Title: Rural Wireless Access Act of 2017
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications

Summary:
Rural Wireless Access Act of 2017
This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission to establish a consistent methodology for its collection of coverage data about the available speed tiers and performance characteristics of commercial mobile and data service for the Universal Service program or any similar programs.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1621 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1621

    To require the Federal Communications Commission to establish a 
 methodology for the collection by the Commission of information about 
 commercial mobile service and commercial mobile data service, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 24, 2017

Mr. Wicker (for himself, Mr. Manchin, Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Barrasso, Mrs. 
  Fischer, Mr. Moran, Mr. Schatz, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Peters, and Mr. 
Wyden) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 
       to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To require the Federal Communications Commission to establish a 
 methodology for the collection by the Commission of information about 
 commercial mobile service and commercial mobile data service, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Rural Wireless Access Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. METHODOLOGY FOR COLLECTION OF MOBILE SERVICE COVERAGE DATA.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section--
            (1) the term ``commercial mobile data service'' has the 
        meaning given the term in section 6001 of the Middle Class Tax 
        Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1401);
            (2) the term ``commercial mobile service'' has the meaning 
        given the term in section 332(d) of the Communications Act of 
        1934 (47 U.S.C. 332(d));
            (3) the term ``Commission'' means the Federal 
        Communications Commission;
            (4) the term ``coverage data'' means, if commercial mobile 
        service or commercial mobile data service is available, 
        information about the service, which may include available 
        speed tiers and performance characteristics; and
            (5) the term ``Universal Service program'' means the 
        universal service support mechanisms established under section 
        254 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254) and the 
        regulations issued under that section.
    (b) Methodology Established.--Not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall promulgate 
regulations to establish a methodology that shall apply to the 
collection of coverage data by the Commission for the purposes of--
            (1) the Universal Service program; or
            (2) any other similar program.
    (c) Requirements.--The methodology established under subsection (b) 
shall--
            (1) contain standard definitions for different speed tiers, 
        such as the 2G, 3G, 4G, and 4G LTE tiers;
            (2) ensure that coverage data is collected in a consistent 
        and robust way;
            (3) improve the validity and reliability of coverage data; 
        and
            (4) increase the efficiency of coverage data collection.
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