RWA and Smith Bagley Make the Rounds at FCC on 5G Fund
The Rural Wireless Association has concerns that a proposed 5G Fund auction “could potentially leave legacy high-cost support mobile carriers’ ongoing investments in their networks stranded,” it told an aide to Commissioner Brendan Carr. RWA argued that if some carriers…
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lose high-cost support for their service areas “because they are not successful bidders in the 5G Rural Fund reverse auction, the significant investments in their network and the service to their communities will be placed in jeopardy,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 20-32. Smith Bagley executives met with aides to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks on the company’s push for special treatment for tribal areas under the 5G Fund (see 2404080030). Though Smith Bagley has an existing network, “it still expects its bids at auction to be among the highest in the nation due to the expected cost of building hundreds of miles of fiber to its towers,” the provider said. “Without fiber, it will be difficult to meet the Commission’s 5G Fund auction performance requirements.”