Administration Disavows Any Plans For National Cellular Infrastructure Amid Blowback From Industry and FCC

I had a strong doubt that such a vision of a public information infrastructure would be legitimate. It is being dismissed by White House officials as an 'outdated' proposal from the National Security Council (NSC) that drew a swift negative reaction from the telecoms industry and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.

How can we expect such a visionary project from a government that places something so basic to the public good as net neutrality in the waste bin?

There will likely be a proposal for a national infrastructure of roads and bridges, which I expect to be largely an underfunded headline grabber that throws the burden of the realization of it on states and local governments.

This excerpt below is an update on the national cellular network story from ZeroHedge which you can read here.

Update: Several senior White House officials told Recode Monday that the Trump administration has no plans to build a "nationalized" US 5G network. The presentation, compiled by an unnamed senior NSC aide, was merely a dated proposal that will probably never see the light of day, the officials said.

The administration sources also pointed out that the FCC has a much larger role in setting broadband policy, and Ajit Pai, the current FCC chairman, has said he opposes the nationalization idea.

The NSC, they said, is only one component of a much larger decision-making process on the part of the federal government to set broadband policy. Its say is not final on these matters — and its memo does not appear to have gained traction with other tech-focused arms of the White House, according to multiple sources within the Trump administration.

A spokesman for the NSC, meanwhile, did not respond to an email seeking comment Monday.