Democratic and Republican House members asked the GAO...

Democratic and Republican House members asked the GAO to conduct a study of communications services on tribal lands. “We're deeply concerned by the lack of access to communications services in Tribal communities and the barriers this presents to education, public safety, and economic development,” said a Wednesday letter (http://1.usa.gov/1jzjym2) signed by Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., along with Reps. Tom Cole, R-Okla., and Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., and Don Young, R-Alaska. They asked about efforts at various levels to collect data on communications availability, “including fixed and mobile broadband, wireline and wireless phone service, and radio and television broadcast service,” as well as programs that help in promoting the deployment of such infrastructure and service adoption. They also request a list of “challenges that exist to increasing telecommunications subscribership rates for residents on Tribal lands and recommendations for addressing those barriers.”