Wireless Spectrum Auctions

Sweden leads the world in alternatives to GPS and other global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that offer the precise timing services needed for 5G, speakers said Wednesday during a Mobile World Live webinar. Sweden’s approach includes launching the nonprofit-owned Netnod, which the government and operators fund. In the U.S., questions have been raised on Capitol Hill about carrier reliance on GNSS (see 2403120073).

T-Mobile’s 2.5 GHz spectrum has “about a 30% propagation advantage” over the C-band bought mainly by Verizon and AT&T, T-Mobile Chief Financial Officer Peter Osvaldik said at a MoffettNathnson financial conference Tuesday. “C-band is great” and T-Mobile bought some licenses in the 2021 auction, which it plans to deploy in dense urban areas as a “fourth dedicated 5G layer,” Osvaldik said. The wireless industry can’t change the physics of spectrum, he said. The week after EchoStar reported earnings, with questions about its continual financial viability (see 2405080057), analyst Craig Moffett pressed Osvaldik on whether he sees a buying opportunity. “If hypothetically speaking, some company that owns a lot of spectrum were to suddenly unravel, and mid-band spectrum came on the market, is that something where you would say, 'I always want more spectrum?'” Moffett asked. “If there was a hypothetical spectrum availability out there, we'd approach it very similar to any other opportunity” Osvaldik replied. T-Mobile would consider the spectrum, the price and “what sort of returns can we generate on it versus other ways to create capacity than just buying more spectrum,” he said. Osvaldik said the carrier would look at that opportunity the same way it does when investing in fiber (see 2404250047) or at a potential a deal with UScellular (see 2405090053). T-Mobile is analyzing the subscribers it picked up from its acquisition of Ka’ena, including brands Mint Mobile and Ultra Mobile. “We just closed,” Osvaldik said. “We've got to run it through all of our subscriber reporting rules.” The biggest question the company gets is whether actor Ryan Reynolds, who owned part of Mint, will remain. “There's so much creative work there that he's done so fabulously, so we'll continue to have a relationship with Ryan,” Osvaldik said.

With the wireless industry pushing hard for additional spectrum, particularly in the lower 3 GHz and 7/8 GHz bands, which are being examined as part of the national spectrum strategy (see 2405060051), a top Verizon official said Tuesday the carrier isn’t in the market for additional spectrum. “We like the assets we have right now,” Sowmyanarayan Sampath, Verizon Consumer Group CEO, said at a MoffettNathanson investor conference. Verizon went big in the 2021 C-band auction, bidding $45.4 billion, plus $8 billion in incentive costs to satellite operators (see 2102250046). In markets where the carrier has deployed C-band it continues to see lower churn and a better mix of premium customers, Sampath said. He said Verizon has limited exposure with the loss of the affordability connectivity program, but also sees opportunities for gaining customers. “There could be an opportunity for us to get on the offensive and take some share,” he said. Verizon has “the largest collection of prepaid assets today, ranging from the discount to the mid-market, to the premium end,” he said: “We will have a service at every single price point.” About 15% of its wireless customers also buy broadband from Verizon, and it plans to double that figure, Sampath said. “We're never going to see it at the European levels of 50%, 60% convergence because the market structure is fundamentally different [in Europe] and the regulatory environment is very different there," he said. Sampath said Verizon believes it has the best U.S. wireless network, as a result of “better RF design” and “a better set of assets.” Verizon's tests show “it's a much better network,” he said. “At the end of the day, it comes down to reliability and coverage.”

T-Mobile is proposing a swap with SoniqWave in which it would trade licenses purchased in the 2021 3.45 GHz auction for more 2.5 GHz spectrum. The swap would let T-Mobile “provide improved broadband coverage and enhanced data capacity using contiguous 2.5 GHz … spectrum in multiple markets throughout the United States,” said a Form 603 filing at the FCC. In exchange, SoniqWave would get 28 licenses in 14 partial economic areas “in the developing 3.45 GHz band,” the filing said: “SoniqWave believes that the growing eco-system around the 3.45 GHz band, coupled with the variety of wireless carriers that are, or soon will, be deploying in that band, offers exciting opportunities not presently available to it.”

CTIA President Meredith Baker said that policymakers must reverse course to change how spectrum is allocated in the U.S., moving away from too much focus on unlicensed and not enough on full-power licensed spectrum. The U.S. has allocated three times as much unlicensed spectrum as licensed, she said during a CTIA 5G Summit Monday. Baker noted the national spectrum strategy's focus on the lower 3 GHz and 7/8 GHz bands. “The studies of these bands have to start immediately and examine all options,” she said.

The Senate Commerce Committee will likely advance an amended version of the draft Spectrum and National Security Act during a Wednesday executive session with unanimous support from the panel’s 14 Democratic members, but lobbyists will watch closely how many Republicans don’t openly object to the measure as a means of determining its viability. The spectrum bill, led by Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., would restore the FCC’s lapsed auction mandate through Sept. 30, 2029. The measure proposes using future license sales revenue to repay a proposed loan to the commission to fund the affordable connectivity program in FY 2024 and $3.08 billion for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program (see 2404250061).

T-Mobile opposed expanded space operations in the 2110-2120 MHz portion of the AWS-1 band, joining its wireless peers (see 2404020028). “That spectrum has been auctioned by the Commission as part of the AWS-1 frequency band (2110-2155 MHz) and is heavily employed by wireless companies to provide service to customers,” the carrier said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 13-155: “T-Mobile currently has 185 licenses in the AWS-1 band and spent over $4 billion in Auction 66, which resulted in the licensing of most of the AWS-1 band.”

CTIA and its major members agreed that grants of special temporary authority (STA) are the best method of getting “inventory” spectrum into play, in reply comments posted Tuesday in docket 24-72. Others continue to stress the benefits of dynamic sharing and other mechanisms (see 2404090045). The FCC sought comment in March as the agency marked the one-year anniversary of its general auction authority expiring.

Vermont National Telephone (VTEL) is challenging the DOJ's move to dismiss fraud litigation against Dish Network and designated entities (DE) Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless regarding 2015's AWS-3 auction (see 2403040052).

"The sky's the limit" when considering Chinese capabilities for conducting digital attacks on critical U.S. infrastructure, since China switched from focusing on economic and political espionage to a strategy that can only be pre-positioning for attacks, Brandon Wales, executive director of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), said Wednesday. Also at a Semafor conference on digital infrastructure, Kathy Grillo, Verizon senior vice president-public policy and government affairs, said the lack of FCC auction authority could have significant ramifications in a handful of years for keeping up with growing data demands. Numerous conference speakers talked about AI’s potential and risks.