5G Fixed Wireless No Panacea for Rural Connection Problems, CoBank Says

High costs, the level of competition, spectrum issues and “ecosystem headwinds” make 5G fixed wireless “an unlikely candidate to solve rural America’s broadband challenges,” CoBank’s Knowledge Exchange research division reported Tuesday. “As Verizon begins deploying its 5G fixed wireless network in urban and suburban markets, we believe they are facing operational and technical issues that will limit the scale,” said Jeff Johnston, lead communications economist with the division. “While there may be limited use cases where the technology makes sense in urban and suburban markets, we don’t see the use of millimeter-wave spectrum in fixed wireless networks extending to rural markets.”