Grange to FCC: T-Mobile, Sprint merger promises to rural providers, customers imperative
While the National Grange has not taken a position on the proposed merger of cellular companies T-Mobile and Sprint, in a letter addressed to Marlene Dortch, Secretary of the FCC, the nation’s oldest rural advocacy organization pointed out the many promises made by those in support of the merger to help expand broadband technology into new rural communities.
“Despite the FCC’s efforts over many years, rural deployment of broadband still lags behind the rest of the country,” National Grange President Betsy Huber wrote. This is especially a concern for wireless broadband—about 14 million customers in rural areas do not have access to wireless broadband at speeds of 10 Mbps or more, and rural LTE deployment in rural areas essentially ended in 2014.”
“One of the most encouraging aspects of the proposed T-Mobile/Sprint merger is that the companies plan not only to serve rural areas, but also to provide the type of quality, speed and in-building service that urban parts of the country have long taken for granted,” Huber said. “If the combined company succeeded in deploying these services, the merger would help usher in an enormous change in how wireless providers serve rural areas, and would materially benefit rural communities.”
