White House is considering building a 5G network to ward off China

White HouseThe US government is reportedly weighing up the idea of creating a nationalised 5G network in order to guard itself against China.

According to Axios, which obtained documents relating to the plans, the US wants a centralised nationwide 5G network within the next three years – a move that will likely see the government pay and build the single network, and then access to carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile.

Should the government push forward with the plans, it would mean a largely private section of the economy would become partially federally controlled.

These ambitions are directly focused on not losing out to China in the manufacture of network infrastructure and AI technologies, as well as protecting the US from the advances that the East Asian powerhouse has already made. The documents even suggest that the US may be looking to export a 5G network to its allies in emerging markets to protect them against China.

The problem with the government’s idea, however, is that majority of the mobile network carriers have already begun building and, in some cases, testing 5G capabilities. And it’s likely in building these 5G technologies they would be considering the similar things to the government while doing this.