Mike Dano

The Federal Communications Commission announced a settlement with AT&T’s FiberTower that involves the company returning hundreds of millimeter wave spectrum licenses to the agency. The settlement essentially means AT&T won’t get access to those spectrum licenses, and it paves the way for the agency to reauction those licenses at some point in the future.  Specifically, as part of the agreement, FiberTower is abandoning all of its 24 GHz spectrum licenses (around 121 total) and roughly the same number of 39 GHz spectrum licenses.

Sprint renewed a promotion that offers a free year of unlimited service to customers who switch to the carrier and bring their own phone. The promotion is available to anyone who owns any one of roughly three dozen phones, including those from Apple, Samsung, Motorola, Google and others, but it appears mostly slanted toward unhappy Verizon customers. The new promotion is similar to the one Sprint unveiled in the summer of 2017. That promotion, described at the time by Wall Street analyst Craig Moffett as the “most aggressive promotion in the history of the U.S.

Verizon’s CTO said the company doesn’t plan to accelerate spending on its network due to new legislation that lowers corporate tax rates. “You probably don’t want to have big spikes in the capital allocation because then in the end it drives inefficiencies. We want to be consistent,” said Hans Vestberg, Verizon’s new CTO. “From an execution point of view you want to be consistent.” Added Vestberg: “It’s not helpful to go up and down in capital allocation because it ramps up and down resources—money wasted … But we are always debating.

Following news that all of the nation’s states have opted in to FirstNet’s public-safety network, executives at FirstNet and AT&T are now moving forward with their network buildout plans.

[Commentary] It’s been two and a half years since AT&T and Nokia developed a private, secure, reliable and high-capacity LTE network for smart grid technology, and began selling it to utility companies and others. So far, AT&T doesn’t have anything to show for it.

Bonds related to KentuckyWired’s plans to build a fiber network in Kentucky via a public-private partnership received a downgrade—from stable to negative—from Moody's Investors Service.

AT&T’s former Mobility Chief Glenn Lurie says the wireless pure-play is on its way out. “I do think, long term, you’re going to see less single-play players and more double- and triple-play players, and more bundling. Because without question the customer expectation is going to change, and it is changing. Their expectation is around having everything on their device, having their video on the device, being able to do the things around social on the device. So, I just think that for carriers to continue to grow, they’re going to have to diversify.

Sprint terminated its plan to merge its Assurance Wireless brand with i-wireless’ Access Wireless business. “Sprint and i-wireless made the mutual decision to terminate the joint venture agreement and will instead continue to operate as stand-alone Lifeline service providers,” Sprint said. “Moving forward, i-wireless will continue to operate as a Sprint MVNO.”

On its website, Assurance Wireless currently offers customers who qualify for Lifeline a free Android smartphone, 350 free minutes, unlimited free texts and 500 MB of free data each month. Almost exactly a year ago, Sprint announced it would merge its Assurance Wireless brand with i-wireless’ Access Wireless, in a tie-up of Lifeline service providers. Under the agreement, Sprint would have owned 70% of the new business, which would have operated under the name i-wireless. I-wireless was to own the remaining 30%, and i-wireless founder and CEO Paul McAleese was to lead the combined business, which would have operated on Sprint's network.

A Q&A with former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler.

Asked, "Looking back on your time as chairman, what would you consider your highlights?" Tom Wheeler responded, "It was the most incredible privilege to be in that role as networks changed and thus changed the way we live our lives and do business. I’m proud that we brought the concept of agile software development to the FCC in the form of agile regulatory actions that respond to circumstances (e.g., the general conduct rule for the Open Internet, the “trust but verify” approach to cybersecurity, etc.). I’m proud of our efforts to expand access to networks (spectrum auctions, eRate, LifeLine, etc.); assure that those networks are fast, fair and open; to make the expectation of privacy a default for those who use networks; and to make network cybersecurity a major responsibility for the agency."

Former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler described the agency’s 600 MHz incentive auction as a successful event that should generate a “huge smile” for administrators.

“We were charged with creating a marketplace and that marketplace successfully performed to produce the second largest amount of spectrum ever auctioned; and to do so by reallocating spectrum to its highest and best usage as determined by the market,” Wheeler said. “When you think of the fact that no one in the world had ever tried this two-sided auction, and all the new and unique issues that had to be dealt with for the auction to take place, one can only have a huge smile.” Wheeler lauded Gary Epstein, the chairman of the FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force and the regulator largely in charge of planning and executing the incentive auction, saying “I hope that when the auction closes, folks will begin to pay attention to the ground-breaking and back-breaking efforts of the Auction Task Force.” Wheeler’s comments are noteworthy as the FCC’s ongoing incentive auction winds down. Forward bidding in the event ended in February with bidders committing $19.63 billion for TV broadcasters’ airwaves, surpassing TV broadcasters’ asking price of $10 billion. Spectrum prices reached roughly $1.257 per MHz/pop, topping $1.25 per MHz/pop in the top 40 markets.