The Internet, in its current form, is only about a decade old. I don't have the numbers, but I think it'd be safe to say that within 10 years of the invention of the telephone, a much lower percentage of rural (not to mention, urban and suburban) residents had access to that technology. Ditto television, the radio, electricity, etc.

The growth in rural communities was all very big. From 41% to 53% in just two years. Even more interesting was the jump in rural broadband users, from 3% to 19% of internet users in the same time.

I didn't see any findings for how many users in those communities had access to the Internet, the way they describe their research is by Internet use. Those are two very different things, and the last study I'd seen had access figures at greater than 80% nationally.

Personally, I think the digital divide is pretty much a myth in this country, and with the emergence of broadband, satellite connections, it will also be less of a problem in other countries than might be imagined (ie - it'll be easier to give a rural village in India Internet access than it will be to build the physical infrastructure for transportation to that village).