Microsoft Pushes Fast Internet for U.S. Heartland to Bridge Broadband Gap

For years, Microsoft Corp. focused its efforts to expand high-speed internet access on developing markets around the world. Now, the company is waking up to the problem in its own backyard, after the 2016 presidential election shed light on how far rural parts of America had fallen behind cities in reliable, fast connectivity -- and the challenges that gap poses for residents.

The software giant on Tuesday is calling for a national strategy that eliminates the rural broadband gap over the next five years. It's starting by funding projects to bring access to less-populated areas in 12 U.S. states in the next year, and will share the new technology with other companies that want to do the same. By 2022, the Redmond, Washington-based company plans to provide fast internet to 2 million people, using so-called white-spaces spectrum -- the unused frequencies between TV channels. It will face some hurdles, including opposition from broadcasters reluctant to surrender airwaves. On Tuesday, a broadcasting group called Microsoft's proposal ``the height of arrogance.''

Right now, 23.4 million Americans in rural areas can't get the fast internet access increasingly needed for tasks like homework, job applications, online medical treatment and remote repairs for farming equipment. Over the years, Microsoft developed and tested its broadband software, along with new chips, devices and antennae, in places including Kenya and Colombia. While it has had some U.S. projects, Microsoft largely overlooked its home country in efforts to bridge the digital divide. That message was underscored in last year's presidential election, when rural voters expressed dissatisfaction and anger over being left out of economic and technological growth, Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith said.