The $9 billion plan the Federal Communications Commission announced Wednesday to expand 5G coverage into rural areas was criticized Thursday by lawmakers and state officials who say there’s little economic or technical rationale for building 5G infrastructure in rural areas that are still underserved by the previous generation of wireless technology.
The new program will replace a $4.5 billion program to develop 4G service, known as the Mobility Fund Phase II auction, as the FCC also officially confirms, through its own testing, that wireless coverage maps supplied by phone carriers vastly overrepresent actual coverage.
