White House veteran’s 5G startup

Former White House National Security Council official Gen Robert Spalding wrote a controversial PowerPoint deck in 2018 on how the US government could play a greater role in building 5G networks. Now Spalding has left government and military service and landed $20 million to bring some of his vision to life via a private company. The startup, Sempre, aims to offer a more secure, smarter alternative to the traditional cell tower, adding computing power at the edge and making the tower itself more resilient to attacks. Spalding says Sempre aims to offer its customers added computing power by placing a mini-data center at the tower, as well as protection from electromagnetic pulses caused by a nuclear attack or solar flare. It's early days for the company, which is still looking for "anchor tenants" for a network of such towers. Sempre is still figuring out how best to work with the existing players, including tower companies and wireless carriers, as well as where it can work directly with military, government agencies and businesses to offer private 5G networks. The company has also won a bid for an early trial with the military and is exploring other ideas for working with first responders and other governmental agencies. 5G networks are rolling out fast in the US, and it's unclear what kind of broad demand there might ever be for Sempre's "hardened tower" approach.