US President Donald Trump and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have announced a number of new initiatives and projects that it believes will help accelerate its 5G network growth ambitions in the United States.
During the press conference President Trump acknowledged the impact the deployment and commercialization of 5G technologies will have on the US economy and said it will create up to 3 million new jobs.
The US President is acutely aware that the race to 5G is firmly on and that the US is in a fight with China, South Korea and Japan to become the market leader in the next-generation technology.
President Trump said, “The race to 5G is on and America must win,” Trump said, noting that 92 5G markets will be ready by the end of the year, outpacing South Korea, which is on pace to have 48 markets live by the end of 2019.
“It’s a race our great companies are now involved in,” Trump said. “According to some estimates, the wireless industry plans to invest $275 billion in 5G networks, creating 3 million American jobs quickly, and adding $500 billion to our economy.”
5G is the next generation of wireless networks that will enable us to enjoy much faster data speeds and provide us with the ability to download videos in milliseconds. However, 5G isn’t just a simple migration from 4G, the next-generation technology will have the capabilities to be able to connect self-driving cars and will enable cities to become ‘smart’ by enabling connected street lamps, traffic lights and smart parking.
US telecommunications behemoths AT&T and Verizon already have fledgling 5G networks in the country, whilst T-Mobile and Sprint who are currently attempting to merge plan on activating their networks later in 2019.
Trump recognizes that in order to help operators accelerate 5G he needs to address the issue of spectrum and he said that he has directed his administration to free up more wireless spectrum.
Trump said, “To accelerate and incentivize these investments, my administration is freeing up as much wireless spectrum as needed. We’re removing regularity barriers to the buildout of networks. The FCC is taking very bold action, bolder than they’ve ever taken before, to make wireless spectrum available.”
Trump’s comments come in tandem with announcements that the FCC has made. The FCC said that starting on Dec. 10, it will offer “the largest spectrum auction in our nation’s history,” allow carriers bid on 3,400 MHz of new spectrum in the Upper 37 GHz, 39 GHz and 47 GHz spectrum bands. The additional spectrum would “promote the development of 5G, the Internet of Things and other advanced spectrum-based services,” the FCC said.
Additionally, the FCC proposed new new rules that allow “Fixed Satellite Service operators to provide faster, more advanced services to their customers” using 50 GHz spectrum. It also said that current rules “impair the ability of users to deploy small, next-generation networking devices on their own property,” particularly in rural areas, and proposed changes that would allow people to install “hub and relay antennas” on their property to help spur 5G networks.