The Federal Communications Commission is moving ahead with a $9 billion effort to expand 5G mobile broadband service in rural areas.
The commission last week voted to roll out the first phase of the 5G Fund for Rural America, which will fund deployment of voice and 5G mobile broadband service infrastructure to unserved rural areas. While the fund has been in progress for several years, efforts to spend the money were stalled by a lack of accurate data on 5G availability.
Now, using its latest nationwide broadband map, the FCC has determined that more than 14 million homes and businesses lack access to 5G and is scheduled to begin distributing funds for expansion projects.
“For the first time in our history of supporting wireless networks through the universal service system, this agency has comprehensive data about where service is and is not all across the country,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “This will be the foundation of our plan to expand the 5G service in rural America to where it is needed most—where people live, work and travel.”
The rural population has fallen behind that of urban areas when it comes to 5G access, largely due to differences in technology, Oklahoma State economist Brian Whitacre told Agri-Pulse. Small antennas are placed on buildings every few blocks in cities. Different technologies are required for rural expanses; even with those, it can be tougher to maintain comparable speeds.
The FCC estimated at the end of 2022 that 64.3% of people living in rural areas, compared to 97.8% of urban residents, had access to mobile broadband with minimum download speeds of 35 megabits per second and upload speeds of 3 megabits per second.
Mobile access can be important for rural residents. Farmers require mobile internet service to keep them connected while doing field work. Rural residents without wired internet access may be able to pay their bills or do homework through a 4G or 5G connection.
“A lot of people don’t even have a home connection,” Whitacre said. “Their sole way of connecting to the internet is through mobile.”
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While FCC members are more confident in the accuracy of the current 5G map than they were with past iterations, broadband groups question whether the agency has a complete enough picture to begin funding expansion projects. “In the end, ‘improving’ is not the same as ‘accurate and reliable,’ and making final decisions based upon merely ‘improving’ maps risks locking in misguided decisions that could have impacts for decades,” NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association Executive Vice President Mike Romano said in a statement.
The Rural Wireless Association, in a press release, also expressed disappointment in FCC’s decision to base projects on stationary, outdoor readings of mobile broadband speeds rather than in-vehicle ones, which it said more accurately depict 5G mobility coverage.
Rosenworcel and Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Nathan Simington voted for the measure. Commissioner Brendan Carr dissented, arguing that the FCC should wait until the National Telecommunications and Information Administration finishes distributing $42.45 billion to states for high-speed internet projects.
Choosing not to wait for NTIA's Broadband Equity Access and Development (BEAD) Program would “blindfold carriers to the state of future deployment, increase the risk of stranded investment and raise per-location costs,” he said.
“Moving ahead now with the 5G Fund, without knowing the results of BEAD, will lead to the same types of problems that have plagued the Biden-Harris Administration’s other broadband funding initiatives: more overbuilding, more duplication, and less efficient use of taxpayer dollars,” he wrote.
