Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

The FCC and White House want to bring high-speed internet to rural areas

Christian de Looper
By

The government wants to make sure 5G and high-speed broadband reaches rural areas, and that the U.S. is leading the way in launching new high-speed internet tech. To that end, the Trump administration and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced a new plan to roll out high-speed internet to rural communities through the new “Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.”

Of course, bringing the internet to rural areas isn’t cheap — and the FCC says that it will inject $20.4 billion into broadband networks in an effort to connect up to 4 million homes and businesses in rural areas over the next 10 years. The $20.4 billion will be given to companies in the form of subsidies over 10 years, as an incentive to build out broadband infrastructure.

Recommended Videos

The government isn’t just working on bringing broadband to rural areas — it also wants to jump-start the rollout of 5G. Because of that, the FCC will auction off three segments of the millimeter-wave spectrum, which is the spectrum of frequencies that can offer massive data speeds, but over shorter distances and with limited versatility. The auction will take place in December, according to Pai, who also noted that the FCC will auction off a total of 3,400MHz of spectrum, which will be broken up into three bands. On top of that, the FCC says it is planning other auctions in the future — though no details about when those will take place were revealed.

This isn’t the first auction of spectrum for 5G from the FCC. A few years ago, the FCC made 19.8 billion from a 5G spectrum auction, with T-Mobile coming out ahead by spending $8 billion. Now that 5G is starting to roll out, carriers may be feeling the pressure to deploy it as quickly as possible.

The FCC is making other steps to speed up the deployment of 5G, too. As part of the new “5G Fast” plan, the FCC is giving cities 90 days to process 5G infrastructure applications and will restrict how much they can charge for that deployment.

We’ll have to wait and see just how much the 5G auction impacts the rollout of mobile 5G, and whether or not the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund can truly bring high-speed internet to underserved areas in the country.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Christian de Looper
Christian de Looper
Contributor
Christian’s interest in technology began as a child in Australia, when he stumbled upon a computer at a garage sale that he…
Cricket Wireless brings 5G access to all plans and removes speed cap

Cricket Wireless, part of AT&T's Prepaid Portfolio -- the fastest growing prepaid carrier since 2019, has reached 12.4 million subscribers. With the milestone, Cricket is changing its rate plans to allow customers faster, less restricted 5G speeds.

New or existing customers of Cricket Wireless will get access to 5G on all plans, starting at $25 a month. Cricket has also announced they are removing the 8 Mbps speed cap on their $30, $40, and $55 plans, allowing customers to take advantage of faster download speeds offered by 5G. Naturally, you'll need a 5G-compatible phone to get full use out of it, though presumably, anyone can benefit from the removal of the speed cap.

Read more
Verizon 5G home internet service: Coverage, speeds, and plans
Verizon 5G Super Bowl

The major 5G carriers are all rolling out 5G, and Verizon was arguably the first to start doing so. It started with pockets of mmWave coverage in some major cities and has since adopted Sub-6 coverage for its nationwide 5G network. But the carrier was also the first to roll out another 5G-related service: 5G home internet.

Setting up 5G home internet basically involves getting a new kind of router that gets its service from 5G instead of from a cable and then converts that signal into a Wi-Fi network for your home devices. As mentioned, Verizon was among the first to roll out such a service.

Read more
T-Mobile 5G home internet: Coverage, speeds, and plans
how to unlock your iphone use with another carrier t mobile hq sign feat 720x720

Verizon may have been the first to start deploying actual 5G, but its network was small and spotty. T-Mobile was the first to an arguably much more important title -- the first to launch nationwide 5G network coverage. And, along with that nationwide network, the company has also started deploying its 5G home internet service.

Unlike Verizon, T-Mobile was initially quiet about its 5G home internet service, and it would be easy not to have known that it even had one. But since then, the company has announced its availability to the public -- and it will likely continue to roll out to more users over the next few years.

Read more