July 27, 2017

Wyden Supports Rural Wireless Act

Senator says reliability of rural coverage must be improved in Oregon

 

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said today he supports new bipartisan legislation that would help build out cell service and wireless internet coverage throughout rural Oregon.

“Wireless coverage is essential for law enforcement and healthcare providers to respond quickly to life-and-death situations and for precision agriculture as well as small mom-and-pop businesses to communicate with their customers in the global economy,” Wyden said.  “Simply put, the reliability of wireless coverage data maps must be improved for the safety and well-being of rural Oregonians.”

Wyden said the Rural Wireless Act of 2017 would achieve those reliability goals by requiring the Federal Communications Commission to establish a methodology for the collection of information about commercial mobile service and mobile data service.

“This legislation would ensure the FCC has accurate cell service coverage maps throughout Oregon and across the country,” said Wyden, a co-sponsor of the bill. “Accurate maps showing where coverage gaps exist are crucial to making sure federal support gets properly targeted where it’s needed most to build out broadband service.”