Nine rural and agricultural groups wrote FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in opposition to proposals to reserve vacant channels in the TV band for unlicensed use, said a letter by American Agri-Women, the National Farmers Union, National Association of Wheat Growers and others. “This proposal will only serve to deprive our members of critical access to local broadcast television coverage,” said the groups. The vacant channel proposal would make it tough for low-power TV stations and translators to find new homes, which disproportionately will affect rural areas, the letter said. “Losing television translators and LPTVs would have a devastating impact on our members, as these services are often our only means of receiving free, over the air local broadcast television service.” The groups previously filed against the vacant channel proposals in 2013 and 2015, NAB noted in an email to reporters flagging the letter. NAB has opposed the vacant channel proposal (see 1707050048).
A state small-cells bill enacted Friday in North Carolina “will lay the foundation for 5G,” said CTIA Senior Vice President-State Affairs Jamie Hastings in a Monday statement. Gov. Roy Cooper (D) signed the bill that pre-empts local authority over wireless infrastructure siting, a measure on which the municipal league was neutral (see 1707210039).
Initial 5G trials are starting small and will ramp up gradually before commercialization in 2020 and the effects also will be slow to arrive for industry, Raymond James analyst Frank Louthan said in a Friday report. “We view 5G as a buzzword seeking a technology standard that is still seeking a market, and we do not envision 5G stimulating meaningful growth for the wireless equipment industry for several years.” U.S. carriers will likely take different approaches, he said. T-Mobile has discussed rolling out 5G in its incentive auction spectrum and Sprint is focused on its 2.5 GHz holdings. “Samsung is clearly attempting to use the 5G technology transition to expand its share in the base station market judging by trial activity,” he wrote. “As in previous wireless generation shifts, we expect South Korea, Japan, and the U.S. will be the earliest adopters, along with China in this new cycle.” The launch of 5G also means wireless companies are encroaching on wireline markets, the report said. “The initial end market for essentially all announced trials is fixed broadband access at 1Gbps+ download speeds.”
The FCC set a pleading cycle on a key 5G deal -- Verizon’s buy of spectrum licenses of Straight Path. The licenses include 735 millimeter wave spectrum licenses in the 39 GHz band, 133 licenses in the local multipoint distribution service bands at 28, 29 and 31 GHz, nine common carrier point-to-point microwave licenses and one nonexclusive nationwide license in the 3650-3700 MHz band. “Applicants state that Verizon plans to use mmW spectrum to launch 5G services,” said a Friday public notice. “Applicants claim that Verizon is driving the 5G ecosystem towards rapid commercialization with testing, standards development, fiber deployment and acquisitions for backhaul, and the planned launch of 11 precommercial 5G fixed wireless trials in 2017.” Petitions to deny are due Aug. 11, oppositions Aug. 18 and replies Aug. 25. Verizon outbid AT&T for Straight Path (see 1705110052).
T-Mobile needs more high-frequency spectrum for 5G and also is interested in the 3.5 GHz band, Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray said near the end of a lengthy earnings call (see 1707190055) Wednesday. “Industry needs more millimeter wave spectrum for urban hot spot-like deployment,” Ray said. “We have some, we would like to see more and will push on the regulatory front to make sure that that happens.” Ray also said T-Mobile is very interested in the 3.5 GHz shared band. Last month, T-Mobile went further than its peers in seeking changes to the rules for the band (see 1706200081). “If you want to talk about where is the most formative block of spectrum emerging globally for 5G, it’s in the 3.5 GHz to kind of 4 GHz range,” he said. Ray said the carrier is looking for spectrum blocks of at least 40 MHz and “ideally” 60 MHz.
The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology sought comment on an ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board (ANAB) request to expand its scope of recognition as an body that accredits test labs under commission rules. ANAB is already so recognized in the U.S. but hopes also to be recognized to accredit labs in non-mutual recognition agreement countries, said a Thursday public notice. The U.S. has negotiated seven such agreements, including with Israel, Japan and Mexico and with groups of countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Comments are due Aug. 21, replies Sept. 16, in docket 16-313.
