The digital economy challenge facing peripheral rural areas

Abstract

While there is little dispute that rural SMEs have much to gain from an effective engagement with e-commerce, the experience to date, particularly for firms operating in remote locations, points to considerable barriers to their involvement in the digital economy in the short term. Despite the considerable effort being made by the European Union to heighten the awareness of the need for peripherally located rural SMEs to become more involved in exploiting the economic potential of the digital economy, among the major barriers preventing such an involvement by rural SMEs is the difficulty of obtaining affordable high-speed internet access in remote locations in this era of liberalized telecommunications markets.