FCC’s O’Rielly: Gov’t-Sponsored 5G Doesn’t Work With Existing Tower Model

FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly aired his grievances recently about the "less than half-baked, flawed" concept of a government-sponsored 5G network which has been floated for several weeks by various administration officials. He characterized the concept as, “convoluted and borders on the preposterous” in a blog post.

One argument against the concept O’Rielly put forth concerns towers. “Almost all wireless towers and antenna locations are owned or leased by companies unaffiliated with the large wireless providers. However, the existing contractual relationships and uncertainty surrounding the viability of this random wholesale network model means that it is unlikely that the current wireless infrastructure would be available for this purpose,” he wrote. Continue Reading