Trump Blasts Rove Advocacy for Rivada 5G Wholesale

Former President Donald Trump criticized Rivada Networks’ support for the U.S. government to make spectrum reserved for 5G available to carriers on wholesale, drawing pushback from the company. Trump’s Thursday criticism of Rivada came via a statement from his Save America PAC that hit back at company adviser and former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove over a Wall Street Journal opinion piece in which he panned Trump’s Conservative Political Action Conference speech. Rove “has been losing for years, except for himself,” Trump said. He “came to the Oval Office lobbying for 5G for him and a group. After a lengthy discussion with Rove and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, I said no, they’re not qualified. Our Nation can do much better!” Rove registered in 2019 as a lobbyist for Rivada amid public attention focused on the company’s wholesale push (see 1904220024). Trump’s reelection campaign in August said his second-term agenda would include a push for building a “National High-Speed Wireless Internet Network,” which officials compared to Rivada’s proposal (see 2008270051). Rivada during the Trump administration “advocated for, and still" supports a request for proposals "to determine the best way to share DOD spectrum between military and commercial uses,” a spokesperson said. “An open and competitive RFP would have determined who was qualified or not, but the previous administration never issued one. Nor did [Trump] take any other steps to allocate or share most of the DOD-controlled mid-band spectrum. We are hopeful that the current administration can do much better.”