Montana Senators Call for Broadband Access for Rural Americans

Montana Senators Steve Daines and Jon Tester are working to ensure the federal government prioritizes high-speed broadband access for rural Americans.

In a bipartisan letter signed by more than a dozen Senators, Daines and Tester pressed Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, co-chairs of the Broadband Opportunity Council, for a detailed analysis of the various federal broadband initiatives that can be coordinated across agencies to bridge the digital divide and bring rural America into the 21st century.

“In many places in America, the forces of the free market economy are driving investment in broadband infrastructure and delivering quality networks at competitive prices, but broadband deployment and adoption in rural communities continues to fall behind,” the Senators wrote. “Whereas, fewer than one-in-ten citizens lack access to high speed broadband service in urban areas, it is the sad reality for a majority of rural Americans – 33 million people – whose innovative ideas cannot compete on a level playing field in a global economy.”

America’s rural communities face a severe disparity with their urban counterparts for access to high-speed broadband. The lack of access is also clearly seen in tribal communities, where 85 percent of rural tribal lands lack access to broadband, compared to 53 percent of non-tribal rural areas.