Future Tense

FCC Votes Unanimously to Support 5G Wireless

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler does his best Smokey Bear impression at a February hearing.

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images

As planned, the Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday on a proposal to make new portions of the radio spectrum available for 5G wireless service. The commission approved the initiative unanimously in a moment of bipartisan agreement.

Though 5G will probably not be widely available to consumers until at least 2020, the FCC’s decision will spur progress by allowing access to 11 GHz of high-frequency spectrum. And ubiquitous 5G access could change how people access broadband overall in the United States. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said, “This is a big day for our nation.”

Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile are all in various phases of developing 5G technology and, for better or worse, the FCC is banking on this competition to drive 5G expansion. Wheeler said in a statement, “We are setting flexible rules that will allow the market to best determine how the technology will evolve, without having to ask our permission.” What exactly will develop is hard to say—the cable internet industry certainly has its flaws—but at least telecoms won’t be able to complain about overbearing regulations … for now.

Other countries like Japan and South Korea are also planning to roll out 5G coverage in the next few years. It’s hard to assess what the true impact of the technology will be, though, with so much unbridled excitement floating around. FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said in a statement, “Indeed, there is seemingly no limit on how what we refer to as 5G could impact our everyday existence.”

Indeed.