WIA CEO Delivers Opening Keynote at Connect X 2025

Connect (X) Keynote by
Patrick Halley, President and CEO, Wireless Infrastructure Association
Remarks as Delivered

Good morning and welcome to Chicago! It’s great to be here with you in this iconic city.

Like our industry, Chicago has a history of invention and innovation – from the world’s first skyscraper to the first all-color TV station.

In fact, the first call ever made over a commercial cellular network happened right here in Chicago in 1983.

The call was made using a Motorola DynaTAC 8000 phone and answered by Ameritech’s Wireless President, Bob Barnett, on a car phone in the parking lot of Soldier Field.  Barnett then made a second call all the way across the Atlantic that was answered by the great-grandson of Alexander Graham Bell in Germany.  Pretty incredible.

That was the launch of 1G, over forty years ago.  Things have certainly changed a lot since then.

Back then, we were still physically tethered to our phones, with our mobility determined by the length of a tangled cord or by the range of our cordless home phone.  Outside the house, the only option was a pay phone and hoping you could find enough change to make a call.

Today, a phone is a mini-computer that’s always with you. It’s also your camera, camcorder, and map. It’s a portable television and provides instantaneous access to pretty much every song ever written.

Your phone is also likely connected to your watch and your car, and maybe even your Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses – all powered by wireless connectivity.

From one phone call in Chicago to more than 550 million wireless connections in the US, we are well on our way to achieving WIA’s vision of connectivity everywhere.  All made possible by you, the leaders of the wireless infrastructure industry.

In fact, I’m sure there are people in this room today who built that original cellular network here in Chicago and countless other cities across America, laying the groundwork for a communications revolution that is still evolving in the AI era.

It is truly an honor to represent this incredible industry.  Thank you for the work you do every day and for being here with us in Chicago.

Chicago is commonly known as the windy city. This seems fitting….as this is certainly a time in America when the winds of change are blowing. From debates over immigration, taxes, and the role of government … to kitchen table issues like jobs, the economy, and the increasing cost of groceries. You may be feeling these blowing winds in your daily lives.

It’s certainly true for our industry as well. As an industry, we are facing some real headwinds, but also some tailwinds.

Now, I’m a glass-half-full kind of guy. So let’s start with the tailwinds that are propelling us forward.

Whether inside the home, on the factory floor, or inside major sporting venues, the deployment of 5G is a real tailwind for American consumers and businesses.

I had the opportunity to spend the day with a team of network engineers responsible for 5G upgrades in New Orleans before the Super Bowl.

Implementing these types of upgrades is a multi-year process. Putting hundreds of new radios in the Superdome, building small cells along Convention Center Drive, upgrading public areas in the French Quarter, and improving wireless coverage in all the major hotels.

I had the opportunity to spend the day with a team of network engineers responsible for 5G upgrades in New Orleans before the Super Bowl.

Implementing these types of upgrades is a multi-year process. Putting hundreds of new radios in the Superdome, building small cells along Convention Center Drive, upgrading public areas in the French Quarter, and improving wireless coverage in all the major hotels.

I did a speed test walking around the Convention Center, and I was getting download speeds of nearly 3 Gbps on my mobile phone, blowing away the WiFi in the building.

In fact, the 5G cellular network inside the Superdome was so good that fans were encouraged to turn off the stadium Wi-Fi and use the cellular network for the best experience during the Super Bowl with nearly 70,000 fans in the venue.

And the Super Bowl isn’t the only mega event setting records for data traffic – yes, for the Swifities out there, I’m talking about Taylor Swift concerts.  One of the things I learned talking to the engineers at the Superdome, is that at Taylor Swift concerts, fans are now uploading as much as they’re downloading and the network is able to handle it.

Is that a sign of the future for network traffic?  These kinds of networks, delivering superfast speeds, may start at the Super Bowl, but eventually, as technology develops and with the right infrastructure in place, this will become the norm in every community in America.

Another tailwind is the continued Fixed Wireless 5G home broadband success story.

There are now over 12 million homes connected with fixed wireless at average speeds of 150 Mbps, and many subscribers experiencing speeds between 300-500 Mbps. Fixed wireless continues to be the fastest growing home broadband service, and it’s not even close.  And there is still a lot of runway for fixed wireless.

But we are on the cusp of something more with the emergence of AI and the full capabilities of 5G beginning to emerge.

What we’ve seen so far with 5G is significantly faster speeds and capacity for mobile connectivity and for fixed wireless broadband service.

Now you are starting to hear a lot about the deployment of standalone 5G network cores and the use of network slicing, the increasing adoption of enterprise private wireless networks across multiple industries, and the use of AI to improve network operations and power new AI-driven applications.

