Microsoft to help expand rural broadband in 6 states

Microsoft announced it is teaming up with communities in six states to to invest in technology and related jobs in rural and smaller metropolitan areas. Company president Brad Smith launched the TechSpark program in Fargo (ND), a metropolitan area of more than 200,000 people that includes a Microsoft campus with about 1,500 employees. Smith says the six communities are different by design and not all have a Microsoft presence.

Smith says TechSpark is a multi-year, multi-million dollar investment to help teach computer science to students, expand rural broadband and help create and fill jobs, among other things. The other programs will be in Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming. “This is really a blueprint for private-public partnerships,” said Gov Doug Burgum (R-ND), himself a former Microsoft executive.