Trump is not giving me special help, insists Ganley
GALWAY-BASED telecoms entrepreneur Declan Ganley has denied his company Rivada Networks is seeking to benefit from an alleged push by the White House to grant Rivada a ‘no bid’ contract for valuable radio spectrum in the US.
Responding to a CNN report claiming President Donald Trump was lobbying the Pentagon on Rivada’s behalf, Mr Ganley called the allegation that the White House wants to fast-track a contract for Rivada without a competitive process “a lie”.
“If we were offered a no-bid contract, we would turn it down,” tweeted Mr Ganley, who is chief executive and chairman of Rivada.
He accused CNN of running the story at the behest of its corporate owner, telecoms firm AT&T.
“I was wondering when AT&T would roll out CNN to spin their spin and it didn’t take long,” he tweeted.
This accusation was denied by the network. “No one affiliated with this story has communicated with anyone at AT&T in any way about this story,” wrote Jake Tapper, CNN anchor and the network’s chief Washington correspondent.
Rivada Networks operates mainly in the US. While it has bid for regional networks and state emergency frequencies, it has been promoting technology that would allow for dynamic sharing of mobile and radio spectrum.
This, the company claims, would encourage more usage of spectrum, less hoarding and less waste
It lost out on a state contract worth an estimated $7bn (€5.9bn) – to AT&T – four years ago that would have given it control of emergency first responders’ spectrum across large parts of the US.
Mr Ganley is the former founder of Libertas political party and campaigned against the Lisbon Treaty.