Rural communities where internet access lags behind current technology are about to get a huge boost.
That’s courtesy of 5G technology, President Trump predicted.
“No matter where you are, you’ll have access very quickly to 5G,” Trump said, noting estimates that the new standard could be 100 times faster than existing networks. “And it’s going to be a different life. I don’t know that it’s going to be better, maybe you’re happy the way it is right now, but I can say — technologically, it won’t even be close.”
Trump touted American success in developing the new wireless networks, which have become the latest arena of competition between Western powers and China. But while other U.S. officials and world leaders have focused on the geopolitical stakes of 5G, the president also had a domestic audience in mind.
“As we are making great progress with 5G, we’re also focused on rural communities that do not have access to broadband at all,” he said. “They just haven’t been treated properly. And now what we’re doing is we’re making it a priority. That’s the areas that we want to go to first, so they’re covered.”
Verizon launched the first American 5G networks last week in Minneapolis and Chicago, but Trump observed that U.S. companies are expected to deploy 5G in 90 more markets “by the end of this year.” That expectation, paired with the unveiling of a $20.4 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund — announced by Federal Communications Commissioner Ajit Pai, who appeared at the White House alongside Trump — raises the prospect that the Trump administration could deliver a technological boom for a key constituency, just as the 2020 reelection campaign heats up.
Trump alluded to the political significance during his address, as he acknowledged some of the ranchers and farmers invited to attend the 5G event.
“We have a couple of people from the great farms that I love, that I’m sure voted for me,” Trump said. “I won’t ask them but . . . I think for the most part they did, I know that almost automatically.”
The president stressed that the American 5G networks will be “private-sector driven and private-sector led” but touted government “incentives” to encourage U.S. companies to sprint into the 5G era before China does.
“We cannot allow another country to outcompete the United States in this powerful industry of the future,” Trump said. “We are leading by so much, in so many different industries of that type, and we just can’t let that happen. The race to 5G is a race America must win. And it’s a race, frankly, that our great companies are now involved in. We’ve given them the incentive they need.”
