Sens Capito, Hassan Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Help Close Urban-Rural Digital Divide

Sens Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) introduced the bipartisan Rural Reasonable and Comparable Wireless Act of 2018 to help close the urban-rural digital divide and expand access to broadband in rural communities.

The bill directs the Federal Communications Commission to develop regulations that would establish a national standard for determining whether mobile service, mobile data service, and broadband service in rural areas are reasonably comparable to the services provided in urban areas. If enacted, the bill would require the FCC to gather data about the average signal strengths and speeds of mobile services and the average speeds of broadband internet services from the 20 most-populated urban areas. The services provided in rural areas would be deemed reasonably comparable to urban area if the signal strengths and/or speeds meet or exceed the averages in the most-populated areas.