The Eliminate From Regulators Opportunities to Nationalize the Internet in Every Respect Act (E-FRONTIER Act) was introduced by Reps. Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.), Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Filemon Vela (D-Tex.), and Susan Brooks (R-Ind.).

Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) introduced a Senate version of the bill last week (March 27).

Specifically the bill would "prohibit the President or a Federal agency from constructing, operating, or offering wholesale or retail services on broadband networks without authorization from Congress..."

The Trump Administration has reportedly kicked around the idea of nationalizing at least part of a 5G network as a cybersecurity strategy, but got plenty of pushback and that appears to have been put on the back burner.

“Private investment in broadband infrastructure, competition, and right-sized government involvement have made America leaders in innovation,” said Rep. Cárdenas. “I am proud today to introduce the bipartisan E-FRONTIER Act, which prevents Administration attempts to nationalize our broadband network..."

"For the sake of the free market and sound national security operations, the federal government should stay out of constructing the 5G broadband network," said Rep. Banks.

Some mobile operators that are positioning themselves at the forefront of the drive to bring some flavors of 5G to market are increasingly vociferous in their claims that 5G will be a competitor to cable’s broadband connectivity. Is 5G, presumably in its fixed mobile flavor, a true substitute for cable’s fixed broadband offering?

What complicates the question is that cable operators are also partners to mobile operators that use their fiber and DOCSIS networks for small-cell backhaul. So, are the MNOs and MSOs friends, competitors or frenemies?

For the time being, the answer is all of the above.

Today, cable’s fixed broadband offers more bandwidth, is more reliable than wireless broadband, and is often used to backhaul wireless broadband. Cable operators have also been making significant investments in their plants to meet the ever-increasing demand for bandwidth, which is driven by video streaming and other applications. Some of the technologies the MSOs are actively deploying or considering for the near future include:
DOCSIS 3.1: Supports network capacity of up to 10 Gigabits per second downstream and up to 1 Gbps upstream. Most major operators will have deployed DOCSIS 3.1 across their footprint by the end of 2018. This is already being used for strand-mount small cells for backhaul for the cable operators, but also for the mobile operators.

Full Duplex DOCSIS 3.1 (FDX): Enables upstream and downstream traffic to go up to 10 Gbps concurrently. The FD spec is complete, and interoperability testing is already underway. Early deployments will start toward the end of 2019. N+0, which means that there are no active components between the access node and the CPE, is needed to enable Full Duplex DOCSIS, and operators are already planning to move to N+0 as part of their migration to a Distributed Access Architecture, which is already underway.

These investments will provide cable companies a competitive advantage in the near future, particularly since 5G speeds are initially only incrementally faster than LTE-A networks. For example, the 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) services being deployed by Verizon will offer speeds in the 300 Mbps range with peak speeds approaching 1 Gbps. At least initially, cable offers a speed and reliability advantage. Indeed, the fact that most MSOs (except Cox Communications) eschewed the FCC mmWave auction in October of 2018 points to the fact that they see their fixed plant as the best way forward for the foreseeable future.

This said, 5G FWA offers a faster time to market and can be a competitive overlay to an existing cable operator’s area, offering a competitive alternative for home fixed services in areas where the only competition to cable comes from satellite-based service such as AT&T’s DirecTV, which is not ideal for bidirectional internet services. So 5G is a competitive offering as well.

Up to this point, the fixed plant has always offered superior reliability, throughput and capacity to wireless services, which have traditionally been spectrum-constrained. With 5G and mmWave spectrum, those spectrum limitations have been removed and much higher bandwidths, into the Gigabit range, are now possible.

It is still very early days for 5G, but 5G FWA is coming, and while much of the focus of 5G is on small cells, the early implementations are with mobile 5G and FWA. 5G will open up new areas for video services for the MNOs, but also provide opportunities for the MSOs to utilize their cable plants to offer small cell backhaul. Will this translate into a win-win? Stay tuned. 

Chris Nicoll and Liliane Offredo are principal analysts at ACG Research. 

Charter Communications Chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge picked up where his CFO, Chris Winfrey, left off last week, explaining to CNBC Thursday why 5G isn’t an existential threat to cable’s connectivity business.

“We have a better platform to deploy [5G] technology, I think, than the cellular industry does because we are fully distributed from a high-capacity wireline perspective,” said Rutledge, who was making public-speaking rounds while appearing at the Goldman Sachs Communicopia Broker’s Conference.

Related: Charter’s Winfrey: 5G ‘Not Comparable’ to DOCSIS 3.1

“If you think about what 5G is, it is small cells,” Rutledge added. “Small cells mean you needs lots of wired line connectivity to make the small cells work. We think we are actually in a better position to do that than traditional cellular companies. Yes, 5G can be used to compete against us. It is very capital intensive. It requires essentially a wireline network like Fios to support the small cells.

