Across the vast and varied landscape of the United States, millions of Americans reside in, work, and visit rural and remote areas, far from our bustling urban centers. These wide, open spaces and challenging terrain are home to families, farmers, outdoor enthusiasts, and small-business owners, key to our nation’s cultural and economic fabric. Like in more densely populated areas, reliable access to wireless and communications services plays a key role in modern life, from economic, social, and educational opportunities to access to public safety and emergency services.
Worryingly, lack of funding for a critical congressional mandate means that too many of these communities face a significant threat to connectivity and security due to untrusted foreign telecommunications infrastructure. In early 2020, the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act was signed into law, creating the “Rip-and-Replace” program to remove communications network equipment and services found to pose risk to our national security, including from companies that have been linked to the Chinese Communist Party. The potential exploitation of our networks for surveillance or cyber-attacks on American soil is a risk too great to ignore — which is why Congress created the replacement program.
Unfortunately, this program cannot succeed without full funding. Initial funding now provided by Congress has been divided up and the impacted wireless carriers can access only up to 40% of otherwise approved cost estimates. This is not enough.
Congress needs to finish the job. To safeguard the integrity of our national communications networks and ensure that no American faces reduced connectivity, Congress must fully and immediately fund the Rip-and-Replace mandate to remove and replace vulnerable telecommunications infrastructure. Smaller regional and rural carriers frequently provide the sole option for connectivity in the communities they serve.
Carriers with Chinese-made equipment are required to remove the equipment, but many of the smaller carriers we represent do not have the funding to subsequently replace it with trusted alternatives. This means tens of thousands of square miles in the U.S.
might soon permanently lose cell service. July was the date originally intended for the Rip-and-Replace projects to be completed. Instead, deadline extensions have been granted through no fault of the carriers as projects are unfinished and cannot be completed without sufficient funding.
Rip-and-Replace projects are present in nearly every state across the country, but the state with the highest number of sites affected is Colorado. For Colorado, a state with beautiful national parks, a rapidly growing tech sector, and a sizable military presence, the implications of compromised and discontinued telecommunications infrastructure are particularly severe. Failure to fund Rip-and-Replace could mean the difference between life and death.
Imagine hiking a trail in Indian Peaks or skiing high above in the slopes of the Rockies only to suddenly require medical assistance and lack access to cell service and 911 emergency services. The well-prepared might come equipped with satellite phones and emergency beacons, but for millions of Americans who live, travel, and roam through our nation’s remote and rural lands, a cellphone is the most straightforward and efficient tool within reach. The future of the nation’s telecommunications infrastructure and Coloradans’ connectivity is in Congress’s hands.
There has been momentum, with the Senate Commerce Committee debating this issue at multiple meetings and recently reporting a bill that would fund this shortfall. It is time to finish the job. Congress must fully fund Rip-and-Replace.
Tim Donovan is president and CEO of Competitive Carriers Association, representing competitive telecommunications providers ranging from small, rural carriers serving fewer than 5,000 customers to regional and nationwide providers serving millions, as well as vendors and suppliers delivering products and services throughout the communications ecosystem. www.ccamobile.
org.
