Just as building adequate highways was so vital for economic prosperity in the past, the new economic highway is fiber optics.  The services, costs and reliability of a telecommunication system are critical to a region's growth, development and sustainability.  There is limited, affordable broadband in rural Vermont as current providers are unable to meet the demands of the high-costs of capital investment.   The rural characteristics do not allow for Internet service providers to meet their user-per-mile ratio.  With the economy shifting to a globally competitive marketplace, businesses in rural areas are virtually locked out of the international marketplace.  Economic development and telecommunications infrastructure have become a fundamental partnership.  The services, costs and reliability of a telecommunication system are critical to a region's growth, development and sustainability. 

There is also the critical issue of redundancy, which is a significant problem within the region.  Internet service providers agree that there is an urgency to have additional outlets out of Vermont to build redundancy.