U.S. interest remains high in using 5G networks for enterprise IoT applications, but deployment questions and uncertainties abound, reported the Information Services Group Thursday. Many companies rolling out IoT remain concerned about cybersecurity, “and they’re turning to service providers to help them protect the data flowing over IoT systems,” said ISG. There’s “rampant” hype about 5G, “and not all spectrum types are available in a particular country or on a particular mobile network,” said analyst Ron Exler. “Enterprises need to work with their network and IoT providers to manage the selection of replacement technologies in advance of shuttering events, preferably in conjunction with 5G deployment.”

The U.S. is moving faster to 5G than many other American Tower markets, CEO Tom Bartlett said during a New England Council webinar Wednesday. “We still have many markets outside the United States that are still back in the 3G world.” The company is using what it learns in the U.S. in international markets, he said. “We’re still in the early innings” on 5G, but American Tower customers will spend as much as $35 billion this year deploying the new generation of wireless, he said. 5G depends on moving computing capabilities closer to the customer and the network's “edge,” Bartlett said. “When we take a look at our 220,000 sites that we currently have today, they’re pretty much out at the edge.” Consumers are using their wireless devices as much as five times more than they did a few years ago and usage will continue to accelerate, he said. The COVID-19 pandemic has been the top issue he has dealt with since he took over in March 2020, Bartlett said. His focus has been keeping workers safe and “engaged,” he said. “As people are more and more isolated, you can get less engaged from the core of what we’re trying to do.” He has been thinking through “once we are through the pandemic, what does the world look like and what do our offices look like, what are our people expecting.” Every business is asking those questions, he said.

Deutsche Telekom agreed to a $7 billion share-swap with SoftBank Group, former owner of Sprint, which gives the German company a near controlling interest in T-Mobile U.S. DT also sold its Dutch unit to private equity houses Warburg Pincus and Apax for $6.1 billion, as it deepens its focus on the U.S. With the share swap, DT raises its stake in T-Mobile U.S. by 5.3% to 48.4%. SoftBank becomes a 4.5% shareholder in DT and retains a 3.3% stake in T-Mobile, which could increase to 6.9% through true-up shares, SoftBank said. The deal is a “win-win” for both companies, said Marcelo Claure, former Sprint CEO, now CEO of SoftBank Group International. “It allows the SoftBank portfolio companies access to a new market, to the European market,” he said on CNBC Tuesday: DT is “undervalued and has a lot of potential in the future.” SoftBank is now the largest shareholder in DT after the German government, he said. “We’re in for the long run,” he said. DT CEO Tim Hottges said earlier this year DT is committed to taking a majority stock interest in T-Mobile (see 2105200064).

China regards 5G as a “frontier technology” that will “profoundly change the way people work and live and usher in an era where all is interconnected,” said a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Thursday after a government-sponsored World 5G Convention in Beijing. Since 5G came into commercial use in China, 993,000 5G base stations have been built and more than 392 million households “have been connected to 5G terminals,” he said. China is committed here to “openness and win-win results” with other global partners, said the spokesperson. “Businesses from all countries are welcome to take part in China's 5G rollout.” China hopes that “all sides will oppose acts that abuse the national security concept and disrupt and undermine global 5G cooperation,” said the spokesperson.

The radio access market is likely to grow 10%-15% this year, due to investments in 5G, Dell’Oro Group said Wednesday. The market is “showing remarkable resilience in the face of various risks including the on-going pandemic, supply chain shortages, and export restrictions,” the group said. Huawei and ZTE lead deployments in China and Ericsson and Nokia outside of China. “The underlying long-term growth drivers have not changed and continue to reflect the shift from 4G to 5G,” new fixed wireless access and enterprise capital expenditures “and the transitions towards active antenna systems,” said Stefan Pongratz, vice president and analyst: “A string of indicators suggest this output acceleration is still largely driven by the shift from 4G to 5G, which continued at a torrid pace in the quarter, even as LTE surprised on the upside.” Dell’Oro said in a second report that revenue in the mobile core network market slowed to 6% percent year over year in Q2 after four quarters of double-digit growth. The group attributes that to indecision by providers, except in China, on moving to stand-alone 5G networks. The Asia Pacific region generated 70% of the revenue, the report said: The top five providers, in order, were Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia, ZTE and Mavenir.

Verizon should make clear in ads its claims of offering “5G from America’s most reliable network” aren’t based on tests of its 5G network, recommended the Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Division. Discontinue the claim or clarify that “most reliable” is not a “specific reference to 5G,” the group said Tuesday. “The 2020 RootMetrics testing relied upon by Verizon as support for its ‘most reliable’ claims noted that testing was completed across all available networking technologies, including 4G LTE or earlier technology and that the metrics provided reflect all network types (i.e., 5G along with prior generation networks) rather than a specific 5G network’s performance, unlike more recent RootMetrics testing,” NAD said. AT&T challenged the claim. Verizon didn’t comment.

MoffettNathanson’s Craig Moffett sees potentially tough times ahead for the wireless industry, despite continuing rapid growth in postpaid subscriptions, tracking five times faster than annual population growth. “The industry’s super-normal growth informs every industry metric,” Moffett said in a Thursday analysis of Q2 results: “It has flattered every operator. Like the storied children of Lake Wobegon, everyone is above average.” But Moffett questioned how long that trend will continue. “Strong subscriber growth has been a welcome offset for what has otherwise been rather anemic growth in revenues and EBITDA, particularly for Verizon and AT&T,” he said. If industry subscriber growth returns to normal “the backdrop won’t be nearly so flattering,” he said. Moffett warned that customers gained through aggressive promotions, cheap lines and free phones “inevitably promote low quality phone net additions.” To keep those customers from going elsewhere “the companies now dependent on promotions to bolster growth will need them even more to maintain it,” he said. Moffett has a sell rating on AT&T, neutral on Verizon and buy on T-Mobile.

General Motors said Thursday it will add 5G connectivity from AT&T to its vehicles starting with some models in 2023. “This rollout is part of GM and AT&T’s broad strategy to launch the world’s largest fleet of 5G-enabled vehicles and the culmination of a two-year collaboration,” GM said. Vehicles with 4G connections will migrate to the new network infrastructure “when available,” the automaker said.

The FCC said Wednesday 42 companies filed short-form applications to bid in the 3.45 GHz auction, which starts Oct. 5. Sixteen applications were deemed incomplete. Among those now qualified are AT&T, T-Mobile and UScellular. Verizon has work to do on its application, which was found to be incomplete. Dish Network, which largely sat out the C-band auction, is in. Only 42 applicants applied to bid, down from 74 in the C-band auction. “It appears that Cable has not signed up to bid,” New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin wrote investors: “No other dark horses (such as a Big Tech player) immediately jump out either, suggesting the bulk of the competition for the spectrum will happen between carriers (as we would expect).”

Handsets with 5G functionality are expected to generate more than half of all smartphone industry revenue by 2025, rising to $337 billion from $108 billion in 2021, reported Juniper Research Monday. “Increasing the availability of lower-tier 5G smartphones is crucial to propagate 5G handset adoption in emerging markets,” it said. It’s pegging global Android smartphone pricing to be 65% lower than that of iOS by 2025, but “the enduring popularity of iOS devices in developed markets will make 40% of global 5G smartphone revenue attributable to North America and Europe.” It warned that right-to-repair legislation may impede 5G smartphone industry revenue growth “as more handset users choose to repair older models rather than upgrading.”