Rivada Networks is a US-based communications technology business with offices in the US and Ireland. Rivada Networks was founded on July 6, 2004 and its current CEO and chairman is Irish businessman
Declan Ganley
Declan James Ganley (born 23 July 1968) is an English-born Irish entrepreneur, businessman, and political activist. He was the founder and leader of the Irish branch of the Libertas Party.
Primarily a telecommunications entrepreneur, Ganley has ...
. Rivada Networks is financially backed by
Peter Thiel
Peter Andreas Thiel (; born 11 October 1967) is a German-American billionaire entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and political activist. A co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund, he was the first outside investor in Fac ...
.
An October 20, 2020,
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
report said that the White House had allegedly increased pressure to fast track a contract to lease the
Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philippin ...
's underutilized spectrum in a public private partnership between the DoD and Rivada Networks, to use DoD's mid-band spectrum to eventually share 5G airwaves with wireless providers.
Karl Rove
Karl Christian Rove (born December 25, 1950) is an American Republican political consultant, policy advisor, and lobbyist. He was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff during the George W. Bush administration until his resignation on August 3 ...
, who is a paid lobbyist for Rivada,
and
Newt Gingrich
Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U ...
have been lobbying since early 2019 for the DoD/Rivada deal
which CNN says, would be "premium real estate for the booming and lucrative 5G market."
Rivada says that is "not interested in a nationalized 5G network."
[
]
History
The name Rivada is derived from the acronym, "Radio Interoperable Voice and Data Applications."
Rivada Networks is part of a joint venture with Port Graham Development Corporation called Rivada Port Graham Solutions. In April 2012, Rivada Port Graham Solutions was one of 30 prime contractors awarded a contract on the US Secret Service's $3 billion Tactical Communications (TACCOM) contract for the US Department of Homeland Security. Contractors received contracts in one or multiple technical categories, and each indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ In U.S. Federal government contracting, IDIQ is an abbreviation of the term indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity. This is a type of contract that provides for an indefinite quantity of supplies or services during a fixed period of time. The lega ...
) contract has a 2-year base and three 1-year options. Some of the technical categories on the contract include portable/mobile radios, control/base stations, software, upgrades, repeaters, routers, comparator systems, engineering, design, installations, maintenance, frequency managers, spectrum managers and test equipment.
Partnerships
In May 2016, it was reported that Rivada Networks had partnered with Harris Corporation
Harris Corporation was an American technology company, defense contractor, and information technology services provider that produced wireless equipment, tactical radios, electronic systems, night vision equipment and both terrestrial and spaceb ...
, Ericsson
(lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informat ...
, Nokia
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...
, Intel Security
McAfee Corp. ( ), formerly known as McAfee Associates, Inc. from 1987 to 1997 and 2004 to 2014, Network Associates Inc. from 1997 to 2004, and Intel Security Group from 2014 to 2017, is an American global computer security software company head ...
, Fujitsu Network Communications, and Black & Veatch
Black & Veatch (BV) is the largest engineering firm in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Founded in 1915 in Kansas City, Missouri it is now headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas It is a global engineering, procurement, construction ( EPC) and c ...
to form Rivada Mercury. Rivada Mercury unsuccessfully bid to build a nationwide LTE network in the 700 MHz spectrum licensed to FirstNet.
Rivada Networks 5G business model
In November 2018, Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC) chairman, Ajit Pai
Ajit Varadaraj Pai (; born January 10, 1973) is an American lawyer who served as chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from 2017 to 2021. He has been a partner at the private-equity firm Searchlight Capital since April 20 ...
, announced the first spectrum auction
A spectrum auction is a process whereby a government uses an auction system to sell the rights to transmit signals over specific bands of the electromagnetic spectrum and to assign scarce spectrum resources. Depending on the specific auction form ...
for 5G services as part of a multi-year "aggressive spectrum strategy" to "facilitate America's superiority in 5G." 5G—the "next generation of cellular technology"—will increase internet speed allowing, for example, users to "stream HD videos on your mobile network", and doctors to "perform remote surgery.
In his February 19, 2019 ''Fox News'' article, "America in race against China—and the clock—to control future of tech", Newt Gingrich
Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U ...
, called for a public-private partnership where private capital would facilitate a "wireless moonshot" by taking advantage of a "shared spectrum available for a carrier-neutral, wholesale-only, nationwide 5G network" to "show the world that Chinese wireless dominance is not inevitable". In early spring 2019, Karl Rove, a Rivada Networks investor, had been actively lobbying Senate Armed Services Committee members and Senator John Cornyn
John Cornyn III ( ; born February 2, 1952) is an American politician and attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Texas, a seat he has held since 2002. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the Senate majority whip for ...
—co-author of the Secure 5G and Beyond Act, to promote Rivada Networks' 5G business model which involved leasing the Pentagon's mid-band spectrum, according to a May 2019, ''The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' by Sue Halpern. Halpern described how, the Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philippin ...
's spectrum which spans the United States, is often unused—it is set aside for "classified, unclassified, and emergency communications." and that Brad Parscale
Brad Parscale (born January 3, 1976) is an American digital consultant and political advisor who served as the senior adviser for data and digital operations for Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign. He previously served as the digital medi ...
and Gingrich were making a similar case about "underutilized spectrum".
In April 2019, Washington, D.C.-based Jonathan Lee, whose work as an attorney involves FCC matters, questioned why "lifelong 'free market' defenders" like Newt Gingrich and Karl Rove were embracing a DoD/Rivada partnership.
An October 20, 2020 ''CNN'' report said that Mark Meadows
Mark Randall Meadows (born July 28, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 29th White House chief of staff from 2020 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as the U.S. representative for North Carolina's 11th c ...
—acting on behalf of President Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
—has increased pressure to fast track a non-competitive lucrative contract Rivada to lease 350 megahertz of the Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philippin ...
's mid-band spectrum, which CNN's says, would be "premium real estate for the booming and lucrative 5G market."
Rivada has repeatedly said that is "not interested in a nationalized 5G network."
Rivada Space Networks
In March 2022, Rivada announced the formation of Rivada Space Networks GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary that was land to launch 600 low earth orbit satellites interconnected with laser links to form a single global mesh network in space. In February 2023 Rivada announced a 2,4 B$ order contract with Terran Orbital subsidiary Tyvak to build a 300 satellite constellation (288 + 12 spares). The satellites are expected to wheight 500kg each, the deployment would start as early as 2025.
Rivada Space Networks is headquartered in Munich, Germany, with a second office in Berlin, Germany. The CEO of Rivada Space Networks is Declan Ganley, and the team includes Mark Rigolle as COO. Rigolle is the former CEO of O3b
O3b is a satellite constellation in Medium Earth orbit (MEO) owned and operated by SES, and designed to provide low-latency broadband connectivity to remote locations for mobile network operators and internet service providers, maritime, avia ...
.
Rivada has stated that its satellite network will utilize peer-to-peer orbital laser communications, removing the threat of ground-based interference from bad actors. The satellite network will utilize spectrum from two high priority Ka-band filings of Trion Space, a Liechtenstein company.
See also
* Rivada Port Graham Solutions
References
{{reflist, 2
Defense companies of the United States