Companies that provide telecommunication and wireless services are asking legislators to update Iowa law to ensure those who sabotage infrastructure like cell phone towers or buried cables can be charged with a felony.
Doug Struyk, a lobbyist for The Wireless Association — the trade group that represents the companies that provide cell phone service, spoke at a House subcommittee meeting this morning.
“Your cell phone is also providing you with cable television; when you watch YouTube TV, it’s your ISP; you’re getting to the internet on that and you’re making phone calls on it. So, is that a wireless service? Is that a broadband provider? Is that an internet service? It’s all three,” Struyk said, “so what we’re doing here wholistically, representatives, is expanding that definition to clarify what’s included within broadband and telecommunications.”
Due to a court ruling, the definition of telecommunication services has been changed at the federal level and a bill to make the same adjustments in Iowa law has cleared a House subcommittee. A lobbyist for the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities said a felony charge for tampering with critical infrastructure is an important deterrent.
.”We have seen an increase in vandalism incidents to this infrastructure, which results in everything from just an internet outage to 911 lines being off line for a while,” said Clara Wulfsen, a lobbyist for the Iowa Cable and Telecommunications Association, “so it’s really important that they are protected.”
At a summit in Texas last year, representatives of the telecom industry said there were an average of 44 incidents of cell phone tower vandalism every day in the U.S.. It’s driven by the rising price for copper, as thieves are climbing cell phone towers to steal cables that contain copper. Three years ago, thieves caught stealing from a series of small cell towers in the Denver area caused $800,000 in damage.