Sens Fischer, Klobuchar press the FCC on rural broadband affordability

Sens Deb Fischer (R-NE) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) praised the Federal Communication Commission’s efforts to expand broadband access to rural America but expressed concern about high internet costs that these communities are facing. In a bipartisan letter spearheaded by the two senators and signed by 54 of their colleagues, they noted that their constituencies are facing higher prices for telephone and internet bundles when many only want internet service. “We are still hearing frustration about the prices for and the availability of standalone broadband,” the senators wrote. “Many operators remain unable or unwilling to offer such broadband because their prices would still be unreasonably high even after the reforms. Other operators may offer standalone broadband, but the costs they are forced to recover from rural consumers far exceed what urban consumers would pay for the same service,” they continued.