5G Will Not Close the Digital Divide

The COVID-19 crisis has cruelly highlighted the already looming divide between America’s digital haves and have-nots. At the same time, America’s telecommunications carriers are prioritizing fifth generation (5G) technology and the wondrous Internet of Things (IoT) it promises.

Preparing for the future of 5G-enabled technological progress is and should be a national objective. But we must not ignore the millions of Americans still left behind in the buildout of our networks. Universal access to affordable wireless broadband is essential today for full social and economic participation — this must be a national priority.

5G promises faster download speeds and greater support for automation. New markets and businesses will be born from 5G: automated factories, more efficient utilities, stronger public safety through enhanced surveillance, driverless cars, robotic surgery, human-less warehouses, and so on. The benefits from these technological advances are real and will help drive economic growth.

Yet right now, the public is bearing the burden of paying for 5G buildout — through monthly carrier fees — while receiving little benefit now or in the near future. Meanwhile, nearly one-third of K12 students, forced into virtual learning, lack adequate internet access at home. The telecom carriers who own the licenses for radio frequency spectrum in poorly served areas are spending billions on capital expenditures. Not on better, more widespread service, but on high-speed, low latency 5G in urban areas that already have adequate coverage.

The 5G buildout — driven by the requirements of IoT applications — requires high data speeds and low processing time for network actions, or latency. Few people prefer to wait three minutes instead of one minute for a movie to download to their phone. But all people prefer good coverage and affordable service versus none at all. At the moment, despite the growing seriousness of the digital divide, most attention and resource investment are on 5G networks.

That’s not to say the telecom industry isn’t concerned with the digital divide. T-Mobile is to be lauded for its recent rollout of Project10Million, an effort to expand internet access nationwide. It represents an order-of-magnitude expansion of a prior effort at Sprint, which T-Mobile acquired. We know other companies are likewise focused on this issue.

But neither T-Mobile nor other operators have addressed the lack of service in large areas of the country as well as the inability of large segments of our population to pay for such service. The Federal Communications Commission needs to more strongly encourage and incentivize telecom service providers to fill gaps in coverage and offer affordable service. The present moment is showing that it is not a stretch to say that our entire educational future depends on closing those gaps.

Many components of future economic growth depend on 5G — its value and importance are not to be denied. But 5G is only the communications component of an entirely new system. The infrastructure that will use 5G for IoT applications, and for such services as automated driving and remote surgery, is still in early development. The digital divide, by contrast, is a problem now and demands immediate attention. We believe it is possible to achieve leadership in 5G technology and educate all of our students.

The technology already exists to provide low-cost wireless broadband to under- and unserved areas and to serve people at all socioeconomic levels. The FCC, working with local communities, can motivate carriers — both existing and new — in various ways. One might be provision of free cell sites on school property; another is free spectrum licensing to provide broader, more affordable service. Or how about making rural coverage a condition of acquiring new spectrum?

Fifty years ago, the Bell System monopoly nearly convinced the FCC to grant it a monopoly over huge portions of spectrum including full control over land mobile radio and incipient cell phone service. More spectrum was needed, Bell said, so it could bring dazzling technological benefits to the public.

Today’s carriers are reprising Bell’s arguments: give us more spectrum so we can bless the world with the wonders of 5G. Ignore all those underserved people, worldwide technological superiority is the goal!

Closing the digital divide should be a high priority mandate for the FCC in the coming years. We have the resources and the technology to erase the digital divide and to lead in deployment of 5G; we only need to add the will to accomplish both.

Martin Cooper is an engineer, inventor, entrepreneur, and creator of the world's first cell phone. Dane Stangler is a fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center and senior advisor at the Global Entrepreneurship Network.