Commissioner O'Rielly's Remarks Before CTIA 5G Summit

The giant elephant in this virtual room: the completely indefensible proposal to create a government-sponsored wholesale wireless network. For the last few years this “idea” has been floated, rejected, floated, rejected, and just recently floated again. Now, it seems to be under consideration once again by some at the highest levels of our government. While I only have a little time to touch upon it today, I’m here to tell you, with all due respect to its proponents — it’s a horrible idea that must be dismissed. Fundamentally, the government should not be allowed to bestow valuable mid-band spectrum to a favored entity to directly compete with the private sector. It flies in the face of every principle of American free enterprise.