FCC Wants Rural 3G, Starting Reverse Auction to Prove it
The FCC released a statement earlier today reaffirming that, yes, it wants there to be rural 3G access. And that it is running a reverse auction to get it.
Reverse auctions are quite similar to normal auctions, except that the roles of bidder and buyer are reversed. Rather than the government having something to sell, in this case, it is looking to buy something. It has put out a call for proposals from companies willing to build out the rural 3G infrastructure. The company that wins the contract will get a one-time payment of $300 million deposited into their account, to cover the cost of the build.
This push is part of the Universal Services Fund, a fund that was originally meant to bring landline telephone service to every corner of the United States. As landline phones are all but useless, now, the fund got retasked to finance broadband internet access.
The FCC also took the opportunity to publish a map of all the existing 3G deadspots, and the data is a bit sobering. As FCC Chair Julius Genachowski put it:
As our new map demonstrates, millions of Americans still live, work, and travel in areas where advanced mobile networks have not been built out. Through the FCC’s Connect America Fund, we’re helping complete our nation’s wired and wireless infrastructure, which will lead to job creation, economic growth, and innovation in the 21st century.
The map pulled data from American Roamer, a company specializing in US cellular coverage. They even included census data, so you could see just how many people aren’t getting serviced with 3G internet.
Of course, this being a government project, the timeline for the building of the infrastructure is quite long, long enough that we will probably be contemplating 5G technologies. The FCC won’t even be holding the reverse auction until September 27th, 2012.
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