It’s not often that the FCC Chairman can announce a plan and be able to take a victory lap afterward but the wireless industry’s reaction to Tom Wheeler’s outlook on the future of 5G — “The Future of Wireless: A Vision for U.S. Leadership in a 5G World,” delivered at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on Monday, is getting a warm reception.
“The Wireless Infrastructure Association applauds Chairman Wheeler’s vision for the future of wireless communications. As the Chairman noted in his remarks, the United States needs to speed the deployment of 5G if we are going to continue to be the world leader in mobile communications. As the Chairman underscored, the responsible and efficient deployment of all forms of wireless infrastructure is needed in order to effectively provide mobile broadband in both urban and rural communities across the nation.”
WIA added that it continues to support the efforts of the FCC and Wheeler “to streamline the environmental and historic preservation review process and tighten the ‘shot clock’ for siting applications. The Chairman is spot on when he speaks of the critical role local governments will play in how our future wireless networks are deployed and the respectful partnership our industry has developed with them to promote wireless broadband in their communities.”
Across the Potomac River in Arlington, VA, Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) CEO Scott Belcher, also applauded Wheeler on next generation 5G wireless connectivity and the impending Spectrum Frontiers proceeding.
“In order for the U.S. to continue leading the world in wireless innovation, 5G must be a national priority,” Belcher said. “We’ve been actively working to bring companies, policymakers and organizations together to achieve this goal, and we strongly support the vision for America to be the global leader in 5G laid out today by Chairman Wheeler.”
USTelecom, the Broadband Association said, “We agree with Chairman Wheeler that 5G deployment will help continue America’s global leadership in next generation technologies. Significantly, America has led the world in rolling out 4G in part because the FCC adopted pro-investment policies that rely on competition, rather than regulation, as an incentive to build fiber to cell towers. The nation now stands at a similar crossroads with the opportunity to encourage investment in the backhaul services to support 5G. In over 90 percent of the country where people are buying business data services there is robust competition, and it is growing. Thus, the conundrum: We understand the purpose of regulation in the absence of competition, but find it puzzling that the chairman would propose regulation in the presence of competition, particularly when the goal is to incentivize more investment, not less.”
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