5G’s Big Equity Problem

The conversation around 5G usually fails to address how it will likely exacerbate the already deep digital divide. After endless speculative articles, television ads, and congressional testimony trumpeting the amazing benefits 5G services could bring, there is an urgent need to inject context to this conversation. For at least the next several years, the 5G that providers tout as revolutionary will be deployed and available only in high-density and wealthy urban and suburban areas, where carriers expect to receive a high return on their investment. Meanwhile, rural, low-income, Tribal, and other hard-to-serve or historically marginalized communities will be left even further behind. To prevent the buildout of 5G networks from worsening the digital divide, policymakers should focus on providing better solutions for consumers across the country who need home internet services. The big-dollar infrastructure package being debated in Congress offers a prime opportunity for lawmakers to promote the policies needed to move in the right direction. These solutions should include spurring competition in the marketplace and enabling high-capacity broadband adoption: This could be done by constructing and extending fiber networks with open access middle-mile networks, ensuring investments are not limited to unserved areas, and strengthening Wi-Fi services.

[Amir Nasr is a policy analyst at New America’s Open Technology Institute.]