PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Broadband Internet service is opening up a world of new possibilities for small businesses in Oregon.

One example is MaintSmart Software Inc., which sells to customers in 25 countries from three desktop computers in offices near the North Bend airport.

MaintSmart moved from Lodi, Calif., in 2006, said Vice President Dan Cook, three years after a company owned by the Coquille Indian Tribe installed optical fiber cable.

"All of my business is done on the Internet," said Cook, whose software is used to maintain industrial machinery. "If we couldn't get a fast Internet connection here, this area would have been out, period."

Telecommunications infrastructure has become a real strength and strategic asset for Oregon over the past five years, said Chris Tamarin, telecommunications coordinator for the state Economic and Community Development Department.

"Before the Internet, small businesses in small towns had fairly local trading markets," Tamarin said. "Telecommunications services are an enabler. They allow small businesses in small towns to compete in national and international markets."

In 2000, 22 percent of the ZIP codes in Oregon had no broadband access.

Just five years later, all but 2 percent of ZIP codes in the state have broadband access. The gap in unemployment rates between rural and nonrural counties has narrowed during that time, for whatever reason, with unemployment in rural counties now only 1.5 percent higher than in urban counties.

Reliable broadband service has been installed on most of the Oregon coast in the past three or four years, said Onno Husing, executive director of the Oregon Coastal Zone Management Association. That's bringing an under-the-radar business revolution.

"It's created an entirely new, quiet, sustainable economic sector on the Oregon coast," Husing said. "All of these things that used to hold back rural communities are disappearing."

Jon Richards, operator of the rural incubator where MaintSmart is located, said optical fiber lines have given new life to his region, which suffers from a poor transportation infrastructure.

"We are at a real disadvantage when it comes to moving heavy product," said Richards, who also directs the Small Business Development Center at Southwestern Oregon Community College in Coos Bay. "But if we can compete on moving data and information, we'll be much more attractive and have a more dynamic economy."

Hundreds of miles to the east, Richard Chaves of Chaves Consulting Inc. of Baker City said high-speed Internet access has made his business possible. His company handles all the billing for the Oregon Health Plan, as well as being the help desk for a software firm in Seattle and the help desk for election software used by all of Oregon's county clerks.

"In my opinion, the Internet is a tool that rural communities can exploit," Chaves said. "We can compete from a cost standpoint really well against companies in larger cities."

Some business advocates note that many rural residents are still waiting for affordable broadband access.

Bill Carter, state director Oregon Small Business Development Centers, a network of 20 training centers, said businesses in rural areas need low-cost high-speed Internet access to stay competitive.

"It's not getting better fast enough," Carter said. (Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)