via The Daily Beast
The Trump administration is in talks with private companies to build a secure nationwide 5G data network in a bid to combat cybersecurity threats from China, Bloomberg News reports. Two administration officials cited in the report stressed that talks are still at the preliminary stage, with questions about funding and control yet to be decided. The main issues would be deciding how much of the project would be taxpayer-funded and whether the entire network would be controlled by the government or divided up among private and public entities, one official said. A plan is reportedly expected to be finalized by September, though the project itself would take several years after that. The news came hours after Axios reported that the Trump administration was considering a federal takeover of part of the country’s wireless network as a precaution against China, a claim that was dismissed by one of the officials cited by Bloomberg News.