Government Accountability Office

The Federal Communications Commission has a program, known as the high-cost program, to promote broadband deployment in unserved areas. Although the performance goals for the high-cost program reflect principles in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, not all of the goals are expressed in a measurable or quantifiable manner and therefore do not align with leading practices.

The Trump Administration issued a National Strategy to Secure 5G, which we assessed against our 6 key characteristics for effective national strategies. The plan only partially addressed 5 of the 6 characteristics. For example, it didn't say what resources are needed to carry the plan out—which can make it hard to allocate and shift resources appropriately. We recommended that Administration officials ensure the strategy fully addresses all 6 characteristics.

In 2017, the Federal Communications Commission’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) reported that FCC’s ability to deter and detect alleged Erate program fraud has been severely limited since the program’s inception due to a lack of certain controls. Also, as recently as February 2020, a number of E-rate program participants pled guilty to defrauding the program by billing for equipment and services that were not provided, and obtaining more than $2.6 million in program funds to which they were not entitled. GAO was asked to review fraud risk management in the E-rate program.

As the latest generation of mobile communications, 5G networks are expected to provide faster connections to support consumer, industry, and public sector services. While private sector carriers deploy 5G networks, the Federal Communications Commission has a role in managing deployment challenges, such as how to allocate low-, mid-, and high-band spectrum for 5G use. The US Government Accountability Office was asked to review 5G deployment challenges.