To the editor:

Thanks for another detailed and informative article, "TDS begins area broadband expansion" (25 July 2012). I really appreciate Tere Dunlap's consistently good explanatory stories like this.

It is refreshing to be able to say: "Good for TDS." Rural Green County internet connectivity has become more intermittent and slower. Yet jobs and business dependent on this connectivity require increasing internet uptime and throughput - e.g., to handle documents, cloud-based business applications, conference call presentations, and other data. The present connectivity issues have started getting disruptive, which implies eventually re-locating work to urban areas. (Iffy and costly satellite and wireless workarounds don't look like long-term solutions yet.)

The fiber optic infrastructure should resolve that, so that work depending on Internet connection can stay or come here. (Plus, the article notes, the project and services create jobs directly.)

A hearty thanks and kudos to the many participants in this private-sector/public partnership:

- TDS, InterCon and other contractors, for private investment and execution;

- Green County Development Corporation, for its support;

- the U.S. Department of Agriculture rural development team, for awarding grants to TDS; and,

- the two consecutive U.S. presidents who worked with Congress on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, i.e., the Stimulus), for critical funding of this infrastructure project.