5G proponents fret over Biden’s fiber fancy
The US government on Friday released some guidelines on how US states should dole out $42.5 billion for broadband services in rural areas.
“Thanks to President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Americans across the country will no longer be held back by a lack of high-speed Internet access,” US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo declared in a statement.
However, those guidelines put an emphasis on fiber networks: “The program prioritizes projects designed to provide fiber connectivity directly to the end user,” according to the document. And that’s not sitting well with some 5G proponents.
“Fiber is an important input to support the deployment of 5G and successor wireless technologies throughout the US, but in areas where fiber is not possible, wireless will play a key role,” argued the Competitive Carriers Association (CCA), which represents many of the nation’s smaller wireless network operators, in a statement. “To meet the communications needs of Americans everywhere, it is important for policymakers to … support ubiquitous access to fixed and mobile wireless services in the US.”
Others agreed that the new guidelines – released by the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) agency – overly favor fiber.
“It is hard to reconcile the NOFO’s [Notices of Funding Opportunity, which are the guidelines from the NTIA] explicit preference for one broadband technology with the requirement in the law for technological neutrality,” said Wireless Infrastructure Association CEO Jonathan Adelstein in a statement. The group primarily represents the nation’s cell tower owners.
“Fixed wireless will play a vital role in bridging the digital divide, as demonstrated by the accelerated nationwide deployment of 5G and the rapidly increasing market share of wireless home broadband,” CTIA’s Meredith Attwell Baker said in a statement. The association represents some of the nation’s big wireless network operators, including Verizon, which is in the midst of a major fixed wireless buildout. “We look forward to working with the states as they seek to bring the unique capabilities of wireless to the nation, in fulfillment of congressional priorities.”
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