5G Security Factoring into House Defense Bill Talks, CTIA Balks

House Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA) confirmed that anxiety over Chinese telecom giants’ wireless advances could creep into House lawmakers’ must-pass defense policy legislation. “There might be a couple things on 5G that we include,” said Chairman Smith. “Concern about Huawei and ZTE’s involvement in making sure we have domestic capability to build the infrastructure necessary.” Lawmakers “haven’t worked out the details yet.” One challenge: The Senate may be less inclined to follow suit. Senate Armed Services Chair Jim Inhofe (R-OK) doubts 5G security becomes part of the Senate defense bill, saying “people are jealously holding onto that jurisdiction.”

CTIA, the wireless industry trade group, called the recent 5G study presented to the Defense Department a “missed opportunity to collaborate” and contended it includes flawed information about the technology, in a letter to Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan. The study from the Defense Innovation Board warned about the potential for Chinese dominance in 5G and recommended the Pentagon explore sharing its mid-band spectrum with wireless operators. It also suggested the US was wrongly focused on high-band spectrum for 5G when the rest of the world is making lower-frequency airwaves available for next-gen networks. CTIA said the study would have benefited from outreach to the wireless industry. While acknowledging that midband is necessary for 5G, CTIA said the US approach to supply a mix of airwaves is the right one, and that efforts to free up midband airwaves should be geared toward exclusive licenses — not sharing models.