Wireless Internet

Dish and T-Mobile have resolved their dispute over 800 MHz spectrum, with Dish agreeing to pay $100 million now toward the spectrum, in exchange for an extension to buy the spectrum fully. Dish made an SEC filing on October 19, saying the two companies entered into an amendment to their License Purchase Agreement, extending the date by which Dish may purchase the 800 MHz spectrum to April 1, 2024.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted rules to improve Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) by making WEA messages available in more than a dozen additional languages, including American Sign Language; adding increased functionality; and providing public information on where and how WEA is available. At present, WEA messages are available only in English or Spanish. In a new Order, the FCC required wireless providers that participate in WEA to support messages in the 13 most commonly spoken languages in the US as well as English and American Sign Language.

The Federal Communications Commission's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau seeks to partner with any entities that have a solution for delivering Wireless Emergency Alerts to mobile devices that are not connected to functioning cell towers. The Bureau asked interested parties to submit detailed information about their solution, including whether it would work with mobile devices currently in use by consumers, how to address any issues with delivering geographically targeted alerts, and how best testing should be conducted.

The Federal Communications Commission kicked off a rulemaking to explore how the universal service high-cost support program can continue funding fixed and mobile broadband services in Alaska—one of the hardest-to-serve areas in the country. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeks comment on a number of issues to help the FCC determine the most effective methodologies and uses for future universal service funding for high-cost fixed and mobile services in Alaska.

The Federal Communications Commission opened the 6 GHz band to a new class of very low power devices that will operate alongside other Wi-Fi-enabled devices. These rules will spur an ecosystem of cutting-edge applications, including wearable technologies and augmented and virtual reality, that will help businesses, enhance learning opportunities, advance healthcare opportunities, and bring new entertainment experiences.

The Federal Communications Commission will allow E-Rate funding to be used for Wi-Fi on school buses beginning in funding year 2024 as the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) program is set to sunset. The action enhances the benefits and the reach of the E-Rate program to ensure that the millions of students caught in the Homework Gap can more fully engage in their learning. The action clarifies that the use of Wi-Fi, or other similar access point technologies, on school buses serves an educational purpose and the provision of such service is therefore eligible for E-Rate funding.

T-Mobile is hoping to significantly improve the depth and reach of its lowband 5G network. But Dish Network is looking to block that move. A 2019 agreement among Dish, T-Mobile, and the US Department of Justice (DoJ) ultimately paved the way for T-Mobile to close its $26 billion purchase of Sprint.

For the third quarter of 2023, AT&T reported growth in 5G and mobility, fiber subscribers and broadband revenues. The company added 296,000 fiber subscribers, surpassing 8 million AT&T Fiber subscribers in call— doubling the customer base in less than 4 years. Consumer broadband revenues are up 9.8%, driven by AT&T Fiber revenue growth of 26.9%. AT&T's consumer fiber network is now capable of serving 20.7 million consumers and about 3.3 million business customer locations; on track to pass 30 million+ fiber locations by the end of 2025.

Velocity, founded in 2018 and located in south central Kansas, is a subsidiary of the Butler Electric Cooperative and serves approximately 5,500 consumer customers. Velocity’s fixed wireless service operates on more than one band of unlicensed spectrum, depending on the loading and density of each tower. However, the organization will be migrating to fiber in the coming months and years. As a nonprofit, Velocity is trying to provide service as close to cost as possible. Velocity’s current fixed wireless pricing ranges from $49 (up to 15/3 Mbps) to $84 (up to 100/10 Mbps).

Dish Wireless collaborated with Qualcomm Technologies and Samsung to successfully test simultaneous 5G 2x uplink and 4x downlink carrier aggregation (CA) using Frequency-Division Duplexing (FDD) spectrum across FDD bands n71, n70 and n66. The result, according to Dish, is that it was able to achieve 200 Mbps peak uplink speeds with just 35 MHz of 5G spectrum and 1.3 Gbps peak downlink speeds with just 75 MHz of spectrum.