摘要：In this paper the term rural is applied to the countryside or anything related to it. Rural is often used in opposition to urban. However, this is not the case here. For the purpose of this Report, the expression “rural and remote†(or just “ruralâ€) refers to rural, isolated and poorly served areas by telecommunication facilities, where various factors interact to make the establishment of telecommunication services difficult. A rural area exhibits one or more of the following characteristics: scarcity or absence of public facilities such as reliable electricity supply, water, access roads and regular transport; scarcity of technical personnel; difficult topographical conditions, e.g. lakes, rivers, hills, mountains or deserts, which render the construction of wire telecommunication networks very costly; severe climatic conditions that make critical demands on the equipment; low level of economic activity mainly based on agriculture, fishing, handicrafts, etc.; low per capita income; underdeveloped social infrastructures (health, education, etc.).
