Further rollout could prove a boon to rural areas where fixed line broadband speeds are poor.
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The plans would see the line run through rural parts of Staffordshire and linking up with the existing station in Crewe, south Cheshire.
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Sinn Fein's Cathal Boylan asked about the funding for fixed-line broadband in rural areas, something which Mrs Foster said was not possible in certain cases due the prohibitive cost.
It's a mix of prosperous green suburbs, wooded rural areas, and old-line factory towns trying to adapt to the service economy.
Louis Mayor Francis Slay told CNN it was an "insult" that rural projects were at the head of the line.
Video shot by an Associated Press cameraman, in the presence of Serb officials who escorted him to the scene, showed bodies strewn along a rural road near what appeared to be a line of wagons pulled by tractors.
In response, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe plans to close 3, 700 post offices, many in small rural communities where the local post office is their logistical supply line to the larger world.
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On the domestic front, China's rural poor population has declined for the first time since the poverty line was raised in 2011, although poverty alleviation work remains arduous, Xinhua news agency reports.
So far there has been no expression of interest from England or Scotland in following the international lead set in a tiny town in rural mid-Wales by a charity that does not have a phone line and makes all its calls on Skype.
Industrial output in December rose 10.3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2011, while 2012 non-rural fixed-asset investment climbed 20.6 percent year-over-year, all in line with market expectations.
That's just the tip of the iceberg, though -- beyond the lack of hot hardware, rural carriers are struggling to find a way to pay for network upgrades that'll get them in line with what the rest of the world's up to.
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