Rural Americans Stand to Lose in Proposed T-Mobile/Sprint Merger

Mobile Beacon's Executive Director and NACEPF's Director of Development, Katherine Messier and Rural Wireless Association's General Counsel, Carri Bennet penned an op-ed in support of connectivity for Rural America.  This op-ed was published on Morning Consult on February 14th. 

One of the central challenges facing our country today is the growing divide between rural and urban America. As many economists have noted, rural areas are increasingly lacking the opportunities for job creation and growth that are found in our big cities.

That gap is bad for our economy and society. Closing it will require a wide range of initiatives, investments and policies that promote ongoing, innovative public-partnerships like those that exist today with educational entities who lease their 2.5 GHz spectrum to Sprint in exchange for broadband service and equipment to serve students, low-income families, and anchor institutions in their communities. These are the unserved and underserved populations that are left behind in the digital economy.

Mobile broadband is the essential infrastructure component to ensure rural communities can participate in the modern economy. Unfortunately, the proposed Sprint/T-Mobile merger takes rural America in the wrong direction, threatening to reduce rural access to affordable, reliable, high-speed wireless data connections at a time when we need to be expanding it.

Read the full article at MorningConsult.com