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Mobility, News

America Might Not be Ready for 5G After All – Here’s Why

5G might be farther away than Americans thought, due to lack of updated infrastructure and broadband access.

April 8, 2019 Jessica Messier 1 Comment

According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the United States is way behind on updating infrastructure and broadband access. This is problematic as other countries compete to provide its people with the latest and greatest in tech advancements, and prepare for 5G capabilities.

The United States’ greatest pain point when it comes to infrastructure is its lack of fiber-to-the-home deployment; contrastingly, other countries, like South Korea and Japan, have already finished “actively pushing fiber across the board,” Electronic Frontier Foundation says, which enables users to have “universal access.”

According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the United States is way behind because it doesn’t have a plan for infrastructure and broadband access. “We are the only country to completely abandon federal oversight of an uncompetitive, highly concentrated market that sells critical services to all people, yet we expect widely available, affordable, ultra-fast services,” which can leave users, especially those with lower incomes, with minimal to no broadband choices.

What decision makers need to know:

If the United States doesn’t pick things up with infrastructure and broadband access, it will miss the boat when 5G gains popularity. The Electronic Frontier Foundation says that current networks need a major overhaul when comes to preparing for 5G – they need dense fiber networks to make them work. And, since the United States is already behind in investing in fiber networks, it’s going to cost the country a big chunk of change to catch up, if it decides to hop on the 5G bandwagon. “One estimate on the amount of fiber investment that needs to occur is as much as $150 billion—including fiber to the home deployments—in the near future, and we are far below that level of commitment to fiber,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation says.

Finally, by not updating infrastructure and broadband access, users in the United States won’t be able to utilize the next generation of applications; instead, other countries will take advantage of these, and continue to become more technology-savvy and more prepared for tech advancements. “…A staggering number of Americans will miss out on the latest innovations that will occur on the Internet because it will be inaccessible or too expensive,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation says.

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Tagged With: Bandwidth, Internet, Mobile Device

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