“If you look at [Verizon’s] forecast, they will build 30 million homes over a 10-year period,” Rutledge noted. “Ten years from now, there will be 140 million homes in the United States. They will have 20% of the homes. Our footprint would represent 8% of the homes.”

In 10 years, the Charter executive predicted, the cable company will have widely deployed 10 Gbps symmetrical internet service.

Rutledge’s comments extrapolated on those made at another investment bank conference last week by Winfrey, who said, “I don’t see anything about 5G that ever makes it comparable to DOCSIS 3.1 or DOCSIS 3.1 Full Duplex, or any capability we have through fixed line service.”

The competitive positioning by the No. 2 cable operator comes as the wireless industry this week made 5G the front-and-center topic at its big Mobile World Conference Americas trade show in Los Angeles.

Verizon has announced that it will launch its 5G fixed wireless service in four cities on October 1, challenging Comcast and Charter in metropolitan areas including Los Angeles, Houston, Indianapolis and Sacramento/Stockton.

Verizon is promising peak speeds of 1 Gbps, but users will average only around 300 Gbps. 

FCC commissioner Michael O'Rielly says beating the rest of the world to 5G is a primary personal goal, and that winning is even more important than the benefits of the technology.

O'Rielly's Vince Lombardi-like focus on victory--Lombardi famously said "winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing”--was relayed in a speech to the American Enterprise Institute Thursday (April 19).

Related: FCC To Launch 5G Spectrum Auctions

Why is winning in 5G so important? "It’s not because this is the shiny new technology that can bring stated benefits of higher wireless speeds, lower latency, increased capacity, and many other features, although that is likely all true," he said. "Instead, it’s about a global race to be the first among many competing nations to 5G. As a regulator, a term I abhor [he is a strong deregulatory second to  the proposals of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai], this is generally not our primary mission, but here, the ramifications are so significant, and our functions are so germane, that it has become a primary focus of mine."

That is because O'Rielly sees losing that race as meaning the U.S. would be dictated to by foreign powers, "many of which can’t be fully trusted, don’t believe in capitalism, don’t believe in freedom, don’t believe in fair play, don’t believe in the role of the individual over the government, and rebuke American leadership."

He did not name them, but was probably not referring to Finland. In fact, a study released this week showed that China is leading the race to 5G.

he said the U.S. was not trying to dictate industrial policy, just make sure it was not being dictated to.

O'Rielly cited the FCC vote two days ago on auction procedures for new 5G spectrum in the 25 and 28 GHz bands, but said the FCC also needed to set a timetable for the next auction (37 and 39 GHz) so wireless companies could prepare. "Did we not learn anything after the 600 MHz incentive auction? Indeed, companies have balance sheets, debt-equity ratios, and responsibilities to shareholders, and they need the requisite time to plan."

O'Rielly is on the same page as Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel when it comes to giving auction bidders plenty of notice. At the FCC's April 17 meeting approving the auction procedures, she advised the FCC to pu tit in writing.

"Let’s publish a calendar that states clearly to the entire wireless ecosystem—from existing providers to new spectrum interests to manufacturers and consumers—just when and how the FCC will auction new airwaves to support 5G services," she said. "That is what leadership entails. That is what we need to do."

FCC chair Ajit Pai gave a shout out to Verizon's announcement that it will be buying more than a billion dollars’ worth of optical fiber from Corning.

The three-year deal (2018-2020) comes out to more than 12 million miles of fiber per year. Wireless service relies heavily on fiber backhaul.

“The FCC’s top priority is closing the digital divide that has persisted for far too long," Pai said. "And the key to meeting that priority is setting stable, market-friendly rules that will lead to investment in online infrastructure. The FCC has already taken significant actions to promote greater capital expenditure on broadband deployment, from reducing regulatory barriers to wiser spending of federal subsidies for build-out."

Related > Report: Verizon CEO Open to M&A Talks

The agency will vote at its monthly meeting this week on several proposals -- including, in an effort to spur facilities-based competition, the planned deregulation of broadband business data service -- that Pai said "would unleash major capital expenditures on next-generation networks."

"This agreement heralds the construction of ‘densified’ 5G networks that will benefit American consumers," Pai said. "It will create thousands of high-quality jobs building and laying fiber. And it will go a long way toward closing the digital divide," he said.

Pai signaled he would push policies that promote such investments, rather than what he called the "tired ideology of heavy-handed Washington micromanagement."

Fifth-generation (5G) wireless technologies present "a unique opportunity to radically expand the capacity and flexibility of wireless networks, which will have profound implications for broadband competition and productivity growth," according to a report published on Thursday.

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) evaluation "5G and Next Generation Wireless: Implications for Policy and Competition" urges that national and local  policymakers "should support the development' of next-generation networks by ensuring new spectrum is available and by streamlining deployment of physical infrastructure.

