FCC to ‘reignite’ $9 billion US rural 5G fund

A bipartisan vote on new rules ‘reignites’ the 5G Fund for Rural America, declared the FCC, based on a new broadband coverage map, which it says shows that millions of homes and businesses lack mobile 5G coverage. 

Prior to this reigniting there was a relaunch of the scheme back in March. It proposes to distribute $9 billion over the next decade to deliver coverage to the 14 million homes and businesses that currently don't have 5G. The scheme was originally launched back in 2020 (PDF), but when it came to identifying specific areas with insufficient coverage, the FCC's initial map seemingly lacked sufficient detail, and so it started making incremental improvements.

Phase 1 of the scheme will now involve a multi-round reverse auction to distribute up to $9 billion to fund 5G deployments in areas of the country ‘unlikely to otherwise see unsubsidized deployment of 5G-capable networks.’

The new rules also seem to be about ensuring that areas in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands are included in the auction and proportionally increasing a portion of the fund set aside to support connecting Tribal communities. 

There is also a requirement that recipients of 5G Fund support implement cybersecurity and supply chain risk management plans, and the fund now includes up to up to $900 million in incentives to promote the deployment of Open RAN.

In 2021, a Task Force was set up to implement ‘long-overdue improvements’ to the agency’s broadband data and mapping tools, and this apparently continues to gather data and update the maps ‘to ensure that programs like the 5G Fund effectively target its resources.’

The regulator now seems largely satiated with the progress it has made on that front and so is pushing on with it.

“With the progress we’ve made in mapping broadband service availability, there is no reason to wait to put the 5G Fund to work connecting households and businesses in rural communities across the country,” said FCC Chairwoman Rosenworcel.  “We are ready to use every tool available to make sure that those who live, work, and travel in rural America have access to advanced, 5G mobile wireless broadband services.”

“We are doing this now because for the first time we have comprehensive data about the state of wireless service across the country. To put a finer point on it, we now know exactly where there are mobile dead zones. This is thanks to the extraordinary work of our Broadband Data Task Force, which has carefully used the authority we have under the Broadband DATA Act to map what areas need assistance so we can use this information to direct universal service funding going forward. That means the 5G Fund for Rural America will be data driven like nothing that has come before.”

The expected start of this auction is to be announced, and the FCC will use ‘decades of auction expertise to develop a state-of-the-art bidding system that will streamline the process’, we’re told.