The new, faster 5G mobile network that will replace the current 4G network in the coming years may be bought by the government.
Axios obtained a PowerPoint presentation from the National Security Council, which is said to be under the Trump administration. It lays out a plan for the government to build — and pay for — a national broadband network.
The report was subtitled “Eisenhower’s National Highway Information System for the Information Age,” referring to a federal plan Dwight D. Eisenhower created to create a national, federally controlled highway system. The use of that title suggests that this is seen as a project of similar scale for President Trump: Internet and mobile phone services could become like the highway system.
Mobile networks have been largely privately controlled since the inception of broadband technology. Some cities already offer broadband internet access, which is paid for by local governments in some way. But this plan would take the ongoing development of 5G away from all private companies and put it under government control.
The average American home broadband has download speeds of 17.2 megabits per second. On a 5G network, those speeds will reach close to 1 gigabit per second. T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T are working on future 5G network access.
An alternative proposal to the one in the presentation pits wireless carriers against each other to build separate 5G networks. Axios reported that this idea is considered a longer-term and more expensive option, but would mean “less commercial disruption” to the industry.
A major motivation for federal control of the network appears to be threats and competition from China and other countries. “China has achieved a dominant position in the construction and operation of network infrastructure” and “China is the dominant malicious player in the information game,” one slide states.
It is unusual for President Trump to join a federal takeover of a historically private industry. His campaign and first year in office were about deregulation and reducing government influence over business.
The nationalized network envisioned in the proposal would be built over the next three years. That seems ambitious given that the government is competing with major service providers that are already moving quickly to bring 5G to customers.
