Chairman Pai Remarks at International Regulators Forum in Mexico City

Closing the digital divide is the Federal Communications Commission’s top priority. The best way to make sure every American has better, faster, cheaper Internet access is to set a market-based regulatory framework that promotes competition and increases network investment. We also want to promote competition and innovation that could transform the marketplace.  The FCC has made facilitating the rollout of 5G a major priority. One economic analysis of our [5G] reforms projects that they will cut about $2 billion in costs, unleashing $2.4 billion in extra investment. But here’s the key point: 97% of that new deployment will be in rural and suburban communities. That’s because when we reduce the cost of deployment, it has the biggest impact in those areas where the investment case is the most marginal. 

Here’s the bottom line. Whether you’re from the United States, Mexico, Mongolia, Jamaica, Costa Rica, or Nicaragua, bridging the digital divide is an imperative in the 21st century.