Panelists and Telecommunications Policy Research Conference Urge Focus on Equitable 5G Rollout

March 13, 2021 – Regulatory policies to accommodate 5G and other network infrastructure must be equitable to accommodate different service levels and providers, Donna Bethea Murphy, senior vice president of Inmarsat, said in February at the TPRC.

When trying to set goals on building and deploying broadband and satellite networks, one shouldn’t be prescriptive about what solutions are best, Murphy said at the conference exploring issues of communication, information and internet policy.

Considering the cost infrastructure builders must bear to build such systems, it is critical  they are not faced with large spectrum auction fees. If smaller players have to pay high spectrum costs, they will not be able to make back their investment and may turn down developing innovative technologies, Murphy said.

The government should therefore ensure getting spectrum to newer market entrants is financially viable to boost competition and lower prices for Americans.

Everyone agrees broadband should be available at an affordable rate, but securing such rates is a challenge yet to be resolved.

Screenshot from the TPRC event

The panelists agreed that 5G should be rolled out to communities in fair and equitable ways and that no community should be excluded from it, especially disadvantaged communities.

The concern is that 5G technology is moving at a pace that is outstripping the deployment of older technologies. Jon Peha, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, alluded to that when he wondered whether the next-generation technology will find the path of least resistance and gravitate toward areas that enjoy 4G LTE and leave the areas without the current generation network for someone else, or the government, to solve.

TPRC panel description:

This panel will be made up of domestic and international experts from communications operators, government regulators and academics to discuss how to best connect the unconnected in a 5G and beyond world. This panel will focus on technology, economic and adoption to address this very real problem. It will also explore if and how regulation and funding efforts can assist in achieving goals of connectivity. An important part of this will be the adoption piece as this will allow us to determine how do we enable connectivity to be considered valuable by the citizens of the world and how we overcome the very real economic issues associated with solving the digital divide.