T-Mobile continued to see strong growth in Q2, with 1.3 million net adds and 817,000 branded postpaid adds. Postpaid adds, a key measure, were slightly below Q1, when 914,000 were reported. T-Mobile noted it has now added more than 1 million subscribers for 17 straight quarters. Churn also improved to 1.1 percent, down 17 basis points from the same quarter last year and eight from Q1. T-Mobile expects to start to deploy the 600 MHz spectrum it bought in the TV incentive auction later this year, lighting up the first sites in August with several 600 MHz-capable handsets available for the holiday season. This was the first time the carrier went first among all the national carriers in releasing results. CEO John Legere said it was time to shake things up. “We’ve been breaking industry rules and dashing the hopes and dreams of our competitors,” Legere said. AT&T is focused on acquisitions and is OK with losing postpaid subscribers, he said. “Verizon’s massive marketing blitz on its unlimited plan looks like it might disappoint,” he said. “Sprint has been giving away phone service for free, like, literally, giving it away.” Legere said AT&T and Verizon have seen their networks slow under the weight of their unlimited offerings. “Their networks just can’t take it,” he said. The companies didn't comment. Legere also said T-Mobile has opened 1,000 company stores this year, with 500 on the way.
The FCC needs to stick to its deadline to move broadcasters out of the TV band 39 months after the incentive auction ended with the up to $1.75 billion in reimbursements they will get, Krista Witanowski, CTIA assistant vice president-regulatory affairs, blogged Tuesday. “Rules -- authorized by Congress, adopted by the FCC, and upheld by a federal appeals court -- strike a careful balance: protecting TV viewers, providing broadcasters with sufficient flexibility, and allowing wireless providers timely access.” Carriers need the spectrum to deploy service in rural America, Witanowski said. Future auctions rely on sticking to current rules, she said: If "access to spectrum takes longer than promised, trust will erode -- and future auction revenues will decline." Some in the broadcast industry want more time and/or rule tweaks (see 1703220074). “It’s a little rich for CTIA, whose members whipped up a fake ‘spectrum crisis’ hysteria and then went AWOL in the recent TV auction, to demand that the FCC stick to a 39-month deadline," an NAB spokesman said. "Broadcasters intend to work with the FCC to complete this Herculean repack as quickly as possible. But arbitrary deadlines are not the answer, and there should be no illusion that moving 987 TV stations to a new channel can be accomplished without likely delays.”
The FCC shouldn’t make substantial changes to the 3.5 GHz shared band, Dynamic Spectrum Alliance President Kalpak Gude, told an aide to Commissioner Mike O’Rielly. Gude was particularly critical of the changes sought by T-Mobile and CTIA (see 1706200081), said a filing in docket 12-354. He “made clear that significant effort and investment has already occurred for the [Citizens Broadband Radio Service] band by companies from across the communications sector based on the current rules and that DSA would be opposed to any significant changes at this late date,” the filing said. The band also should retain the “fundamental characteristics of the current rules by encouraging investment by entities at the edge of the network, including building owners, companies, campuses, stadiums, etc.,” Gude said.
Reports that SoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son is negotiating with Warren Buffet and John Malone over an investment in Sprint may have implications for the long-rumored Sprint/T-Mobile merger, Citi said in a Monday note to investors. SoftBank is Sprint’s parent. The news broke in The Wall Street Journal Friday. Citi said one takeaway is that Deutsche Telekom, parent of T-Mobile, looked at buying Sprint and the valuation was relatively low. “In response, Softbank may be looking at new opportunities to capture a better valuation for Sprint’s assets and operations,” Citi said. “We would assess a greater than 50 percent probability that a strategic investment in Sprint is premised on an immediate or eventual attempt to merge Sprint & T-Mobile.” BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk expressed skepticism. The rumored $10 billion to $20 billion investment would represent 23-37 percent of Sprint “assuming it was done with common equity at the current price,” he wrote. “Is that how Buffett and Malone invest?” The logic of a Sprint/T-Mobile deal “is compelling enough that we’ve always assumed the two parties would find a way to at least try to merge,” Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson told investors. “We still think so.”