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Defense officials lukewarm on 5G spectrum-leasing plan pushed by the White House
Source: Washington Post
Defense officials lukewarm on 5G spectrum-leasing plan pushed by the White House
A controversial deal being pushed by the White House could give the military oversight of future 5G networks
By Aaron Gregg
11/25/2020, 8:05:31 a.m.
The White House has pushed the Pentagon to set up a controversial spectrum leasing plan matching one being proposed by a politically-connected company called Rivada Networks, which wants the lucrative job of using that spectrum to create a nationwide 5G network, according to people familiar with the matter and a lobbying document obtained by The Washington Post.
But the military has not embraced the proposal, even though it was pushed directly by White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations.
“I’ll just be honest with you, the department has not embraced spectrum-leasing at this point ... there are just so many issues at play including bringing in receipts and dollars into the department, and we don’t know how the DoD would even do that,” said a senior defense official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter freely.
“We’re looking for industry and (other government agencies) to give us some innovative ideas about how that might happen,” the official said.
The lobbying document obtained by The Post shows Rivada proposing that it create a 5G network and rent out that spectrum to private companies such as Netflix, Facebook or Tesla. Some of the revenue would be sent back to the federal government.
-snip-
A controversial deal being pushed by the White House could give the military oversight of future 5G networks
By Aaron Gregg
11/25/2020, 8:05:31 a.m.
The White House has pushed the Pentagon to set up a controversial spectrum leasing plan matching one being proposed by a politically-connected company called Rivada Networks, which wants the lucrative job of using that spectrum to create a nationwide 5G network, according to people familiar with the matter and a lobbying document obtained by The Washington Post.
But the military has not embraced the proposal, even though it was pushed directly by White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations.
“I’ll just be honest with you, the department has not embraced spectrum-leasing at this point ... there are just so many issues at play including bringing in receipts and dollars into the department, and we don’t know how the DoD would even do that,” said a senior defense official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter freely.
“We’re looking for industry and (other government agencies) to give us some innovative ideas about how that might happen,” the official said.
The lobbying document obtained by The Post shows Rivada proposing that it create a 5G network and rent out that spectrum to private companies such as Netflix, Facebook or Tesla. Some of the revenue would be sent back to the federal government.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/11/25/rivada-pentagon-5g-leasing/
