It’s hard enough for Coloradans in the state’s farming, ranching and mountain communities to be heard in the state’s centers of power, especially the Capitol. It doesn’t help when that is also literally true — due to spotty-to-nonexistent cell phone service in much of rural Colorado.

The good news is a legislative task force has been at work on the issue, attempting to make cell signals stronger and dropped calls fewer throughout Colorado’s mountains and across its vast Eastern Plains. While the full Legislature is on leave until January, an interim committee of lawmakers has been shaping up a short list of bills on rural mobile phone service its members want to introduce in the upcoming session.

The work of the Cell Phone Connectivity Interim Study Committee isn’t high profile, but it could turn out to be pivotal in bridging the glaring gaps in mobile phone coverage in many of Colorado’s rural reaches.

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Reliable smart-phone functions that residents of metro areas often take for granted can be iffy on the very same phones in rural climes. Whether it’s the myriad conveniences afforded by cell data or the fundamental need to place a voice call in an emergency, jobs, businesses and even lives can be stake.

As reported by The Gazette last week, the interim committee is drafting four bills for introduction in January to address rural cell phone needs.

One bill would enhance the role of state agencies in advancing cellular connectivity. Another would provide incentives for cell providers; options could include property tax exemptions and reductions as well as a fund to provide grants for unserved or underserved areas of the state.

Lawmakers also are looking at bills to streamline the cell phone tower permitting process, and to address intentional damage to the state’s cellular infrastructure.

Just as with the challenges in bringing high-speed internet service to rural Colorado, rural cell service also has lagged urban and suburban areas. Those gaps became apparent anew, as The Gazette report reminds us, during the pandemic, when many people shifted to remote working and learning. While metro-area denizens opened their laptops and dialed in the net through their cell phones’ hot spots, rural residents too often were stranded.

All Coloradans, in fact, could benefit from rural upgrades — while setting out on the open road to ski, hike, camp and the like.

“We know with better cell phone service, Coloradans can have peace of mind when traveling through the mountains,” Rep. Meghan Lukens, D-Steamboat, the committee’s chair, said during a West Slope tour by committee members. The tour was intended to highlight what operations, infrastructure, and emergency response networks are needed in rural Colorado for fast, reliable cell phone service.

“Today’s tour allowed us to not only engage with experts about some of the challenges of cell phone connectivity in rural Colorado but to learn more about what it takes to make cell phone coverage reliable in remote areas,” Lukens said.

Cell phones became a basic utility — a necessity — long ago. Yet, too many rural Coloradans still can’t rely on it. They deserve better.

It’s encouraging to see our state Legislature — for all its false starts, wrong turns and misfires on other issues — work together for practical solutions in an area where they’re needed more than ever.

Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board