Why isn't 5G getting more broadband funding?

Between the American Rescue Plan Act, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, and the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), billions of federal dollars are pouring in to fuel broadband deployments. But all of these funding sources have one thing in common: they all focus heavily on fixed and fixed wireless deployments. While there is a pot of funding on the table for wireless in the form of the Federal Communications Commission’s $9 billion 5G Fund for Rural America, that money has yet to be distributed as it depends on the creation of new, more accurate mobile coverage maps to help ensure funding is targeted at the areas most in need of support. Competitive Carriers Association CEO Steven Berry stated that the $9 billion total is an arbitrary figure and doesn’t necessarily represent all the funding that is needed. “I don’t know how you come up with that when you don’t have the data and information about where there is or is not mobile broadband," he said. "So I think we need to re-look at that.” Berry also sees Phase II of the FCC's RDOF auctions as an opportunity to free up funds for wireless operators, where they can potentially "rethink the underlying purpose of RDOF" in doling out the second phase's $11 billion-plus in funding.