FLOYDS KNOBS, Ind. — A national initiative by business and governmental entities to increase the availability of high-speed Internet to rural communities in the United States is coalescing around the promises of the Obama administration.

In October, Federal Communications Commission Chair Julius Genachowski made a public announcement that low-income and rural Americans, seniors and minorities have disproportionately found themselves on the wrong side of the digital divide.

“They have been excluded from the $8 trillion global Internet economy, and all of its benefits,” he said.

One such American is Mara Gividen, who lives in Floyds Knobs. The Knobs is a mountainous area 20 miles north of Louisville, Ky., where line-of-sight communications is almost impossible.

When Mara’s husband, Larry, retired from teaching high school in 2000, she began supplementing the family’s income by selling small antiques and collectibles over the Internet. She had been selling those items in an antique mall previously, but the Internet offered a broader market and the chance to possibly make more money.

Mara was using a popular telephone-based dial-up service to conduct that part of her trading. She said her connection was slow, but sufficient; however, as more people began using the Internet and the technology advanced, entering text and photos online became more time consuming.

Then one day, her service went out and she was unable to get the phone company, the Internet provider or her computer store to accept responsibility for the outage.

She had to suffer the loss of economic opportunity that resulted for two months before the issue was resolved. When, the Gividens looked into ordering faster and a more reliable service with broadband technology, they were told the service was not available in their setting.

An opinion piece from July 26, 2011, in the nearby Corydon Democrat explains perfectly some of the advantages high-speed Internet can provide to small businesses such as the Gividens’: For owners, enhanced access to reliable broadband means that they can grow their businesses and source hard-to-find merchandise or supplies globally.

Small businesses can compete directly with much larger businesses. Aspiring entrepreneurs can start Web-based businesses with lower capital costs. Students and workers can achieve personal and professional advancement through distance learning and robust study or training materials.

Now, because of the combined efforts by various agencies, there is good news for many rural communities. With announcements such as Genachowski’s and that of USDA Rural Utilities Service Deputy Administrator Jessica Zufolo before utility regulators in mid-November, there is hope for economic parity with the more populous regions of the nation.

Zufolo’s announcement to the National Assoc. of Regulatory Utility Commissioners was reported and accredited by a USDA news release to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. It stated new funding will provide residents of rural communities with high-speed Internet connections to improve health care and educational opportunities, and to connect to global markets.

Vilsack’s own words were, “these investments will increase jobs ... through expanded opportunities in rural areas.”

In Perry and Spencer counties, Ind., one of the recipients of the new loans is the Perry-Spencer Rural Telephone Co. The USDA stated, “This loan will enable PSC to start the process of designing and building FTTP broadband services across its service area.”

Unfortunately, the money set aside for Perry and Spencer counties will not help the Gividens, who buy their utilities from the Harrison Rural Electric Membership Co. (REMC). Currently, there are no plans for a system in Harrison such as the one planned for PSC.

Cathy Racicot, for Harrison REMC, said in their area there are too many hills and valleys, which are not conducive to broadband propagation.

Right now, the Gividens’ only choice is to purchase a satellite Internet service, but Mara said she could not justify the higher costs.