This story from The Register shows a new way of getting broadband Internet to rural areas.

Not wanting to be too cynical but:

Firstly it seems that they have come up with a way to get 802.11g to work upto 10km at 54Mbs while keeping within the legal limit. Even using split RX/TX aerial gains its hard to push 2mbs over that distance. Even then thats as long as your chimney is about 50 feet off the ground.

Secondly I suspect that their definition of rural is somewhat different from mine - I live in a rural area and one of the things you notice is the huge number of energy absorbing trees - there is nothing like a wet conifer for absorbing everything you throw at it. In most places the visible horizon is less than 1km - villages tend to be at river level in valleys.
Unless they have something different in mind for the backbone I suspect this one might dissapear before it starts.- Pity, I'd love to sign up but redhotant took my last spare change.....