Giving Compass' Take:

• The author discusses how expanding 5G access to rural areas would elevate the economic opportunities for those regions. 

• What social and political challenges would affect 5G expansion in rural parts of the country? 

• Read more about the need to close the digital divide for rural and low-income areas.

Much has been made of the digital divide in cities, especially between low-income communities and their higher-income neighbors. Though another digital divide — the one between rural and urban areas — is just as wide, with just as many associated issues.

Could 5G help to ease that digital divide? While telecom companies have touted the technology rollout in cities, they have been relatively tight-lipped on how their services could roll out to Americans that live in other parts of the country.

According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), 80% of the 24 million households in the United States that lack reliable broadband internet are in rural areas. Advocates say 5G could make a major difference in those communities, but there are warnings that installing the infrastructure needed could cost too much and not provide a good enough return on investment, given the relative lack of customers in a service area.

5G also presents the potential to create new high-tech jobs and create new economic opportunities, helping curb the trend of companies choosing only cities for new headquarters and campuses, and instead make them look beyond major population centers.

"If we're able to get into some of the rural areas, it's going to equalize some of the economic development opportunities and the places where some employers want to be located," former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell told Smart Cities Dive.

In addition to those high-tech opportunities, 5G can also revolutionize existing rural jobs, especially in agriculture.  The technology can make the agricultural process more efficient and allowing a quicker transfer of data to provide information about weather, crops and the like, helping farmers understand more about where they operate and could help them make more money from their yields, especially through deploying internet of things (IoT) sensors.

Read the full article about expanding 5G to address the digital divide by Chris Teale at Smart Cities Dive