NPR

Microsoft Courts Rural America, And Politicians, With High-Speed Internet

In rural America, 23.4 million people do not have high-speed Internet. Microsoft plans to change that, in an effort that uses cheap technology and appeals to the lowest common denominator in politics.

Microsoft is announcing a new effort to connect more people to the Internet. Not people far away, in the so-called emerging markets — where other American tech giants have built Internet balloons and drones. Instead, Microsoft is focusing right here at home, on the 23.4 million people in rural America without broadband access.

The largest companies in the U.S. — by market value — are

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