Related:ITIF Report: FCC's 5G Efforts Should Focus on Spectrum, Not Standards

"We will continue to see additional competition in providing broadband access, as the performance of wired and wireless networks converges," ITIF said. "5G networks will also enable a new level of IoT connections, touching key verticals throughout our economy."

ITIF's "5G" triangle (see illustration) focuses on the "confluence of technologies is enabling an adaptable network that effectively provides numerous new functions." It singles out "enhanced broadband," "Massive Internet of Things " and "Critical Communications" as the three major categories for 5G, pointing out the very different capacity, reliability and accessibility of each application.

"Video places an order of magnitude larger demand than most other uses on the capacity of networks, so to enhance mobile broadband, end-user download speed remains the main driver," says the report, written by Doug Brake, a telecommunications policy analyst at ITIF. "For mobile to become a more robust competitor for wireline broadband networks, speeds will need to increase, and in a way that is economical as to see larger monthly data plans."

ITIF expects that "with the right policies in place, 5G will provide wildly increased capacity, allowing for super-high definition streaming of augmented reality; far more numerous, less costly connections, supporting a boom to IoT; and highly reliable connections, enabling critical communications and large-scale industrial automation."

Citing existing circumstances, the report acknowledges that pole attachment and other infrastructure policies for wired communications must be addressed in overall 5G planning. And as part of its extensive contemplation about standards and competitiveness, ITIF warns that "too strong a government hand in guiding technical standards, especially when tied to arbitrary deadlines, can lead to sub-optimal outcomes."

At a Thursday seminar accompanying the release of the ITIF report, officials from Verizon, Qualcomm, Intel, Samsung and other companies evaluated business approaches to 5G.

Charla Rath, vice president-wireless policy development at Verizon, affirmed that, "We have made clear that we want to take an aggressive stance on 5G."

"It's going to be a transition of ...networks of networks," Rath said "It's going to be a lot of different spectrum,"  including licensed and unlicensed spectrum. She noted that "IoT is increasingly about video."

Peter Pitsch, executive director of communications policy and associate general counsel at Intel, characterized the introduction of 5G: "We're going to get spectrum in the marketplace in a flexible way."

"We're going to need low, medium and high spectrum, not just for capacity but because of the differences of capabilities ... for applications," Pitsch explained.

Noting that he's often a critic of FCC spectrum policies, he complimented chairman Tom Wheeler's "astounding effort" to make spectrum available, noting that 28 GHz and 37-40 GHz  will be licensed. Pitsch predicted that because things are moving so quickly already, there will be fast action making  65 -71 GHz bands available on an unlicensed basis.  He said he expects the FCC will make licenses available "in a very flexible, investment-friendly way...[for] long-term licenses with reasonable technical limits."

The FCC should continue freeing up high-band spectrum for next-generation 5G mobile broadband rather than control the standards-setting process, and local governments should help streamline the deployment of new infrastructure.

Those are the key policy takeaways from a new report being released Thursday (June 30) by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation.

Policymakers on every level of the government should aim to make infrastructure deployment as efficient as possible to see the flourishing of 5G networks," said report author Doug Brake, a telecom policy analyst with ITIF.

"Given the fact that many of the technological components of 5G are still in flux, that deployment scenarios are still being explored, and that there is still a good deal of gas in the LTE tank, government action around 5G should be more stage setting than full industrial policymaking," Brake said in the report. "There is certainly a role for government in encouraging 5G to flourish, but industry-led standard setting better allows discovery of new technologies and a more nuanced understanding of what areas are most economical to explore."

Related:Hillary Clinton says she will push for 5G.

Brake said that given the explosion of data traffic, particularly bandwidth-hungry video, speeds will have to increase if wireless is to be a more robust competitor to wireline. For that to happen, wireless only has a few levers to pull. Finding more spectrum is one, another is increasing capacity by improving spectrum efficacy.

But he says there are limits to increasing that efficiency and network engineers are close to butting up against them. "As hard as getting Congress to pass a new law can be, bending the laws of physics is even harder. There are also trade-offs in any system designed—a protocol designed purely for maximizing throughput may not handle other usage scenarios as well," he said.

Brake gives the FCC high marks for 5G stage-setting so far. "The FCC deserves credit for moving quickly to get high-band spectrum into the hands of innovators, and for not being beholden to international bodies, such as the ITU, who are slow to allocate this spectrum to mobile," he said.

The FCC has set aside 30 MHz of low-band spectrum in the broadcast incentive auction that can potentially be auctioned to competitive carriers at discount prices. But Brake cautions against that model for high-band spectrum.

"Regulators should exercise caution in setting reserve prices or payments when it comes to auctioning high-band spectrum. Unnecessarily high auction prices discourage investment in new, unproven technologies that will have significant deployment costs of their own."