b'Eager to tap into the power of the 5G network in order to improve decision making and operations, the DOD began taking action on its 5G plans last year. It has selected five military bases to serve as testbeds for experimenting with and implementing real-world 5G projects, and they are well underway.The military does not operate alone, Singer says. Theres a huge commercial enterprise behind the military. All of that is going to 5Gthe whole economy of the world is transforming with 5G. To leverage those force multipliers and conduct their operations in the future, the DOD really needs a commercial 5G enterprise.In other words, the future of 5G in the DOD isnt comingits here. Powering an Industry-Backed DOD NetworkOf course, you cant talk about 5G without discussing spectrum.We should certainly highlight the importance of spectrum and spectrum assets, says John Dillard, senior program manager for Air Force enterprise services at AT&T Public Sector. Whether its provided by the commercial industry, DOD, or its unlicensed spectrum, there are several models that AT&T is able to bring to the table, so that the DOD can take full advantage of spectrum in any of those capacities.Indeed, earlier this year AT&T unveiled that during the recent C-band auction, the company secured 80mhz of spectrum and a 29% share of the available licenses. AT&T plans to deploy this mid-band spectrum to complement its low-band nationwide 5G network, starting at the end of 2021 and into or beyond 2022, ultimately allowing the company to deliver faster average speeds across the country.Right now, 5G capacity is being built to take advantage of two specific areas of the nations spectrum wavelengths. One area is the mid-band chunk of spectrum, known as sub-6, where existing 4G and 4G LTE 5'