Ajit Pai proposed $ 20 billion for "up to" gigabit-speed rural broadband

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai is proposing a $ 20.4 billion rural broadband fund that could connect to million homes over the next ten years.

The new program will be part of the Universal Service Fund (USF), and it will be similar to an existing USF program that began during the Obama administration. In 2015, the USF's Connect America Fund (CAF) awarded $ 9 billion for rural broadband deployment- $ 1.5 billion annually for six years-in order to connect 3.6 million homes and businesses.

Carriers that accept the CAF money are required for the broadband deployments by the end of 2020. FCC spokesperson told Ars. The fund would "inject $ 20.4 billion into high-speed broadband networks in rural America over the next decade," the FCC said.

At $ 2 billion a year over the years, the fund would provide more money every year over a longer period of time than the CAF program it would replace. It will also fund higher-speed services. The CAF only supports carriers, including AT & T and CenturyLink, to deploy broadband with speeds of at least 10Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream.

In November 2018, Pai said he was proposing to raise the standard for subsidized deployments from 10Mbps / 1Mbps to 25Mbps / 3Mbps. But the program announced today will also try to go beyond the minimum 25Mbps / 3Mbps. In an email to reporters, Pai's office said the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund will "provide up to gigabit-speed broadband in the country's most in need of connectivity."

The new fund is "the FCC's single biggest step yet to close the digital divide and will connect up to million rural homes and small businesses to high-speed broadband networks," Pai's office also said.

About 20 million Americans with 25Mbps down and 3Mbps up, according to FCC data.

ISPs will compete for funding

The new fund will distribute the money in a reverse auction, a type of competitive bidding process. If the resulting broadband deployment is similar to the previous program, it would provide for the provision of broadband in some areas and fixed wireless in others.

The FCC said that it will help future support for 5G technologies, "which may need a reference to the fact that mobile networks require plenty of fiber to provide bandwidth. 5G could also become important for its broadband-based version of its early, non-standard version of 5G to deploy home Internet in limited parts of a few cities.

Last month, Pensions are proposed on the FCC 's Universal Service Programs that deploy to other areas of the world. This could not be reduced to the amount of Lifeline subsidies and the provision of services. But it should not interfere with the rural plan, because the proposed cap is higher than the USF's overall current spending.

All Universal Service programs are paid for by Americans through their phone bills.

5G spectrum auction in December

This publication is intended to be used in conjunction with 5G services and will be available in the Upper 37GHz, 39GHz, and 47GHz bands. The FCC already auctioned 5G frequencies in 28GHz and has a 24GHz auction beginning on March 14.

"With these auctions, the FCC will release almost 5 Gigahertz of 5G spectrum in the market-more than all other flexible bands and 2.75 gigahertz of 5G spectrum in the 26 and 42GHz bands," the FCC says. The FCC is also trying to free up mid-band spectrum in the 2.5GHz, 3.5GHz, and 3.7-4.2GHz bands for 5G.

Pai and President Trump will be speaking publicly about the 5G plans this afternoon.