployment options in low-density areas. Fixed wireless access (FWA), for example, bypasses costly underground cabling by transmitting data over radio waves from nearby towers to user locations, often achieving speeds of 100 Mbps and beyond in ideal conditions.

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations have also shifted the narrative. SpaceX's Starlink, currently operating over 5,000 satellites as of 2024, provides rural and remote users with download speeds between 25–220 Mbps—numbers that rival some metropolitan broadband services. Amazon’s Project Kuiper and OneWeb are planning to launch their competing platforms, expanding market influence and improving service quality through competition and redundancy.

Decentralized Infrastructure for Better Performance

Deploying localized Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) in rural hubs enhances content delivery efficiency. Traditionally, rural areas backhaul traffic to distant metropolitan data centers, increasing latency and reducing bandwidth availability. Micro-IXPs and edge computing centers bring storage and processing closer to end users, minimizing transit time and lightening network loads. These setups don’t just reduce latency—they literally change the internet experience for users engaging in high-demand activities such as cloud computing, video conferencing, and real-time collaboration.

The Role of AI and Automation

Artificial intelligence now supports dynamic network optimization in rural environments. AI-powered systems analyze usage patterns, predict demand surges, and reroute traffic to avoid congestion. Many rural ISPs incorporate these tools to maximize efficiency within constrained infrastructure, prolonging the utility of existing equipment while smoothing the transition to updated technologies.

Automated deployment tools have also become instrumental. Self-installing mesh-network nodes, solar-powered relay stations, and auto-configuring routers reduce technician hours and operational costs, accelerating installation timelines across widely dispersed areas.

Looking Ahead: Unifying Technologies and Local Needs

• Open Access Networks: These models separate network infrastructure from service provision, encouraging competition and reducing barriers for local ISPs.
• CBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service): Mid-band spectrum previously restricted to military use is now available for shared use, allowing community networks and small providers enhanced spectrum access without bidding for expensive licenses.
• 5G Rural Deployments: While urban 5G focuses on ultra-high-speed capabilities, rural deployments aim for broader coverage with “low band” frequencies—delivering stable performance across miles of open terrain.

Which of these innovations will define the next leap in rural broadband may depend on geography, population distribution, and local governance. But the technological toolkit has never been more diverse—or more promising.

Driving Uptake: Encouraging Rural Broadband Adoption

Identifying the Real Barriers to Adoption

Even when broadband infrastructure becomes available in rural areas, many residents choose not to subscribe. The 2021 NTIA Internet Use Survey found that among rural non-users, 58% cited lack of interest or perceived need, while 18% claimed affordability issues. These aren’t technical gaps—they’re behavioral and economic ones.

The Financial Access Initiative at NYU reported that broadband remains disproportionately expensive in low-income and dispersed regions. In areas where incomes are lower and service choice is limited, monthly internet bills can consume a significant portion of disposable income. Subsidized plans or competitive service offerings often fail to compensate for the limited relevance some residents attribute to online access.

Another unseen obstacle lies in digital readiness. According to Pew Research Center data from 2021, roughly 22% of adults in rural America say they never go online, a figure significantly higher than in suburban (13%) or urban (10%) communities. The resistance isn't always tech-related—it's cultural, generational, and contextual.

Building Demand Through Education and Inclusion

Infrastructure without adoption delivers poor returns. To reverse this, broadband must be presented as a daily tool rather than an abstract asset. That requires hyperlocal engagement. Community centers, libraries, and schools can drive widespread digital literacy if equipped with the right training resources and outreach models.

• Kansas State University's Tech Together initiative runs pop-up “Digital Skills Labs” in towns under 5,000 residents, teaching basics like email, digital banking, and telehealth access.
• North Carolina’s GREAT program incorporates digital navigators into rural outreach teams, offering one-on-one guidance on device use, cybersecurity, and remote job searching.
• Public school curricula in parts of Idaho and Nebraska increasingly integrate home internet use into homework expectations, creating a positive feedback loop between educational performance and broadband value.

Creating demand starts with demonstrating relevance. Can the grandfather better manage his cattle business with online livestock auctions? Will a mother save two hours a week by using ecommerce for household purchases? Once community members begin to connect daily convenience or economic value to broadband, subscription rates follow.

Consider this: what if internet literacy classes were as routine as driver’s ed in high schools? What if barbershop kiosks offered free Wi-Fi and digital help desks? Scale that thinking and localized innovation starts changing the adoption curve.

Pushing Forward: The Next Chapter for Rural Connectivity

Rural America stands at a digital crossroads. Although recent investments and initiatives have made incremental progress, the persistent gap between urban and rural internet access continues to widen. According to the Federal Communications Commission’s 2023 Broadband Deployment Report, 22.3% of rural Americans—compared to just 1.5% of urban residents—lack access to broadband that meets the standard 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload thresholds.

Experts consistently point to Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) as the decisive infrastructure needed to change that. By localizing traffic exchange, IXPs reduce latency, improve reliability, and cut transit costs—conditions that make broadband expansion both economically viable and technically sustainable for rural markets. Dr. William Lehr of MIT noted, "Strengthening regional interconnection through more IXPs is foundational to resolving rural bandwidth bottlenecks and incentivizing private network investment."

Local Voices, National Impact

Momentum in rural broadband deployment comes not just from policymakers and telecom providers but also from community stakeholders. From municipal broadband task forces to cooperative-led infrastructure builds, grassroots projects are asserting their role in reshaping local connectivity. Sheila Spencer, director of the Appalachian Connectivity Alliance, emphasized, “Communities that own their broadband future don’t just gain access—they gain agency.”

Community action generates political will. It surfaces real-world proof that federal and state broadband grants—such as those funded under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment) Program—achieve meaningful outcomes when grounded in local advocacy and needs assessments.

Real Steps Toward Closing the Divide

The path forward is not ambiguous. Experts, advocates, and researchers agree on tangible actions to transcend today’s limitations:

• Accelerate IXP deployment in underserved regions to lower data transit costs and promote local content hosting.
• Strengthen funding implementation through transparency checks and prioritization of long-term scalability over short-term deployment metrics.
• Promote open peering and network neutrality policies that encourage collaboration between ISPs and regional network operators.
• Expand digital literacy programs to ensure communities can fully engage with available broadband services once infrastructure is in place.

Act Where You Are

Change begins with informed individuals and committed local groups. Want to influence the future of rural broadband?

• Contact your state broadband office and ask how IXPs are being supported in rural planning.
• Support local cooperatives exploring or launching infrastructure initiatives via member engagement or investment.
• Organize town halls or digital equity workshops to surface local needs and build momentum for grant applications or public-private partnerships.
• Join national campaigns like the Internet for All initiative by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

Bridging the digital divide is neither theoretical nor unattainable. It requires a national strategy grounded in regional realities, reinforced by technical solutions like IXPs, propelled by public advocacy, and committed to long-haul infrastructure thinking.