Many rural Montana areas can't get high-speed Internet service, and their county governments lack interactive Web-based services, a study released Monday says.

It concluded that Internet access in Montana costs 20-40 percent more than the average charges for all categories of service nationally.

Many rural counties' Web sites, sponsored by tourism agencies and local chambers of commerce, offer little to enable people to engage in government online, the study said.

Montana Common Cause and Montana State University Professor Richard S. Wolff undertook the study to evaluate how much the Internet growth has allowed Montanans to participate in democracy through electronic government.

"Montana's more metropolitan areas are experiencing significant population and economic growth, and much of the growth in information is centered in these areas," said Wolff, Gilhousen telecommunications chairman at MSU. "This study demonstrates that the rural and remote regions of the state are underserved and falling behind."

Harold Blattie, executive director of the Montana Association of Counties, said it all comes down to money.

"I certainly would be hard-pressed to find any disagreement with the general observation that rural counties are not able to provide the level of Web services that the larger counties do," he said. "It just boils down to level of resources. When it comes down to pay for the (Internet) bill or gravel the road, counties just have to prioritize."

The study didn't estimate how much it would cost to fix the problems it identified.

It recommended that the Federal Communications Commission conduct a more in-depth study to more carefully identify and quantify the availability of high-speed Internet in rural Montana.

The study suggested that the universal service funds, now used to bring telephone services to rural areas, be extended to provide high-cost Internet service to high-cost and low-income areas.

It suggested including standards for local government Web sites and interactive services in the state information technology plan and allocating money to help rural areas gain these services.

The study found these other significant gaps:

- Two-thirds of Montana's 56 counties have Web sites, but those in rural counties are not comparable to those more populous areas and are well behind national levels.

- Rural county Web sites offer online services in less than half of the categories defined in nationwide county and municipal electronic government assessments.

- Internet service and community-run electronic media, such as low-power FM and TV coverage, are less available in areas with older and declining populations.

- Universal service fund expenses for Internet access for schools and libraries have been higher on a per capita basis in rural Montana, but the general population has not seen the benefit.

"The solutions are, of course, yet to be worked out," Wolff said. "The purpose of the study was to see what the issues are."

Ellie Hill, executive director of the Poverello Center, a homeless shelter and soup kitchen in Missoula said, "It is clear that the poor, the elderly, the disenfranchised and our rural Montanans do not have equal access to e-government participation in their community and their own democracy. Their voices need to be heard."

Click here to read the full results of the study.