This discussion of the potential role of telecommunications in rural development begins by identifying education, culture and recreation, social pursuits, information exchange, political activity, community development, and business opportunities as activities that might be benefitted by the use of telecommunications. The capabilities and applications of computer conferencing and the complex technologies such as communications satellites that are needed to be able to offer such services are then considered, as well as applications of remote sensing and telemetry systems of interest in the context of rural telecommunications. The Grassroots project, which brought telecommunications services to rural areas of Manitoba, is used as an example. (MES)