Investment Brings Wireless Internet Opportunities to Delta Communities

Students at We Care Community Services, Inc., in Vicksburg, Miss., download academic tutorials at high speeds. Norway Farms near Yazoo City, Miss., remotely monitors its crops and checks weather reports fast, thereby using labor and natural resources more effectively.

Farms, rural communities and rural businesses have long lagged behind in their access to new Internet technology.

Now, two Delta communities, Vicksburg and Yazoo City, have joined the high-speed digital ranks of many urban areas with access to wireless high-speed Internet service. This growth is the result of an investment in AIR2LAN, a broadband service provider, by Enterprise Corporation of the Delta (ECD).

ECD is a not-for-profit community development organization that provides financial and technical assistance to Delta-area businesses. This project is one of the first funded by ECD through a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

ECD has made a subsequent investment in AIR2LAN to expand wireless broadband service to four other rural communities in the Delta.

For more information on Enterprise Corporation of the Delta, visit www.ecd.org