14 Leaders The EconomistFebruary 10th 2018
(^2) private consortium, with the government providing radio
spectrum and fibre-optic links to connect the base stations.
The obvious risk of a single wholesale network is that,
without the cut and thrust of competition, it ends up acting like
the sluggish and underfunded telecoms monopolies of old.
Critics point out that the average speed of internet connections
on Australia’s government-owned National Broadband Net-
work lags behind that of most rich countries. South Korea, by
contrast, has a system of competing broadband networks and
some of the zippiest speeds on the planet.
But many people in South Korea live in clusters of residen-
tial high-rise buildings, which are easilywired up. For farther-
flung networks, particularly in rural areas, the costs are higher.
And 5Gnetworks will anyway be more expensive to build
than their forebears. They will eventually use higher-frequen-
cy radio waves, which cannot penetrate buildings and other
obstacles; thatmeans they will need more base stations and
antennae. If every provider has to build its own 5Gnetwork,
costswill be unnecessarily high—sometimes prohibitively so.
A single shared network would be cheaper. It could also in-
crease competition for the services on top of it. Next-genera-
tion networks are supposed to become the connective tissue
for all sorts of devices, from sensors to medical equipment (see
page 57). If firms can lease capacity to create such networks
without having to build them, in much the same way as firms
use smartphones and app stores to reach consumers, the “in-
ternet of things” will be more vibrant. This kind of environ-
ment would also ease worries about the end of “net neutral-
ity” in America. If one company discriminates against certain
online content, consumers can switch to another.
Governments do not have to go as far as mandating the cre-
ation of a wholesale network, as Mexico has done, to get some
of the benefits from sharing. Many states in America restrict or
even ban municipalities from building networks. Eliminating
such laws would be an obvious start. Regulators can also en-
courage other forms of sharing, for instance of spectrum,
something America has started to experiment with. The White
House’s 5Gmemo is an unlikely milestone on the path to-
wards more sharing. But in questioning the need for a lot of
competing networks, it is sending the right signal. 7
P
ROFESSIONAL athletes pay
a high price for their pursuit
of excellence and glory. Training
to the limit tears muscles and
wears out joints. Gymnasts of-
ten need hip replacements
when barely into middle age.
Few footballers make it to the
end of their careers with their knees intact.
But many also run a darker risk: doping. The Winter Olym-
pics in Pyeongchang, in South Korea, starts this week in its
shadow. Years after whistle-blowersfirst revealed wholesale
doping in Russia, the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
at last decided to bar it from taking part. But it has allowed
many Russiansto compete as individuals. And on the eve of
the competition the Court of Arbitration for Sport said that 28
others should receive a more lenient penalty from the IOC, fur-
ther muffling the anti-doping message.
Russia’s doping is unusual only in its scale and institutional
nature. No country or sport is immune (see page 55). Studies,
and an anonymous survey at the World Athletics Champion-
ships in 2011, suggest that a third of athletes preparing for big in-
ternational competitions take banned substances. Yet just 1-2%
fail a test each year. Lance Armstrong, a cyclist who won the
Tour de France seven times and later admitted to doping all the
while, was tested on 250 occasions. The few times he failed, he
avoided sanctions by claiming he had taken anti-inflammato-
ries forsaddle-sores.
Doping is more sophisticated than when communist states
used steroids to bulk up athletes. New drugs are designed to be
undetectable in a blood or urine sample. Many athletes “blood
dope”, receiving transfusions or taking a drug that stimulates
the production of red blood cells to improve their stamina.
Russian cheats “lost” test records in state-run labs and opened
“tamper-proof” sample bottles with dental instruments.
Athletes who take banned substances puttheir health at
risk. Soviet athletes who were fed steroidssuffered a hostof se-
rious problemsin later life. They were more likely to commit
suicide, or to miscarry or have a disabled child. No one knows
what risks those taking new “designer” versions are running.
Blood-doping can cause heart attacks; more than a dozen cy-
clists’ deaths have been linked to it. Some unscrupulous coach-
es dope promising teenagers, before they are ever subjected to
testing. The performance-enhancing benefitswill last into
their future careers. So will the damage.
The agencies that set out to stop doping are hugely out-
classed. As the backtracking and bickering over sanctions on
Russia illustrate, they are divided and weak. Most testing is
done by national bodies, which may not try very hard to find
evidence that would get their own stars banned. The World
Anti-Doping Agency (WA DA), which oversees them, is packed
with officials from national sports federations and the IOC.
Their interests are likewise conflicted. Its budget is tiny. The
system seems to be designed to look tough but punish only the
occasional scapegoat. Honest athletes deserve better.
Don’t throw in the towel
Fixing doping meansfixing incentives. WA DA needs money,
and to be independent of the sports officials who currently call
the shots. Then it could improve testing and carry out more in-
vestigations—Russian doping was proved after whistle-blow-
ers raised the alarm. “Athlete biological passports”, which
monitor a range of markers in blood, show promise.
Above all, the punishment fordoping should be severe and
certain. No Russians should be competing in Pyeongchang
after their country is known to have attempted wholesale
fraud. Athletes should not have to choose between risking
their health or being beaten by a cheat. 7
Drugs in sport
Dope on the slopes
Performance-enhancing drugs are still rampant in sports. There are ways to reduce their use