The opinions in guest opinion op-eds represent only the viewpoints of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect those of RedState.com.)
Government REALLY doesn’t like ceding anything of which it has possession:
“Government is just another organism. Like any organism, the first priority of government is self-preservation. Its second – is to grow. To grow as much as possible. It wants to be bigger, do more – control more.
“There are more than four million humans who work in just the federal government. They see the preservation and growth of government as being in their best interests. And see those who want Less Government as the enemy.”
The federal government is currently in possession of WAY too much of the wireless spectrum with which we do everything wireless — including (especially) Fifth Generation (5G) wireless technology.
This is a growing problem for the private sector.
“Spectrum – is a finite resource. All spectrum is not the same. There are some bands that work better than others.
“Think of a Monopoly game board. Some spectrum is Boardwalk and Park Place – some is Baltic and Mediterranean Avenues…and all properties in between.”
They also have a lot of the most valuable spectrum.
“(G)uess who controls a majority of the best spectrum, the spectrum most suitable for mobile broadband? It’s the federal government itself. Nearly 60% of this spectrum belongs to the federal government, and is primarily used for federal agency purposes.
“Without a doubt, the federal government has legitimate needs for spectrum. For radars, the Department of Defense is one example.
“But it probably won’t surprise you to hear that the federal government doesn’t use much of the spectrum that it controls efficiently.
“Indeed, just last year, the Government Accountability Office reported that federal agencies do not focus on ensuring the best use of spectrum and need not justify their spectrum needs.
“Without any market or policy incentives to be ‘spectrally efficient,’ as we say in the business, it’s not a surprise that these agencies aren’t as nimble and innovative as is the private sector.
“It is unacceptable that about 60 federal agencies control more spectrum than is available to the hundreds of millions of Americans with wireless devices.
“As is the case in many other areas, the federal government can and should make do with less.”
But Government the Organism — doesn’t want to give up ANY of its spectrum. It’s obvious. They are making anti-science arguments that seem increasingly absurd to defend their inability to do anything about the large over-share of spectrum they have.
Private sector 5G Wireless development has a lot more to offer than commercial import.
The Deep State Is Imposing Many Impediments to 5G Wireless – and China Loves It:
“We are in a literal life-or-death race with Communist China to be the first nation to get to Fifth Generation (5G) wireless….
“The US got to 4G first – which meant the US got to set the global standards. As we did with 3G – and all previous network iterations….
“If Communist China is first to 5G, they will be in a position to treat the worlds Internet and this massive cache of data – the way they treat their people and their Internet. Which ain’t great.”
The Department of Transportation (DoT), in defence of indefensible ownership of a key spectrum, has been making these anti-science statements for several years.
“Preserving the 5.9 GHz band for transportation communications is essential to public safety today and in the future. The automotive industry and municipalities are already deploying V2X technology and actively utilizing all seven channels of the 5.9 GHz band.”
You can be sure that the DoT will not provide a far better public safety service than the private sector. Oh: And the DoT had that spectrum for years — and gotten NOWHERE with anything “public safety.” So, FINALLY, The Donald Trump Administration did this….
Federal Communications Commission (FCC), modernizes the 5.9 GHz band to improve Wi-Fi safety and automotive safety
And then the Trump Administration did this….
FCC votes to divide 5.9GHz in order to conquer 5G
“The FCC has voted unanimously to propose freeing up the majority of the 5.9 Ghz band for WiFi and other unlicensed uses, looking to help create an unlicensed wideband WiFi superhighway to 5G.”
Speaking of spectrum, Big Government and their anti-science lying….
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), wants to hold up your 5G spectrum for itself.
“The future of America’s 5G wireless services may be threatened by unwarranted concerns coming from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)….
“The FAA says they are worried that 5G wireless services that use a portion of spectrum called the C-Band, claiming that it may — just may — interfere with radio altimeters gauge an airplane’s altitude. Protecting an airplane’s altimeters from interference is crucial, except that the call of warning is baseless in that the FAA has not provided reliable evidence to demonstrate that 5G services pose a threat to flight safety.
“For several years now, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the designated expert agency with experience and responsibility to understand spectrum and interference issues, has studied the issue and collected information and comments during opened proceeds, but has concluded that the 5G C-Band spectrum poses no problem for passenger safety.
“The FCC found that mandating 220+ megahertz of guard band between 5G C-Band operations and the space aviation occupies would provide more than enough buffer space to allow both altimeters and 5G services to operate without interference.
“Real world experience also shows that 30-plus countries use the same spectrum bands for 5G services but have not had a problem with interference.”
Spectrum functions exactly the same country to country. So thirty other countries safely using this spectrum for 5G — means we can safely use it for 5G.
The government’s self-serving, anti-science lies to the contrary notwithstanding.
So we need to do with the FAA’s spectrum concerns what we did with the DoT’s spectrum concerns.
Ignore the government’s lies — and provide more spectrum to the private sector and its 5G expansion.
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