President Donald Trump’s administration sees securing telecommunications and 5G as a national priority. The White House National Security Strategy released this week highlights the need for next-generation 5G to maintain U.S. competitiveness. These types of congressionally-mandated reports set-up future policy actions and are meant to send a signal throughout government about how a topic should be treated, reports TechCrunch.
“We will improve America’s digital infrastructure by deploying a secure 5G internet capability nationwide. These improvements will increase national competitiveness, benefit the environment, and improve our quality of life,” the government states in the document. Other than natural gas, 5G wireless service was the only technology area to be specified.
Industry associations like CTIA cheered. “We are locked in a race with countries such as China and Russia to be the first to deploy 5G,” said CTIA President/CEO Meredith Attwell Baker. “To win this race we need government to make more spectrum available to industry and modernize the rules governing the deployment of wireless infrastructure.”
On Capitol Hill, House digital commerce subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta (R-OH) commended the plan for putting “America on the cutting edge of emerging fields, like autonomous technologies, including self-driving cars, and artificial intelligence,” while House telecom subcommittee Chair Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) called it a milestone for 5G. “The 5G revolution is here,” she noted. Blackburn’s subcommittee has held a number of hearings examining deployment challenges and spectrum use, Inside Towers reported. She pledged to continue to work to unleash spectrum and support the development of 5G networks.
December 20, 2017
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