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Read. Follow. Verify.FCC Fiscal Year 2021 Budget and 5G Strategy Hearing
Record date · January 1, 2019
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What This Bill Does
The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee met with FCC leadership to discuss the agency's proposed $343 million budget for fiscal year 2021. The hearing focused on the FCC's plans to expand 5G wireless technology and bridge the in rural areas through new auctions and the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.
The FCC is requesting a $4 million budget increase and a $2 million increase in its auction spending cap to fund staff pay raises, IT modernization, and the rollout of high-speed internet to rural areas.
Who It Affects
Groups the bill's text affects, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Rural residents and businesses
They are the target recipients of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, which aims to provide gigabit internet service.
FCC employees
The proposed budget includes funding for legally mandated pay increases.
Wireless carriers
They participate in FCC spectrum auctions to acquire bandwidth for 5G deployment.
Key Facts
- The FCC requests a total budget of $343 million for salaries and expenses for fiscal year 2021.
- The FCC requests an auction spending cap of $134,495,000.
- The budget proposal includes a $4 million increase for general spending and a $2 million increase for the spectrum auction cap.
- The Rural Digital Opportunity Fund will provide over $20 billion over 10 years to support gigabit service for up to 6 million rural homes and businesses.
Show all 10 facts
- The FCC plans to use a two-phase reverse auction process to distribute rural broadband funding.
- The C-band auction is scheduled to begin on December 8, making 280 megahertz of spectrum available for 5G.
- A 3.5 gigahertz auction is scheduled to begin on June 25, making 70 megahertz of spectrum available.
- The FCC reported that 5G spectrum auctions over the last 16 months generated over $10 billion in gross proceeds.
- The FCC is implementing a 'Digital Opportunity Data Collection' program to gather granular broadband deployment data.
- The FCC is reserving the upper 200 megahertz of the C-band for incumbent users.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much money is the FCC asking for in 2021?
What is the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund?
When will the C-band auction take place?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceFull breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Shift to Granular Data
The FCC is moving away from broad census-block reporting toward more granular data collection to identify unserved areas for the second phase of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.govinfo.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance80How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy20Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz30Current news / social attention level
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