Mobile Future

Connecting the West

Sometimes I think it’s easy, with the concentration of federal politics on the East Coast, to forget that Western states house among the most spread-out rural populations in the country. That means a lot of communities here only get dial-up or satellite Internet access, and often have just one landline provider. Same goes for wireless.

Diane Smith, another guest speaker, seemed to me the perfect example of how rural communities can take that center technological stage. Smith founded Auroras Entertainment, a Montana-based IPTV company that was one of the larger venture capital-backed startups last year ($30 million is no shabby number). Auroras employs about 50 people in Whitefish, Mont. – not exactly the first place you think of when you picture IPTV innovation. Impressive.

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