CTIA Says Cable Operators Hate Competition and 5G Home Internet

operators' support for the group. “Cable’s reaction to significant loss in market share is to cut off access to the raw material that would supercharge competition -- dedicated licensed spectrum,” CTIA said in a blog post. Cable operators were shielded from competition for decades, “but today, often for the first time, they face a real competitive threat in the form of 5G home broadband,” CTIA said. A study last year found that carriers need 400 MHz of licensed spectrum in the next three years and nearly 1,500 by 2032 “to meet that demand, fully taking into account 5G efficiencies, additional infrastructure and offload,” CTIA noted. The U.S. has allocated just 450 MHz of mid-band for licensed 5G use “with no plans for more,” the group said. A Spectrum for the Future a spokesperson emailed, "Innovative 5G technologies are being driven by a broad range of commercial users, anchor institutions, and technology companies, not the Big Three legacy carriers." Mobile phones lean more heavily on Wi-Fi connection than traditional carrier networks, the spokesperson said. “America must prioritize diversity in spectrum ownership and use cases -- not rely on exclusive licensing models rooted in the technology of the 1990s." CTIA’s "attacks" are "unsurprising given the cable industry’s recent success in bringing new competition and offering substantial consumer savings to nearly 15 million mobile wireless customers,” an NCTA spokesperson emailed. “Casting aspersions at competitors can grab headlines, but cherry-picked facts and misleading assertions do not form the basis of sound policy.”