FCC Announces $20B Rural Digital Opportunity Fund

On Friday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) launched a $20.4 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund to address the "digital divide," or the gap between people who have access to the internet and those who don't.

Over the next decade, the FCC will pay out the fund to broadband and cable providers, wireless companies, and electric co-ops. To receive monies, you have to be working to close the digital divide between rural and urban areas. Another caveat? No Huawei gear.

Visualizing the divide

Pew Research Center shows how it's playing out in the U.S. As you can see, rural broadband adoption is lowest across all devices.

And here's a map from the FCC. Darker = more fixed residential broadband providers; lighter = fewer.

Bottom line: Building out rural infrastructure for faster data speeds and more wireless access requires loads of government assistance.