The local, national and global fight over 5G infrastructure

The whole multitrillion dollar promise of 5G — millions of jobs and new businesses — is just a pipe dream without infrastructure. Unlike 4G, which can be delivered through a relatively small number of tall towers, 5G wireless service relies on lots and lots of small receivers placed fairly close together. And installing all those little 5G cells is turning into a big fight. Pete Holmes is Seattle's city attorney. Seattle is one of several cities fighting a new order from the Federal Communications Commission that puts a cap on how much a city can charge when a company wants to put a 5G receiver on public property. "This is being done at the expense of cities that are already overburdened trying to deal with homelessness and a host of problems across the country," Holmes says. "We have to essentially give up our property rights, our property values, to benefit private companies that will be doing the expansion."