I put this together as a manifesto for innovation. If I offend any of you, get over it, this isn’t meant to offend, just explain and offer a solution or two. Sometimes I read something that drives me crazy and I have to write about it. This time, I decided to publish.

Should the USA government break apart Large tech companies?

I don’t know how many of you have seen the blog post by presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren about breaking apart big tech.

Blog post found here, https://medium.com/@teamwarren/heres-how-we-can-break-up-big-tech-9ad9e0da324c if you want to see exactly what she says.

To sum it up, she thinks that Google, Amazon, and Facebook are too big. They need to be broken up because they are too big and there is no competition. The interesting thing is she uses Google as a shining example, when in fact, they are the very company she wants to break up.

I saw that Amazon was bullied out of going to Long Island City by another politician, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who proudly took credit for keeping Amazon’s second headquarters out of NYC. I don’t understand why you would be proud of stifling the economy of your constituents by keeping out a company that has shown nothing but growth. Her argument was they would not pay enough taxes and raise the property value of that area.

That confuses me because it seems that’s what most people want, growth and increasing property value. I just don’t get it. Not to mention the jobs of all the people in the area. President Reagan had the trickle-down economics theory where if you give breaks to large companies they spur the economy and new business. I know there is more to it than that, but you get the idea. We all like it when a large company moves in because it sparks so much additional business around that area. Not to mention all the work for the people who would be part of the expansion.

It not only is construction, but think of telecom, IT support, wireless growth, product sales, and services. I had known so many companies that got excited and were already preparing for the addition of Amazon, business, job growth, and oncoming increase in real estate value. The companies that could not wait to get the work. Now, it’s all gone. Easy come easy go.

Thank you Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. You cost my friends tons of money, jobs, and growth. But hey, you pushed out Amazon, congrats!

Now I see Ms. Warren doing something similar. Would that make a difference? What I mean is when I think of the AT&T breakup, it did spark competition. Of course, it did. MCI had huge growth, all the baby Bells became a force in each region. I also remember we went from a large monopoly to many little monopolies. What a nightmare.

By the way, what happened? All of the bells started to merge, then wireless came, and now that industry is another group of companies that continuously compete against each other.

In the wireless arena, we have AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon. They are struggling to maintain dominance.

How long will it be until she looks at them? Then at the OEMs, like Nokia and Ericsson?

Will she continue to break up each group of companies that dominate?

I am trying to resolve if this is good or bad. Google is innovative. They became who they are by being innovative.

Also, how many employees have left Amazon and Google to start their own companies that work for and with the Googles and Amazons? Even Facebook faces fierce competition which they often just buy.

I get where she is coming from, break apart the big bad empires so that the little companies can grow.

Is Growth the problem or Solution?

What happens when the little companies can’t grow, or they don’t have the funds to continue. How will she stop them? Will they have their growth capped?

I noticed she didn’t mention anything about the US carriers, Verizon and AT&T. She focused on companies where we do have choices. Companies that are more or less recreational. While a majority of the internet traffic goes through their sites at some point, she will have to look at the larger picture. How many people use Comcast to get to those sites? How many people get to those sites using apps on their smartphones? Did she look at that?

These companies are of great value because they can do things that others can’t do. Google is always testing new technology, new ways to provide internet access to the end user.

What I do know, they do a lot of R&D. I feel that R&D is the backbone of many large companies.

In another article, there are 3 dominant companies in the 5G chip market, Qualcomm, Intel, and MediaTek, an article found here, https://pocketnow.com/5g-chip-maket-outlook-2019 for information. How long until these companies are identified as threats to the growth of 5G?

Amazon is helping people like me sell my books. Facebook helps me advertise. Google helps me learn and advertise.

Why doesn’t she offer an alternative? I honestly think that instead of breaking them apart, maybe have a few other rules in place. Maybe, help small companies get off the ground with grants. Maybe funds like what Softbank was putting together. Remember they were creating a $100B fund for new tech? Two years ago, they said they would, https://www.businessinsider.com/european-vcs-are-baffled-by-softbanks-93-billion-tech-fund-2017-7 and it confused a lot of people.

However, this is what America needs. To break apart the larger companies may or may not work, but to have them help out the smaller companies with incubators? Remember when Microsoft and Apple would fund schools to innovate entrepreneurship?

Learn more about tech and business incubators:

• https://www.oecd.org/innovation/policyplatform/48136826.pdf (old document, 2010, but gives a good explanation of tech incubators.)
• https://blog.salesflare.com/top-startup-accelerators-incubators-us-canada
• https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/287026 (This is from Entrepreneur magazine, I hope they don’t sue me for linking to their articles!)
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/avivalegatt/2019/01/07/launch-your-startup-at-these-five-college-incubators/#9985d2c4a77d

My point is, why attack the large companies that have been through the growth when they are spinning off so many mentors and leaders that could help the rest of us?

Probably because there is an election coming up, I get it. We need to find ways to get elected. What I think we need to do is look at the big picture.

I often rail against the carriers for their treatment of subcontractors. The industry is getting busy again.

