For decades, the world coveted America’s unparalleled entrepreneurial ecosystem and its innovation capacity. At every stage of the information technology revolution, America is an undisputed leader. Yet, instead of embracing the advantages of the American innovation ecosystem in the “Race to 5G,” the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is exploring a troubling plan to follow China’s lead toward a nationalizing of 5G networks.
The adoption of 5G technology could open unprecedented opportunities for innovation and economic growth as we move toward a world where everything from cars to tractors to buildings will connect to wireless networks. At the same time, these high-speed 5G networks will also create new risks to national security. China’s efforts to establish dominance in 5G technology, particularly the technical infrastructure that powers these networks, raises both national security and economic concerns.
While the U.S. government has not yet implemented a comprehensive coordinated federal strategy to realize the potential of 5G, the leadership at DoD, focusing on competing with China on their terms, has proposed government-owned networks and hand-picked “national champions” in 5G.
Last year, DoD intervened in the FTC’s antitrust case against Qualcomm by positioning the company as America’s 5G “national champion” and arguing that the case could harm America’s leadership in 5G technology.
In September, DoD opened a Request for Information (RFI) exploring the plan to use excess DoD wireless spectrum to build a government-owned and operated 5G network rather than getting that spectrum into the hands of America’s innovators. DoD’s interest stems from integrating 5G into its military operations to “strengthen [the] nation’s warfighting capabilities as well as U.S. economic competitiveness in this critical field.”
DoD has a clear interest in America’s success in the race to 5G, but instead of following China’s playbook, DoD and the rest of the U.S. government should focus on unleashing America’s innovators so they can compete in 5G technology markets. Instead of building its own network, the government should open up more spectrum into the commercial marketplace in ways that encourage rapid investment and buildout. With this, DoD can retain an important role in establishing pilot projects to test new approaches and technologies for deploying and securing future 5G networks.
In addition, the United States must ensure that all American companies can get the patent licenses they need to develop 5G-based technologies and compete in the global marketplace. Today, foreign companies own more than half of the standard-essential patents for 5G and could use patent litigation threats to keep America’s innovators on the sidelines.
America needs a national strategy for 5G that leverages the strengths of our competition-driven ecosystem, it doesn’t need to nationalize 5G like China. The race to 5G is too important to American national security and economic growth for us to compete without our biggest strategic advantage: our entrepreneurial innovation ecosystem.