The US Federal Communications Commission makes up to $9bn available to close the digital divide in rural America.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has launched the 5G Fund for Rural America, putting up $9 billion over 10 years to expand high-speed wireless broadband coverage in the US. The FCC plans to hold multi-round reverse auctions in two phases to bring 5G coverage in areas that lack it, and to close the digital divide in the US. The FCC fund’s approval follows its April proposal to make $9bn available to bring 5G to rural areas that would probably not be delivered 5G broadband. SEE: 5G smartphones: A cheat sheet (free PDF) (TechRepublic) The 5G Fund comes as the FCC begins the process of assessing bids for the up-to $16 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), which Elon Musk’s SpaceX has qualified to bid in for its beta-phase Starlink satellite broadband service. Starlink has told beta users that they can expect data speeds of between 50Mbs to 150Mbs and latency from 20ms to 40ms over the next several months, which is significantly less than the 100ms latency the FCC required to be qualified for RDOF funding.
