FORMER REPRESENTATIVE MIKE ROGERS OF MICHIGAN LEADS GROUP TO GET 5G MOVING FAST!

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5G Action Now Launches to Fight for Swift U.S. Deployment of 5G Technology

Former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers to Lead the Organization

(Washington, DC) – Former House Intelligence Committee Chairman, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), will serve as Chairman of 5G Action Now, a new advocacy organization established to fight for the rapid deployment of 5G technology in the United States and raise the alarm about the importance of winning the 5G race against China. When in Congress, Rogers worked to emphasize the critical importance of 5G to America’s national and economic security, and highlighted the benefits of prioritizing this race and successfully deploying 5G before China.

“The Chinese understand how important 5G is to America’s economy, national security, and global leadership,” Rogers said. “That’s why Beijing poured massive subsidies into Huawei, worked to undercut international competition, and waged a campaign of unprecedented economic espionage to dominate 5G. It is crucial that we don’t allow China to outspend and outplay us on the 5G field.”

According to a recent study, full deployment of 5G technology by 2035 will enable $13.2 trillion of global economic output, and support 22 million jobs. At issue, today, is whether China or the United States takes the lead in deploying this technology and, therefore, reaps the economic rewards derived from dominance in this crucial arena.

The urgency of successfully rolling out 5G across the country cannot be overstated. 5G Action Now supports the Federal Communications Commission’s goal of holding an auction, this year, for the allocation of the C-band, the frequency spectrum necessary to deliver ubiquitous 5G services.

“Ensuring American leadership in 5G is not about that next killer app or faster download speeds. It is about securing and strengthening our country’s economic future,” Rogers said. “We, as a country, need to have a critical conversation about how to prioritize the race for 5G”.

Rogers added, “American innovation took us to the moon and can ensure that we surpass China in the 5G race, and permanently establish American leadership. We can do this by smartly deploying 5G technology, something the Chinese are currently focused on. It’s time for the U.S. to recognize this and move forward.”

5G Action Now is a 501(c)4 advocacy organization that works to educate members of Congress and the American people about this issue. “Leadership of 5G and its rollout is not a Republican or a Democratic issue, it’s an American issue. If we cede victory in this race to Beijing, no one wins,” Rogers said.

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Exclusive: Former Rep. Mike Rogers Leads Group Calling On FCC To Move Quicker On 5G Tech

by Chris White 1.13.20

• Former Rep. Mike Rogers joins 5G Action Now, a new group created to help convince regulators to put aside their differences and quickly develop fifth generation mobile service. 
• Rogers’ decision to head the group comes as the Department of Defense asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to hold off on building out such technology. 
• 5G Action Now is also hoping to convince Americans that if the U.S. government doesn’t put 5G architecture in place, then China will permanently take the lead.

Former Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers is heading up a group that is working to poke and prod the Federal Communications Commission into moving quicker on approving fifth generation development.

Rogers will serve as chairman of 5G Action Now, a newly formed group fighting to goose the FCC on 5G technology and warn Americans that China is poised to take the lead on such technology. Rogers wants the FCC and other agencies to put aside their differences aside and speed up development.

Huawei and ZTE are using Beijing as their personal piggy bank as the two telecommunications companies sprint to build out 5G, according to Rogers, who told the Daily Caller News Foundation in an exclusive interview that the free market can help get the U.S. back in the game.

“The Chinese were running around the world with suitcases of money, bribing their way into getting contracts, something we should not do in the U.S. It would have been a disaster,” said Rogers, a Republican who served as chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

China has reportedly spent $24 billion more on wireless communications infrastructure since 2015 than the U.S. The country also built more 5G towers in a three-month span in 2017 than the U.S. did in three years.

Efforts to put the U.S. government in charge of 5G development failed because “the free market approach won the day,” he said before noting that he doesn’t blame Republicans who pushed a quasi-nationalized spectrum.

Rogers was referring to reports suggesting that there was a tug-of-war taking place over the issue. (RELATED: Here Are The Big Name Republicans Some Believe Are Pushing Congress To Nationalize 5G Buildup)

Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale, for instance, tweeted in 2019 his support for a federal role in 5G development. Republican adviser Karl Rove also pressed Congress that year to nix legislation that effectively prohibits nationalization of fifth generation development.

“I think that was done – they were tapping into the frustration of … hey this thing looks so hard. You have so many players,” Rogers said about the thinking Parscale and others were using. “We are going to lose this fight. Would it be better to do a nationalized version?”

“Thankfully the free market approach won the day,” the former Michigan lawmaker said. “I don’t think it was malicious. I don’t think there was any ill intent. I think prevailing forces won the day.”

Rogers’ comments come at a nerve-wracking time for FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper urged the FCC in November to slow down on spectrum rollout, citing concerns related to “national security, civil service, and the economic benefit of the nation.” The FCC announced in April that it will auction three slices of millimeter-wave airwaves.

Esper’s problems with the rollout stem from an internal-agency squabble, Thomas Struble, a tech policy analyst at R Street, told the DCNF. “Each agency has its own mission … so it’s not uncommon for the FCC and other federal agencies to clash in spectrum policy disputes as they each try to achieve their own policy goals,” he said.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, is gung-ho on canvassing the country in new wireless infrastructure.

“I want 5G, and even 6G, technology in the United States as soon as possible. It is far more powerful, faster, and smarter than the current standard,” Trump said in a 2019 tweet.

The holdup is having a downstream impact on wireless companies. Ligado Networks has waited a couple of years for permission to use a broad swath of wireless spectrum to build out fifth generation infrastructure. The company “can only wait so long,” Ligado CEO Doug Smith said in a June statement.

“I am not familiar with them,” Rogers said of Ligado and its struggles, adding that the company’s problems only illustrate the need to speed up the process.

“If you wait for the end of 2020 for the auction to move forward, then we are in trouble,” he concluded.

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