Wireless Telecommunications

Spending time like this outside of DC—hearing directly from community leaders and broadband providers alike—is critical. I can think of no better way to identify both the regulatory barriers that needlessly slow down broadband deployment and the steps we can take back in Washington to remove them. As this hearing makes clear, spectrum and infrastructure are key for 5G. So I want to start by commending the [Senate Commerce] Committee for leading on these two issues.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) brought his fight for fifth-generation (5G) internet speeds to Sioux Falls (SD) on Oct 12 during a field hearing of the committee.  "I've heard from stakeholders throughout the country ... it will transform our everyday lives," Chairman Thune said, referring to its potential in the use of driverless cars, precision agriculture and e-medicine.

Hurricane Michael has caused such extensive damage to the fiber that underpins Verizon's wireless network that it has stymied the carrier’s efforts to restore service to parts of the hardest-hit areas of the Florida Panhandle. Verizon’s network suffered “an unprecedented amount of fiber damage” in those areas during Hurricane Michael, said spokeswoman Karen Schulz. Wireless service problems have persisted for the carrier in parts of Panama City, Panama City Beach and Mexico Beach.

Data from the Federal Communications Commission’s Disaster Information Reporting System shows that Hurricane Michael caused substantial communications outages along its destructive path.

Three of the nation’s four largest wireless carriers are poised to bid in the upcoming Federal Communications Commission auctions of millimeter wave spectrum, according to a new FCC public notice. Millimeter wave spectrum is expected to support 5G wireless services offering speeds as high as a gigabit per second or more. And although some people have argued that millimeter wave 5G is unlikely to be deployed in rural areas, several small rural carriers also are on the list of potential millimeter wave auction bidders released by the commission.

The whole multitrillion dollar promise of 5G — millions of jobs and new businesses — is just a pipe dream without infrastructure. Unlike 4G, which can be delivered through a relatively small number of tall towers, 5G wireless service relies on lots and lots of small receivers placed fairly close together. And installing all those little 5G cells is turning into a big fight. Pete Holmes is Seattle's city attorney.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) will convene a hearing titled “The Race to 5G: A View from the Field,” on Oct 12, 2018 at Carnegie Town Hall in Sioux Falls (SD). This hearing will focus on identifying existing barriers to broadband deployment of next generation wireless technology deployment and ways to streamline broadband infrastructure siting and encourage investment in next generation communications services. Witnesses (subject to change):

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.