Hundt Sees 5G as Promising New 'Golden Decade' for Tech Industry
The launch of 5G could start a new “Golden Decade” for the information and communications technology (ICT) sector, former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt said in a letter to the agency. Hundt said the U.S. had the first tech boom after…
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Congress authorized spectrum auctions in 1993. Average income, productivity, GDP and labor force participation increased, he said. “Everything that was supposed to go down went down: unemployment, monopoly rents, and the federal deficit,” Hundt said. “Between 1995 and 2003 American investors put almost $1 trillion into a total rebuild of the communications platform in America.” The spectrum frontiers order before the FCC is critical, as is finding new ways to facilitate spectrum sharing, he said. “It is not inconceivable that 5G can jumpstart a similar wave of investment, innovation, and economic success,” Hundt said. "Even secular stagnation, the bête noire of macroeconomists today, can become another worry allayed. Once again ICT can lead the way to an increasing standard of living for all Americans, and from this heartland of creative destruction waves of economic growth can spread around the world.” The filing was posted in docket 14-177. The spectrum frontiers order is scheduled for a vote at the FCC's July 14 meeting (see 1606240026). Hundt has done work for Ligado Networks, which is seeking to convert satellite spectrum to terrestrial use for wireless broadband.