Sanford promotes rural areas

BYLINE: KATY STECH, The Post and Courier

Small, quiet towns across South Carolina are where some state leaders are working to create the next frontier of economic development.

On Monday, Gov. Mark Sanford laid out pieces of his economic vision for rural communities as he spoke to leaders at the South Carolina Rural Summit in North Charleston.

Sparsely populated areas can use programs such as widespread wireless Internet to spur business growth and attract companies, he said. And technology-focused efforts can help put rural areas ahead of well-established urban centers that have thrived on manufacturing and service sectors for decades.

"The industrial age favored urban areas," Sanford said. "The information age will favor rural areas."

Some companies already have begun putting dollars into smaller communities. Nearly a third of the $9.5 billion

invested in the state during the past four years has gone to building the economy in rural areas, Sanford said. And a quarter of the 150,000 jobs created during that period have been in rural areas.

"Those numbers are remarkable given the headwind that South Carolina is going against in urban areas," he said.

Future funding should be used to strengthen rural areas' access to technology, Sanford said, an idea that is getting some attention in Columbia.

In late February, House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, introduced a resolution that would create an entity called the South Carolina Wireless Technology and Communications Commission. The office's focus would be to implement a statewide wireless broadband network.

Also, the state's budget for the upcoming fiscal year includes $2 million for increasing Internet accessibility.

The money would be used in part to fund grants and to match private money earmarked for expanding broadband infrastructure to rural areas.

It also would help create an advisory committee within the state Department of Commerce to oversee that effort.

Statewide wireless Internet access would make South Carolina the first state to offer that type of coverage to its residents, according to Harrell's office.

The move also would spur business across the state, giving the private sector an advantage over other areas of the country, said Tom Persons, president and chief executive officer of the South Carolina Technology Alliance, a Columbia-based private-public think tank.

"There's no question that if we had broadband in our rural communities, the economic impact would be substantial," Persons said.

"It would create thousands and thousands of jobs, and the economic impact could be in the hundreds of millions" of dollars.

Another part of the conference focused on how rural areas can market themselves to tourists. Vacations in rural areas are becoming popular with people who "are wanting more than a sunburn and a shopping spree at the beach," Sanford said.

Reach Katy Stech at 937-5549 or kstech@postandcourier.com.