If you’re generally used to easy, consistent access to broadband in an urban or suburban setting, and then find yourself in a more rural location − perhaps on vacation − you can quickly experience the real struggle that is high-speed data withdrawal. Discussions around broadband challenges in U.S. rural areas often reference an FCC report, which covered broadband deployment between December 2014 and December 2015. It found some 40 percent of people living in rural areas and Tribal lands lacking access to broadband services that meet the FCC’s benchmark speeds of 25 Mbps for downloads and 3 Mbps for uploads.

The costs of building out networks and then seeing a reasonable return on investment is obviously one of the biggest broadband challenges farther from more densely populated areas. And that limitation is of course an everyday issue that has potential economic, educational and other consequences for residents in those rural areas.

“Telecommunications is a critical utility service that can either leverage or disenfranchise rural communities,” Bryan Adams, director of sales and marketing at LS Networks, observes. “We’re committed to providing the infrastructure, operation and maintenance of high-speed voice and data services in support of the economic and educational advances that make communities strong.”

Adams was speaking to LS Networks’ recent announcement that it will deploy a high-density, fiber-optic broadband network in 25 rural communities in Oregon and Washington over the next two years. LS Networks is a privately held competitive local exchange and interexchange carrier. The program will offer what are said to be “simple broadband plans at 100 Mbps or 1 Gbps speeds for affordable prices.” The $1.2 million project, “Connected Communities,” launched in Maupin, Ore., in July and the first services will turn up in January 2017.

LS Networks Connected Communities can subscribe to monthly plans starting at $40 for 100 Mbps and $70 for 1 Gbps, according to the company. LS Networks reports it has built more than 7,500 route miles of high-capacity fiber broadband in Oregon, which already operates as a purpose-built IP services network. The company says it has “a mission to build in locations where others cannot or will not, with top-tier service for urban and rural communities alike.”

“We will continue to invest resources into regions that need it most,” Adams notes. “Our priority has always been to provide service before profit and to use telecommunications as a tool to bridge the communities that make the Pacific Northwest great — on both sides of the Cascades.”