Telecottages : hopes and results in rural development

Rural development is a constant challenge in every region, all around the world. To various extents and in different forms, but rural areas are coping with significant social and economic disadvantages both in the developed countries and the former socialist countries of Europe, as well as of other continents. Many researcher and politician believed that the digital revolution, the headway of the information society would greatly contribute to the decrease of social and regional inequalities. But these expectations have not been validated by any data. Location of telecottages in Hungary supports the fact that the digital “revolution”, the results of the information society do not increase the probability of underdeveloped rural areas' closing up, rather they sustain, and, in some cases, enhance the disparities