Infrastructure Deal Pins Funding Hopes on 5G Airwaves

The Federal Communications Commission is emerging as a key part of the still-murky framework that President Joe Biden and a bipartisan crew of centrist senators rallied around. The deal would put $65 billion toward broadband investment. That $65 billion for broadband is well below Biden’s original $100 billion ask. Democrats originally wanted to spend this money on super-fast fiber-optic connectivity, but having less money to work with could pressure them to tap more deployment methods, including wireless and satellite options. (A recent Senate hearing reflected those tensions.) Despite the lower amount, President Biden still argued that the proposed broadband investments would “deliver high-speed internet to every American home” and end up “bringing down the price that people pay” for internet service — he just didn’t say how.

But where that money would come from was left vague at best. The provided outline says “5G spectrum auction proceeds” and “state and local investment in broadband infrastructure” will provide funding, but doesn’t elaborate. The office of Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said the latter “investment” bit refers to $20 billion in money already allocated in the March pandemic relief law, the American Rescue Plan. Lawmakers have long sought to direct revenue from FCC sales of spectrum for purposes like this, including concerted efforts in recent years to set aside that revenue for efforts to close the digital divide. (Normally this cash goes straight to the Treasury to pay down debt unless Congress specifies otherwise.) The recent FCC sale of C-band airwaves raised more than $80 billion, but final payments from winning bidders were due in March and it’s not clear that money can still be tapped. But the agency’s next sale of 5G airwaves is in October, and Congress could direct revenue from that.