Forget About Nationalized 5G Network, Wireless Carriers Tell DOD

CTIA cautioned against any proposal that would give the department control of spectrum used for 5G, in comments filed Monday on a request for information on spectrum sharing (see 2009210056). “The RFI contemplates a dramatic departure” from traditional policy, “with DoD inserting itself into this thriving commercial sector,” the association said: "A DoD-managed arrangement that shares or leases DoD-assigned spectrum to the private sector, or otherwise makes available DoD 5G network capacity for commercial use, would undercut the market-driven spectrum assignment framework and undermine the investment and innovation at the heart of the American wireless ecosystem.” CTIA welcomes exploring “ways to repurpose additional government spectrum for exclusive-use, flexible-rights wireless licenses and to provide DoD with the 5G capabilities at the heart of the RFI.” DOD’s expedited work on sharing the 3.45-3.55 GHz band could be a “blueprint for future consideration of the remainder of the lower 3 GHz band,” the group said.

AT&T opposed a government network. “What’s really at issue … is the determination of a vested minority to roll the dice with American 5G leadership by upending the proven methods of delivering wireless service in the U.S. in favor of unproven spectrum allocation approaches,” blogged Joan Marsh, executive vice president-federal regulatory relations, on AT&T’s RFI response. Answers to making the U.S. a leader on 5G “will be found neither in a new national military cellular network nor in a broad scale wholesale/leasing scheme, which will not deliver the benefits its proponents claim,” Marsh said: “Those approaches would, at this pivotal moment, be a huge step in the wrong direction.”

USTelecom agreed a nationalized network won’t work. “The idea that a U.S. government agency might seek to own and operate its own national 5G network would not only reverse decades of the Department’s approach to leveraging industry innovation for its complex communications needs, but, further, it would undermine U.S. national security, technological leadership, and economic prosperity in the 5G era,” the group wrote DOD: “To be blunt, neither the Department nor any other government agency could own and operate such a national network without security risks and technology and cost inefficiencies that would outweigh any possible benefits.”

Nokia encouraged DOD to explore owning and operating its own 5G networks for its domestic communications: “Private wireless can support all mission-critical vertical applications.” Consider sharing other bands, including 1300-1350 MHz and 7/8 and 7-37.6 GHz, the gearmaker said. “Spectrum is the life blood of 5G, which benefits from large channel sizes far beyond prior generations of wireless.”

“Transfer of vacant federal spectrum (when and where not used) to commercial use is a proven method and will encourage investment and deployment,” the Wireless ISP Association commented. DOD’s focus should extend beyond 5G, it said. “Sharing spectrum between federal and non-federal uses can enable services other than 5G that can assist broadband providers in deploying service to unserved and underserved areas.” Before adopting a nationalized approach to spectrum, first ask the question whether such an approach will advance national communications policy goals any faster or more efficiently than the current approach of providing private operators the spectrum resources they need,” WISPA said.