Trump campaign proposes ‘national’ 5G

As the Republican National Convention kicked off, the Trump campaign touted 5G among the president’s second-term goals, specifically stating he would “win the race to 5G and establish a national high-speed wireless internet network.”  This phrasing is a head-scratcher given the Trump orbit’s past flirtations with nationalizing 5G, an approach taking multiple forms over the years and deeply opposed by many at the Federal Communications Commission and on Capitol Hill. President Donald Trump and other top administration officials have previously swatted down prospects of government intervention in the 5G marketplace, instead favoring a market-led approach.

But some Trump confidants still maintain he needs to juice up the 5G marketplace. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had previously lobbied President Trump in favor of a scenario in which the administration takes Pentagon airwaves and gives them to a 5G wholesaler aimed at more efficiently doling them out to the wireless market. His allies included campaign official Brad Parscale and Karl Rove, who lobbies for wireless firm Rivada. Gingrich said that although he felt defeated at the time, he hoped to raise 5G intervention with President Trump again in 2020 and said it would be an election winner. “It gives him a way to say to rural America, here’s how I’m going to get you a dramatic breakthrough in the quality of life and the economic growth, and here’s how I’m going to get America a dramatic victory over the Chinese,” Gingrich said. He dismissed Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow, who opposes a heavier government role, as "the chief spokesman in the White House for the forces of reaction who don’t want to change anything."

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and his colleagues, however, haven’t shown interest in pursuing a government-led effort along these lines. “If a company wants to buy spectrum through an auction and use it to run a wholesale network, it’s free to do so,” Chairman Pai’s office said earlier this year when asked about Gingrich’s comments. “But there is no reason that the government should mandate that particular business model.”