Simulated industry benchmark tests show Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 5G mobile platform has a 25% uplift in processor performance and 35% faster graphics processing than the previous generation, said the company Friday. Addressing feedback from OEMs, the Adreno 660 graphics processor was designed to allow flexibility and higher power in gaming phones, with a larger thermal envelope for sustained use cases in flagship devices, it said. OEMs can choose the optimal operating point for their design, it said.

Kyocera is expanding its R&D campus in Kirishima City, Kagoshima, Japan, with a 75,000-square-foot center slated to begin construction next month, it said Friday. The $9.6 billion R&D center will focus on information and communications, environmental preservation and smart energy. The Kokubu campus currently houses R&D operations for 5G smartphone technologies; semiconductors and components used in IoT devices; and cell stacks for smart energy. The new facility is to open in September 2022.

Expect to see more clashes between the FCC and DOD over spectrum for 5G, with the military the primary user of "beachfront" midband spectrum that's "an almost essential resource for nationwide 5G," attorney Joel Thayer of Phillips Lytle blogged Thursday. The National Defense Authorization Act passed last week (see 2012110055) adopts the FCC's harmful interference standard for DOD disputes with Ligado. Thayer complained it lets the secretary of defense refuse to contract or renew a contract with entities operating commercial terrestrial communication networks in frequencies near Ligado’s due to harmful interference with GPS devices.

NTIA scheduled “industry roundtable listening sessions” Jan. 28 and Feb. 25 at 10 a.m. EST on plans for a secure 5G strategy, says Wednesday's Federal Register. The Biden transition team didn’t comment on this post-inauguration scheduling. The Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee plans its final meeting of the Trump administration Jan. 14 at 1 p.m. EST, said Monday's FR.

AT&T is well positioned on 5G, Igal Elbaz, senior vice president-wireless technology, told a virtual Oppenheimer investor conference Tuesday. “Over the last several years, we invested north of $130 billion in our network, added capacity, added coverage,” he said: “We put our spectrum to work. We've modernized our network. We built a nationwide 5G network. We built FirstNet. So that investment paid off.” AT&T is at 80% of its FirstNet build and “several months ahead” of schedule, he said. AT&T has the spectrum it needs for 5G, he said. “The years before we launched … we've done a lot of trials and we have a lot of understanding of the capabilities, how it works." The carrier’s use of citizens broadband radio service spectrum is “mainly in part of our fixed wireless in rural America” as part of the FCC Connect America Fund, he said.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, 5G subscriptions are growing four times faster than those of 4G LTE, said 5G Americas Monday. The world added 225 million 5G subs from Q3 2019 to Q3 2020, which “required 4G LTE four years to attain,” said the trade group, citing Omdia data. It estimates that 5G customers surpassed 229 million this quarter, a 66% increase from Q2. Subs are expected to reach 236 million globally by Dec. 31, it said. GSMA estimates 519 5G devices have been announced, “of which 303 were commercially available by the end of November."

Marvell Technology Group will be added to the Nasdaq-100 index, effective with the start of trading Dec. 21, said the chipmaker Monday. Joining the index is “recognition” of Marvell's “future growth opportunities," said CEO Matt Murphy. Marvell’s fiscal Q3 ended Oct. 31 was its fifth-straight quarter of sequential revenue growth in 5G, Murphy told investors this month (see 2012040016). The rollout of 5G outside China “is starting to pick up,” he said then.

The FCC’s final supply chain order, posted Friday, largely adheres to the draft order, based on a side-by-side comparison, but it now makes a stronger case for open radio access networks. Commissioners approved the order 5-0 Thursday (see 2012100054). In one change, the final order now encourages providers participating in the reimbursement program to consider ORAN in procurement decisions, terming it “promising technology.” The draft simply allowed for ORAN. The final order also tweaks reimbursement eligibility rules. It adds that, among noneligible telecom carriers, “we will further prioritize funding to those that voluntarily provided the Commission with cost estimate data in response to the Supply Chain Security Information Collection over those that did not.”

To gain a sizable role in 5G, the satellite communications industry must meet network orchestration and radio access 5G standards, Northern Sky Research analyst Lluc Palerm blogged Tuesday. That would bridge satcom historical barriers such as integration complexities and high total cost of operation, he said: Satcom's particular offerings such as coverage and enhanced levels of security jibe well with the network attributes particularly sought after by customers.

A 15-year agreement with T-Mobile will add $17 billion in contracted future revenue to American Tower’s order book, said American Tower Chief Financial Officer Rod Smith Monday at a UBS financial conference. With the C-band auction starting Tuesday, Smith sees the spectrum as a “pretty essential piece of the 5G deployments.” With clearing taking some time, deployments will start in 2021's second half, he projected. The citizens broadband radio service band will be mostly deployed indoors and could present growth opportunities, he said: “We do have a pretty extensive in-building network.” Smith expects some Dish Network business as it deploys a 5G network. “Whether we lease our sites to Dish on a site-by-site basis or if we have some sort of a holistic agreement, either way we’re fine with as long as the terms and conditions are right, the pricing is right,” he said.