Pai Says 5G Fund Proposal Will Be Ready in Next Few Months
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said he plans to seek a vote on an $9 billion 5G fund “in the coming months,” in a Jan. 24 letter to leaders of the House Commerce Committee posted Friday. The Mobility Fund II program,…
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emphasizing 4G, no longer makes sense, Pai said. “5G deployment in rural America is currently in a much more nascent stage,” he said: “The most sensible and efficient approach for determining which areas in rural America will be eligible for a program focused on 5G will likely be different than the optimal approach for determining eligibility for a program focused on 4G LTE.” Pai said the FCC will look closely at which services quality and deployment benchmarks. The MF-II 5-0 commissioners' order "decided that auction winners would have to demonstrate coverage of at least 40 percent by three years, 60 percent by four years, 80 percent by five years, and 85 percent by six years across all areas for which they would receive Mf-II support in a state,” he said.