If 5G was the buzzword at industry events 5 years ago, this year the buzz has been all about AI.  I came home from an event earlier this year and actually contemplated changing our name to WAI.

But the buzz is for good reason.  We are already seeing the use of AI to optimize carrier and tower company operations.  On the consumer side, I don’t know what specific AI use cases will emerge.  But I do know AI, coupled with other technology advancements, is going to be a big deal for our industry, because without data, there is no AI, and without connectivity, there is no data.

While we may not know exactly what that future looks like, what I know right now is that because of the networks you’ve built and will continue to build, new incredible applications that none of us can imagine today will emerge. Because this is always true – when we build networks, innovation follows.

From towers to small cells, to fiber and data centers, to chips and radios, our connected future will depend on an incredible amount of infrastructure that will be financed, built, and operated by the companies and people in this room.

The necessity of wireless connectivity for every American is a consistent tailwind we can all depend on.

One final tailwind.  At the federal level and in many states, we are operating in a pro-deployment regulatory environment. With a new Administration and a new Congress comes new opportunities. There are leaders in Congress, inside the White House, and within key federal agencies who fundamentally understand that increasing wireless deployment is key to America’s economic success. We have a willing audience ready to roll up their sleeves and work with us.  And we are ready to get to work.

For the naysayers in the room – while I am incredibly optimistic about our future, I’m also a realist. And I realize there are some real headwinds right now.

I’m sympathetic to the challenges that companies in this room face due to economic pressures and business and regulatory uncertainties.

Let’s acknowledge a few of those headwinds.

First, macroeconomic uncertainty

• Tariffs, trade wars, fluctuating markets and stock prices, the rising costs of everything, an intensely competitive wireless market putting pressure on margins that are already thin.

Second, unreasonable barriers to deployment

• NIMBYISM that still causes delays at the local level, federal lands roadblocks, environmental and historic review delays and unsubstantiated RF fears.

Third, dysfunction in Washington creating a spectrum log jam and federal spending delays

• When will billions in BEAD spending actually happen?
• What new spectrum will be made available for commercial use and when?
• What impact will DOGE cuts have on the many federal agencies we work with?

Just to name a few issues.

I am a realist, and I recognize there are some headwinds.  And there are certainly a whole host of crosswinds where we aren’t really sure where things are going to end up.

No matter which way the wind blows, WIA has your back.

With a strong presence in Washington and across the states, the WIA team wakes up every single day thinking about what we can do to create the best possible regulatory and business environment for you to succeed.

So, what are our top priorities? In addition to pushing back on a whole lot of bad ideas, we are focused on three things:

First – we need strong rules of the road for permitting – we’re fighting for predictable, proportionate, and transparent processes at the state and federal level, so that wireless carriers, tower companies, and the firms that support them operate in an environment with clear rules of the road you can depend on.

We’re advocating for Congress to pass federal permitting legislation. And we’re working to pass state laws that will provide similar protections, with legislation already passed this year in multiple states.

Second, we need a clear and predictable spectrum pipeline – The 5G success we’ve achieved so far would not be possible without the significant amount of spectrum auctioned by the FCC in recent years.  Yet, today the FCC doesn’t have congressional authority to conduct spectrum auctions, and Congress has not passed legislation identifying new mid-band spectrum for commercial use.

With Congressional, White House, and federal agency leaders actively engaged in a discussion with industry, I am confident a deal can be reached that meets industry and federal agency spectrum needs.  It’s time to get this done.  The budget reconciliation process being debated in Washington right now is the vehicle to address spectrum and permitting.

Third, we need to make sure that when the government invests in broadband, it invests in wireless – WIA pushed our federal and state partners harder than anyone to ensure the $42.5 billion BEAD program is a technology-neutral program that includes a major role for wireless.  And they listened.  Multiple states are now planning to fund fixed and mobile wireless projects with their BEAD funds.

Of course, there has been an election, and the Trump Administration is now conducting a review of the BEAD program. WIA’s message to the new Administration is simple.

First, in supporting a technology-neutral program, allow states to pick the right mix of technologies necessary to get the job done – including a significant role for fixed and mobile wireless.

And second, encourage states to invest in broadband workforce development programs, because we need to have a well-trained workforce that meets today’s needs while creating long-term career opportunities.

So, as I conclude, let me say to the future leaders of our industry, who are in this room, and to the people who built the first commercial wireless network in Chicago over 40 years ago –  thank you for the work you have done, and the work you will continue to do, building the best networks in the world.

As we gather here in the Windy City, whichever way the wind blows, WIA will do everything we can to help this incredible industry succeed, because America’s future depends on it. Thank you very much.

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