Broadband: The Game Changer for Rural America

To the Editor:

Can you imagine never having spoken with a family member on the telephone or having seen the President on your television screen? These technologies revolutionized our country during the 20th Century – but some Americans had to wait for them longer than others. 

Town meetings in my most rural counties centered on talk of television – or the lack thereof – when I arrived in Congress in 1983. For some, mountains blocked television reception in the valleys below. For others, only one local station was available. With the Satellite Home Viewer Act, we worked through these challenges and brought the benefits of video connectivity to thousands of Americans, improving their lives.

Today, millions of Americans are taking advantage of the benefits of broadband, from real-time news to on-demand education and information to better health care options. The Internet advances daily life and transforms the way we’re able to interact with our world. But too many Americans have yet to experience this phenomenon, to take advantage of the opportunities it provides.

This promise of expansive rural opportunity leads me to support AT&T’s proposed merger with T-Mobile. The companies combining their strengths will bring 4G LTE wireless broadband access, with data speeds rivaling today’s fastest wired connections, to more than 97 percent of Americans. President Obama has set a goal for 98 percent of the population to have broadband access within five years; the combination of AT&T and T-Mobile very nearly achieves the President’s goal and does so with private capital, not taxpayer funds.

Rick Boucher was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He chaired the Subcommittee on Communications and the Internet and cofounded the Congressional Internet Caucus. He’s currently the Honorary Chairman of the Internet Innovation Alliance and the head of the Government Strategies Practice at Washington, D.C. law firm Sidley Austin.