The Federal Communications Commission is poised to delay $9 billion in rural 5G subsidies for 18 to 24 months so it can fix mapping flaws that bar the agency from determining which areas need the service.
The holdup is the most recent delay in the FCC’s nine-year effort to pay wireless carriers to expand service to remote areas that otherwise are too unprofitable to serve.
The FCC scrapped a similar subsidy effort last year, after it found carriers’ maps exaggerated existing coverage areas, meaning locations that needed the subsidies wouldn’t have gotten them.
“It is truly unfortunate that it has ...