Fierce

2022 is the year of peak 5G spending

There’s a lot of money flowing to 5G network buildouts right now as US wireless operators race to expand their 5G coverage. In fact, it’s likely that 2022 to be the peak year for 5G spending by US wireless operators. Stefan Pongratz, vice president at Dell’Oro Group, said that the company expects US wireless capital expenditures to grow at a double-digit rate in 2022 and then taper off in 2023 and 2024. One reason behind this is that both AT&T and Verizon are ramping up their mid-band 5G deployments in the C-band and the 3.45 GHz spectrum bands.

Will the upcoming 2.5 GHz auction raise big bucks?

The upcoming Auction 108 of 2.5 GHz spectrum is likely not going to raise a ton of money. But at least it will clean up the spectrum band, closing the many gaps where the spectrum is lying fallow and not being used at all. The auction will begin on July 29, 2022. While some auctions, such as the C-band auction held in 2021, aim to make billions of dollars to fill federal coffers, not all auctions are strictly focused on profit.

Integration challenges still cloud open RAN

There’s no doubt that the open radio access network (RAN) movement has taken the wireless industry by storm. Interest is at an all-time high, but is there a risk the whole thing will blow up due to industry sniping? After all, some players would like to see the big incumbent vendors get out of the way, making room for the new and, presumably, improved set of players.

Cable One joint venture Clearwave wants to hit 500 thousand rural homes with fiber by 2027

Clearwave Fiber, a joint venture formed by operator Cable One and a handful of partners in January 2022, is looking to make a big impact in small towns, targeting fiber rollouts to half a million rural locations by 2027. It is mostly aiming for organic growth but also has its eye out for strategic acquisitions and in fact already struck a deal to buy a small Kansas-based fiber provider, CEO Byron Cantrall said.

FCC hands T-Mobile the 2.5 GHz auction it always wanted

The Federal Communications Commission announced that July 29, 2022, will be the start of bidding in Auction 108 for 2.5 GHz licenses. This auction will be for “white-spaces” of the 2.5 GHz band where no one owns the spectrum. T-Mobile is particularly interested in Auction 108 because it already owns or leases much of the 2.5 GHz spectrum across the United States, and it wants to fill in the gaps in its coverage. The auction will offer about 8,000 new county-based overlay licenses.

New Broadband Forum specs allow internet service providers to begin tapping 5G capabilities

The Broadband Forum wrapped Phase II of its wireless-wireline convergence (WWC) effort, unveiling new specifications which will allow legacy residential wireline gateways to take advantage of certain 5G capabilities. Its latest work builds on Phase I specifications completed in 2020 and includes two key updates: multi-access support and multi-session enablement for fixed network residential gateways (FN-RGs).

Analysts, advocates aren’t sold on AT&T’s copper retirement plan

Consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge took issue with the idea that AT&T’s copper retirement plan could leave customers without a wireline replacement, arguing wireless options may be insufficient to meet modern speed needs. Analyst firm New Street Research separately warned states seeking to close the digital divide might not look kindly on such a move. “The problem is not retiring copper in and of itself. The problem is retiring copper without a suitable replacement that is as good or better than the copper,” said Jenna Leventoff, Public Knowledge’s senior policy counsel.

Are US broadband prices rising or falling?

There’s no question US consumers are relying more heavily on broadband services in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. But are the costs for those services rising or falling? Well, the answer depends on who you ask and what metric you’re using to measure “cost.” In February 2022, independent research firm BroadbandNow published a report which found broadband prices in the country fell significantly between the first quarter of 2016 and the fourth quarter of 2021.

Windstream exec says 10 percent of its Rural Digital Opportunity Fund builds are already underway

It’s taken more than a year for the Federal Communications Commission to authorize all of the nearly $523 million Windstream won in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase I auction, but it hasn’t been resting on its laurels in the interim. During the auction, Windstream won a total of $522.9 million to cover 192,567 locations across 18 states with fiber. Jeff Small, president of Windstream’s Kinetic business, said construction on about 10 percent of its build is already underway.

AT&T, Verizon, Ziply plot copper retirement work across a dozen states

AT&T has filed to undertake copper retirement projects in at least eight states in 2022 as it ramps a plan to reduce its legacy DSL footprint by 50 percent over the coming years. Verizon, which has been working to retire its copper network for a while now, and Ziply Fiber are seeking to sunset copper assets in four additional states.

T-Mobile home internet ads get mixed results in Charter challenge

In a win for T-Mobile over challenger Charter Communications, the National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs determined that T-Mobile's "no data caps" claim for its Home Internet service was not misleading. NAD also found that T-Mobile's advertising “did not reasonably convey a disparaging message” that competing cable internet providers, including Charter, require long-term contracts and “exploding bills,” as compared to T-Mobile's Home Internet service.

Comcast, Verizon and Mediacom snag $44.9 million to help deliver universal broadband in Delaware

Comcast won a grant of more than $30 million to help expand high-speed internet service to underserved homes and businesses in Delaware, as part of a state initiative to deliver universal broadband access. Verizon and Mediacom each also scored hefty awards. All told, the state awarded $56 million in Broadband Infrastructure Grants.