The digital divide that separates urban and rural areas is not limited to a matter of download and upload speed, but impacts people’s quality of life, local economic development, and the competitiveness of less populated territories.
Almost all services in the digitized society require a stable connection: from telemedicine and telecare to online educational platforms, and electronic administration tools.
This growing importance of connectivity makes it even more of a priority to close the digital divide between urban and rural areas, with the latter being the most affected by the lack of adequate infrastructure or its high deployment cost.
In this article, we will analyze the challenges faced by rural areas in accessing stable and fast internet, as well as the solutions emerging to bridge this digital divide, and how these solutions are also elevating tourism management in these environments.
What is the reality of the digital divide in rural areas?
To understand the magnitude of the problem, it is enough to examine some data from official studies and reports. At the European Union level, numerous initiatives have been promoted with the aim of ensuring broadband coverage to the entire population, such as the WiFi4EU program.
Nevertheless, significant inequalities still persist between regions and countries, as shown in Eurostat reports and statistics. Even though significant achievements have been made in terms of 4G coverage and fast broadband, rural areas still exist without the necessary infrastructure.
European investments and projects seek to remedy these shortcomings, but the pace of deployment and budgetary availability vary significantly across territories.
In the United States, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) maintains a specific program to promote connectivity in rural areas, through support and funding plans that facilitate the arrival of broadband and fiber optics to hard-to-reach areas.
This program is part of a set of measures to ensure that rural areas can access essential digital services. However, as in Europe, there is a gap between well-covered regions and areas where low population density hinders private investment.
The result of these realities is that millions of people live in areas with limited or poor-quality Internet connectivity, often leading to a lack of job, educational, and social opportunities. In an increasingly digitized world, the gap between those who have access and those who do not becomes a critical factor of inequality.
Why is it a priority to bring internet to a rural area?
The underlying question is why it is so important to ensure high-speed internet connection in rural areas. In summary, we can highlight the following reasons:
Equity of opportunity: Internet access enables online education, job searching, and administrative procedures without the need to travel long distances. Without a good connection, people living in rural areas are at a disadvantage compared to those living in more connected cities.
- Local economic development: internet is a gateway to e-commerce, remote work, and the provision of digital services. For rural small businesses and local entrepreneurs, having a fast and stable connection can represent a qualitative leap in their business.
- Population attraction: many rural areas suffer from depopulation. Ensuring access to quality Internet is an incentive to retain the existing population and attract new residents, who can carry out their work remotely without giving up the comforts of urban life.
- Essential services: health and education are key sectors in social cohesion and human development. Telemedicine and online training are services that, without adequate broadband coverage, cannot reach those living in rural environments.
What benefits does having an optimal Wi-Fi infrastructure bring to rural tourism destinations?
Rural areas not only house local populations, but also welcome visitors and tourists seeking to disconnect from the city and enjoy nature, culture, and local gastronomy.
However, nowadays, most tourists expect to have a stable internet connection during their stay. This demand influences the choice of destinations and the overall satisfaction of the travel experience.
Furthermore, Internet connectivity is not the only relevant factor in the tourism sector; location analytics plays an essential role in optimizing the management and planning of tourism activities. Thanks to Location Analytics tools, authorities and tourism destination managers can collect data on:
- Visitor flows: how many arrive, when they arrive, how long they spend in each area.
- Mobility patterns: where they move and what are the most visited places.
- Saturation of specific points of interest: identify potential bottlenecks and plan service improvements.
With this information, it is possible to design more efficient and sustainable tourism strategies, adapt the service offerings, plan access and schedules, and improve the experience of those who visit the place, increasing the likelihood that they will return and recommend it.
How we contribute to optimizing internet access and tourism management in a rural area
At Galgus, we make our smart connectivity and location and presence analytics technology available to local councils in rural areas so they can enjoy all the advantages we have developed in this article.
To this end, our AI-powered Wi-Fi technology is responsible for bringing public internet to streets and buildings. Installing access points with our software in common spaces, plazas, and municipal buildings offers the population free internet access.
This technology optimizes Wi-Fi network performance, allowing access points to function intelligently and in a coordinated manner. It achieves better performance, reduces interference between devices, and increases connection stability.
On the other hand, our Location & Presence Analytics technology makes it possible to reliably understand tourist behavior. With it, valuable anonymized data can be obtained about how visitors interact with the environment.
A solution with the highest accuracy on the market, reaching 95%. This is thanks to its ability to detect devices not connected to the Wi-Fi network, as well as mitigate distortions in counting caused by MAC address randomization.
Some related success stories
To illustrate what has been discussed, we can mention three outstanding projects where Galgus technology has been successfully used to improve connectivity and information management in rural areas or locations with high tourist traffic.
- Patones de Arriba: This municipality in the Community of Madrid, known for its high historical and scenic value, significantly improved its internet connectivity and optimized its visitor flow management. Thanks to Galgus technology, it was possible to gather data on the busiest areas and peak hours.
DTI Badajoz: The Smart Tourist Destination project in Badajoz involved the deployment of high-quality access points and the integration of data analysis systems to provide authorities with real-time information on people’s movement and network usage. This knowledge enables the adjustment of the tourist and cultural offerings, improvement of event safety and sustainability, and more accurate planning of future investments.
WIFI4EU: Within the European initiative WiFi4EU, aimed at providing free, high-speed Wi-Fi in public spaces throughout Europe, Galgus has participated in the installation and optimization of networks in numerous municipalities. This program has demonstrated that, with the right technology and investment, it is possible to bring the Internet to remote spaces and ensure its free and universal use, thereby reducing the digital divide in the beneficiary localities.
The digital divide in rural areas remains a reality, but the good news is that there are technological solutions and deployment strategies that allow the internet to reach increasingly remote locations.
We hope that this detailed overview of the challenges and solutions for bringing the Internet to rural areas helps to raise awareness about the importance of connectivity in remote areas and to spread the advantages of technologies like Galgus’s. Because, ultimately, the future of digital transformation cannot leave anyone behind, and innovation must serve all people, wherever they live.
To conclude, if you are interested in learning more about the operation and advantages of our Location Analytics technology, we encourage you to download this free dossier, with which you will discover its full potential.
