SHLB Says FCC Order to Auction EBS Spectrum Would be Disastrous for Students, 5G and Rural America

Eliminating the educational priority for EBS would be disastrous for online learning, 5G deployment, and rural consumers. The best way to encourage 5G in rural markets is to award licenses to educational institutions that live and work in their communities and whose mission is to serve the needs of students. Deploying broadband via EBS is not rocket science – it has been successfully done in northern Michigan, rural Virginia, and even at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. We cannot understand why the FCC would overturn over 50 years of educational precedent based on exaggerated claims by the commercial carriers that they will deploy 5G in these rural markets. Dr. Raul Katz’s economic study estimates that commercial carriers will only deploy 5G in 24 of the 78 unserved markets, whereas educational institutions would serve almost all of them. The EBS rules need to be modernized, not obliterated. The SHLB Coalition intends to do everything in its power to preserve educational access to this vitally important wireless broadband spectrum.