Diversity groups urge FCC to ensure equity for 6G wireless

Diversity groups urged the Federal Communications Commission to start now to bake equity into 6G wireless. In a November 8 letter to FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, the groups, led by Multicultural Media, Telecom & Internet Council (MMTC) and including Rainbow PUSH, the NAACP and the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, asked that the FCC take these five steps to ensure the delivery of affordable and accessible services to communities of color:

1. Include a diverse contingent of engineers and demographers on the Technological Advisory Committee.
2. Direct the Communications Equity and Diversity Council to develop a plan for the training and inclusion of small, minority, and women-owned contractors in the 6G rollout.
3. Provide the Office of Communications Business Opportunities with the personnel and resources it will need in order to conduct technical and entrepreneurial training for the 6G opportunity.
4. Set a specific benchmark for 6G’s deployment contracting for minority business enterprises and women business enterprises such as was done in Atlanta, which set a goal of 25 percent for airport contracts.
5. Grant MMTC’s proposal to extend the highly successful Cable Procurement Rule to all FCC-regulated technologies.