Wireless Telecommunications

Reps Doris Matsui (D-CA), Brett Guthrie (R-KY), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), along with 34 colleagues, sent a letter to House leadership, urging them to provide funding to support the development and deployment of open and interoperable radio access networks (RANs). RANs serve as the connection between phones or hotspots and a carrier’s core network and the internet. As mobile traffic continues to evolve – continued innovation is a necessity.

There's been a sweeping change across the United States’ biggest wireless carriers. Over the past decade, the leaders of Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T oversaw a shift from simplistic feature phones into the era of smartphones and streaming. After early iPhones and Android devices strained their cellular networks, the major carriers gradually evolved their infrastructure to provide the robust, nationwide LTE coverage on offer today.

The mounting human death toll and unfolding financial calamity of the current pandemic is one thing. But the ripple effects will last for years—and given the country’s bumbled handling of the virus itself, it seems an open question whether we’re in a strong position to respond and confront what comes after it. The US's ongoing, disastrous response to the pandemic—by almost any measure one of the worst in the developed world—is sending a clear message to other countries that the U.S.

In the wake of a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the subject of allowing Ligado to operate a 5G service adjacent to GPS spectrum (a hearing that saw the Federal Communications Commission hammered by legislators, military brass, and even iconic pilot Sully Sullenberger), almost two dozen bipartisan members of the House Armed Services Committee have written to the FCC to express their "deep concern."  Lead signatories on the letter include Strategic Forces Subcommittee Chairman Jim Cooper (D-TN) and Ranking Member Michael Turner (R-OH)  They said that while Ligado has argued that D

T-Mobile added 452,000 branded postpaid phone subscriptions in the first quarter of 2020. Total branded postpaid net additions were 777,000 in the first quarter. Prepaid net losses were 128,000, yielding 649,000 total branded net adds for the quarter. Adjusted EBITDA hit an all-time record high of $3.7 billion, up 12% year-over-year despite the environment created by COVID-19. Free cash flow, excluding payments for merger-related costs, was $893 million, up 37% year-over-year.

Opensignal’s latest analysis demonstrates that 5G greatly improves the real-world speeds that users experience. And, even more significantly, 5G offers faster average download speeds than Wi-Fi in seven out of eight leading 5G countries. Our findings show the importance of not letting the current COVID-19 crisis — or active anti-5G disinformation campaigns — delay 5G rollouts because the increased capacity and faster speeds that 5G enables are critical to keeping people connected today and in the future with rising network usage.

Recently, more than 30 companies came together to announce a coalition to promote policies that support implementing open 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) technology, a critical part of deploying 5G technology. This commitment by the private sector to advance the same objectives shows the widespread priority to secure our domestic and global communications supply chain, and it’s a great step forward to encourage our allies to follow suit.

Liberty Global and Telefónica have struck a landmark deal to combine their British operations O2 and Virgin Media in a £31.4bn agreement that will reshape the UK’s telecoms market. Under the terms of the agreement, the companies will have equal ownership of O2 and Virgin Media and have built-in mechanisms for a potential float of the combined business in three years.

The Federal Communications Commission's decision to allow a new terrestrial broadband service alongside spectrum for critical GPS uses drew fire from both sides of the aisle, as well as top military brass, in a hearing in the Senate Armed Services Committee. The military brass in attendance had not changed their marching orders or their target, and the committee's chairman and ranking member were clearly in bipartisan agreement with the Department of Defence. Ligado took some issue with the fact that there were no witnesses scheduled from Ligado or from the FCC at the hearing.

Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai requesting that the FCC use C-band auction funds to purchase satellites from US manufacturers to support American workers and families. “Given that U.S. taxpayers are effectively footing the bill for these assets—assets that are already owned by the taxpayer—it makes good sense to require an investment in the American industrial base.