On 5G, the United States is building Betamax while China builds VHS

When President Donald Trump unveiled his administration’s plan for “winning the race” to 5G, he neglected to mention that the US is building its network using a technology that’s inferior to what the rest of the planet will likely adopt. It’s akin to building a Betamax system in a VHS world. Only in passing was it mentioned that President Trump’s plan commits the US to build out 5G infrastructure on a high-band spectrum swath known as “mmWave ” (between 24 and 300 gigahertz), which is inferior in range and penetration capability to the “sub-6” (below 6 gigahertz) spectrum being used for 5G by most other countries, especially China.

President Trump’s announcement represents a huge political win for wireless carriers AT&T and Verizon; White House officials including National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai; and others who favor this faster approach. Right now, the sub-6 spectrum inside the United States is reserved exclusively for Pentagon use, and figuring how to share it would be a lengthy and costly process. The losers were companies poised to capitalize on sub-6 spectrum sharing, such as Rivada, which is supported by Peter Thiel and represented by Karl Rove.