Ned Brown | Jamaica, US, 5G and Huawei

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson broke with United States (US) President Donald Trump over the approval of utilising Huawei 5G in Great Britain. Johnson emphasised that “core” functions at the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, other high-risk vendors and infrastructure, would all exclude Huawei 5G.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo railed against Huawei during his recent visit to Jamaica, and continued with more of the same last week on his trip to Britain. And US Ambassador Donald Tapia continues his tedious warnings against the perils of Jamaica doing business with China, since he arrived five months ago to his new and first-time ever diplomatic post.

What is Jamaica to do? Wait for Ericsson, Nokia or Samsung to show up with a 5G alternative? Who will pay for any of them? Where are the American alternatives, and why didn’t Pompeo bring any US telecoms representatives on his recent trip? Perhaps the US officials should consider what is at stake for Jamaica and all Jamaicans.

First off, 5G is expected to be 100 times faster than current 4G networks. What does that mean? Healthcare, for instance, and remote surgery specifically, could be delivered to every parish in Jamaica.

5G can save lives, and help Jamaica better prepare for hurricanes and tropical storms. The high-frequency signals generated by satellites and processed through 5G will greatly enhance storm predictability.

In commerce, 5G can run autonomous vehicles. Driverless trucks carrying goods from the ports of Kingston and MoBay could become commonplace in the future as they will be in other countries.

But, as with most matters, politics has a way of trying to interfere with progress. The reality is that the Chinese and Huawei are much further along with 5G technology than the US. And how to best describe the US handling of 5G policy: it is a bureaucratic mess.

The US Commerce Department and the Federal Communications Commission are at odds with each other and publicly feuding about who should control and oversee 5G technology. Eight US senators, in a recent bipartisan letter to President Trump, asked that a White House-level ‘czar’ position be created to develop a coherent national strategy for 5G, and coordinate policy. The senators acknowledged that the US continues to fall behind Huawei every day without a coherent policy.

The leaders of both the Jamaica Labour Party and the People’s National Party should join together on 5G technology, as it is in the long-term interest of what is right for Jamaica. Political rhetoric and hyperbole coming from the US and the local embassy are not helpful to Jamaica. When the US gets its spectrum act together, perhaps then Jamaica will have other 5G options from which to choose.

Ned Brown is a Washington, DC, political consultant, author, and is completing a book on Jamaica tourism from 1947-1962. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.