FCC https://www.fcc.gov Chairman Ajit Pai recently circulated a draft “Notice of Proposed Rulemaking” to establish a 5G Fund for rural America which would distribute up to $9 billion across the country to establish 5G connectivity.
The 5G fund would target rural areas that would not see the timely deployment of 5G service and are not likely to be covered by the T-Mobile transaction commitments. The FCC will vote on the “Notice of Proposed Rulemaking” at their April 23, open meeting.
As part of their recently approved transaction, T-Mobile is committed to deploying 5G service to 99% of Americans within six years which will include covering 90% of people living in rural America. Some rural areas, however, will not see the technological and economic benefits of 5G if there are insufficient financial incentives for mobile wireless carriers to invest in 5G-capable networks through rural U.S.
The FCC is proposing to use the Universal Service Fund for support. Building on the success of the “Connect America Fund Phase II auction and the upcoming “Rural Digital Opportunity Fund” Phase I auction, the FCC is proposing to award funding for 5G services through a reverse auction.
The FCC is seeking comments on two options to identify areas that would be eligible for 5G Fund support:
- Under the first approach for Phase I, the FCC would hold an auction in 2021 by defining eligible areas based on current data sources and then identifying areas as particularly rural and in the greatest need for universal service support. The proposal would prioritize areas that historically have lacked 4G LTE or 3G service
- The second approach would delay the 5G Fund Phase I auction until at least 2023, after collecting and processing improved mobile broadband coverage data through the FCC’s new “Digital Opportunity Data Collection”.
Phase II of the 5G Fund would target support to bring wireless connectivity to harder to serve and higher cost areas and make at least $1 billion available for deployments that help farms and ranches.