42 | CCA slams FCC options for rural 5G Fund as ‘false choice’ | ----------- | |
FierceWireless: Wireless | 2020-04-07 02:30 | ????0? | |
CCA President and CEO Steven Berry in a statement expressed appreciation for the FCC’s focus on rural America and plans to dedicate in Phase 1 up to $8 billion over 10 years in for 5G mobile service rollouts in areas that would otherwise not likely get access to next-gen service, but stressed he was “extremely discouraged” by the two choices laid out for a reverse auction.CCA counts around 100 carrier members, ranging from smaller and rural providers to regional and some national players, who collectively serve more than 130 million subscribers. The industry trade association said it’s very concerned that the two options “set up a false dichotomy” and do not efficiently and effectively advance broadband deployment in under and unserved areas. “The draft proposal sets up a false choice between, on the one hand, updating the FCC’s maps in line with the recently-enacted Broadband DATA Act but delaying funding for several years, and, on the other hand, moving forward using the flawed coverage data, simply for the sake of moving forward quickly,” said Berry in a statement. “But these are plainly not the only options, nor the best options; there is no reason why the FCC cannot follow the law that Congress mandated and distribute needed funding in a timely manner, with accurate data."The proposed 5G Fund for rural areas taps Universal Service Fund (USF) dollars and replaces the agency’s Mobility Fund Phase II, which was meant to support 4G LTE rollouts in unserved rural areas. However, the FCC scrapped that proceeding last year after it determined wireless carriers provided inaccurate and often overstated coverage maps, which the proceeding needed to rely on to determine eligible areas.Congress too stepped in, passing the Broadband DATA Act, which was signed into law last month. Under the newly-enacted legislation, the FCC is required to collect granular service ability data from wired, fixed wireless, and satellite broadband providers. It also set parameters for data collected from mobile operators about service availability to ensure accuracy, and requires the FCC to use the newly-created maps when it awards new funding for broadband. -- ???????? | |||
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