I find it interesting because they used the TURF system and reverse auctions to get the costs so low that safety comes at a premium for climbers and many of the commissioning engineers won’t do it unless they can be guaranteed multiples sites in a short period of time. I doubt any presidential candidate looked at that. They certainly don’t want to come out against the carriers, or at least it seems that way.

Trump made a point to try to limit the imports from China, but today’s economy has made that hard because we’ve become reliant on working with China for manufacturing. Even in telecom, I can’t think of any radio heads, or (BBUs or small cells) that are not manufactured in China. If you know of someone, let me know at wade4wireless@gmail.com and I’ll make a point to highlight it.

Can Small Companies survive?

The thing is, here in the USA, and Canada and Europe, the margins are still high on hardware. That’s why this is a prime market for growth. However, the margins for contractors are falling, big time. Luckily with the wireless expansion, (thank you 5G, MIMO, and new spectrum), there is a growing need for talent here in the USA. Not everything is being outsourced to other countries.

So my advice to Ms.Warren or any politician, help the contractors that live here out and ask the companies to work with the local talent. Let’s grown the talent we have.

I worked with more companies in the past year that have been trained to do this work, but the experience is meaningless and less in this industry.

I am proud to be in telecom, yet, telecom is doing all that is can to cast old farts like me to the side.

I see incredible innovation here in the USA. Not just wireless technology!

• Smart poles are critical for smart city growth, yet how many cities have any money to invest in this technology?
• Densification and the new spectrum is making innovators here in the USA come up with cost-effective ways to deploy, yet what support do they get without the backing of large corporations like Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, American Tower, Crown Castle, and a few more?
• Backhaul like fiber and wireless should be booming, yet cities and carriers argue of the simple things, like what it should look like and sound levels.
• Art is often lost in deployment. Many companies just want to deploy quickly, even if it’s ugly. Steve Jobs revolutionized the look and feel of computers which Crown Castle has worked hard to do for smart pole deployment. We can do this today, if only we worked together.
• Technology is more than the radio and backhaul, now we have the edge which is taking large data centers, like where cloud computing is hosted, and breaking it into small remote data centers close to the end user. The edge is another art form being innovated for technology, it’s no longer cool but a necessity.

If you don’t understand this, then reach out. I know a lot of people, I can help.

You may think this won’t change the face of technology, then why deploy 5G at all, after all, let’s just remain the same,. In fact, who needs a smartphone? Give your smartphone up and go back to your landline, if you can still get it in your area.

Is Technology or Outsourcing Hurting Us?

FYI, I am in Miami where I still see payphones. I know they are there so someone can call 911. Do you know why? Security! We rely on video to connect public safety and hi-tech, but we rely on landlines for security when all else fails. Smartphones die, coverage sucks in some areas, and when emergencies happen, systems overload.

We still need everything, yet we have to come up with better ways to serve.

What we could have is more innovation. I think we can all work together, but it takes money and cooperation, not division.

I live in the USA, I love it here. Americans are from all over the world. I work with people of many nationalities, from all over the world that all came to the USA looking for opportunity. Working together, we can make America more than a leader in technology, but a shining beacon because of technology with the help of Americans who came from all over the world.

You know who brings these people to America to become innovators? Large companies. They get sponsors then they work to improve the telecom systems here in America.

Thank GOD we have the help of the world! Regardless of your religion, you have to be thankful we are growing. We have opportunities. I hope we can all grow and move ahead.

Thanks to the larger companies for bringing us all together to make great innovations in technology.

In my opinion, outsourcing hurts jobs in the US, but it’s got to happen. Also, the more we outsource, the more the people we outsource to want to work in America. FYI, I realize that when we complain about outsourcing, we are getting lazy. That’s when it’s time to innovate again so that we can all work together.

There is still a dream of coming to America. I think when you live here, you forget how good you have it. That’s why I try to look around and be thankful. Even though I see many of your jobs leaving the states, we have to innovate to create new jobs. We have to keep learning to create new opportunities. We can do it! We can innovate.

I am doing my part, not by blaming anyone, but by pointing out problems. I also come up with solutions where I can. However, I don’t have all the answers, so I collaborate with other smart people to make this happen. We need teams, masterminds, and collaboration.

What are you doing to innovate?

I know, I talk about America being great, but the end goal is to make technology great, no matter where you live. It’s up to all of us and by working together we can do it.

We don’t just do it to improve technology, we do it so we can grow as humans. The world is smaller than ever, thanks to Google, Amazon, and Facebook. They brought many of us together whereas before it may have been much harder. There is more opportunity for all of us to innovate, and hopefully, get rich in the process.

So my solution would be this, let’s look for ways to innovate, then work together to make it happen. Let’s see ideas spread like viruses, and innovate together, and change the world.

Steve Jobs wanted to “put a ding in the universe”. What about you? Do you want to put a ding in the universe? If so, then get out there and make it happen.

Thank you for your time to learn something new! Let’s use it today.

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

See Ya!

I appreciate all of your support. Thank you so much!

 

 

 

 

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