Defense officials lukewarm on 5G spectrum-leasing plan pushed by the White House

Under federal law, the military cannot use the spectrum to turn a profit. And Defense officials are wary of whether leasing spectrum would run afoul of those restrictions.

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Defense Department ‘5G Nationalization’ Charge Is Cover For A Wireless Industry War

The Defense department sought ideas for making even more frequencies available, in a recent Request for Information. One question it posed was whether the department could operate a domestic 5G network and make its capacity available to for-profit firms and others. “They know the answer is no, [the Defense department] should not own and operate a commercial 5G network and they have no notion of doing so,” said Ganley, whose Rivada Networks has unique dual-use technology for sharing 5G networks that would allow the Pentagon, in seconds, to take back the spectrum in a national emergency. Rivada would profit from a spectrum-sharing arrangement. “Sharing raw spectrum, they’ve been every much open to that and they’ve been open to that for some time now,” Ganley said.