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Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Lack of cell-phone coverage hampers economic development in some rural towns

Sparse cell phone coverage around Bridegport, Ala., population 2,728, is hurting its prospects for economic development because current prospective employers dissatisfied with the lack of cell service choose other locales, Andy Johns of the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports.

"They found out we don't have any service, so they went somewhere else," city council member Leon Dave told Johns. "We feel like we're getting left out."

Steve Berry, CEO of the Washington-based Rural Cellular Association, told Johns, "Bridgeport's frustrations are valid, and the same thing is happening in sparsely populated areas nationwide." He added, "There are coverage gaps nationwide where large cellular companies have decided it's not profitable to build towers. It's tough for small companies to come in and fill those gaps . . . because their phones won't work with the larger networks outside their small areas."

Sharing of towers among cell-phone companies is "not likely to happen anytime soon, because opponents argue that sharing towers would take away companies' incentive to expand and forfeit the money industry leaders have spent to gain commercial advantages," Johns reports. Berry suggests that Bridgeport and other small communities "contact the carriers and offer city cell contracts to any provider that gives reliable service. That would give a cell company some guaranteed customers before it brought its system online." (Read more)

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