U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado wants answers on whether rural communities will be left farther behind as mobile networks get faster, only widening the digital divide.

The Democrat from Denver sent a letter to Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Thursday asking for reassurances after a Government Accountability Office criticizing the FCC’s approach to deploying 5G mobile networks.

The GAO report notes that FCC recently announced $9 billion to deploy 5G networks to rural areas but without “specific and measurable performance goals with related strategies and measures to assess how well its actions are mitigating the added effects 5G deployment will have on the digital divide.”

The report also states. “Experts said the areas with existing infrastructure are generally urban, densely populated, high-income areas as opposed to rural or low-income areas. Further, within urban settings, experts said that high-band 5G networks are more likely to be deployed in commercially viable areas, including those parts of a city that already are equipped with fiber and power and, presumably, already benefit from the most advanced mobile broadband services available.”

Read the GAO report by clicking here.

The report said the government lacks a “coherent, measurable strategy” that ensures urban communities don’t get all the benefits of faster speeds, a problem that’s dogged the far reaches for Colorado and helped exacerbate the economic struggles of rural communities, bypassed by economic development

“The emergence of 5G networks presents vast opportunities for America’s economic competitiveness and global leadership,” Bennet wrote. “…Unlocking its potential – and ensuring its gains are distributed evenly across the United States – only becomes more urgent as communities nationwide struggle to recover from a historic economic downturn and maintain social distancing to combat the pandemic.”

Read Bennet’s full letter by clicking here.