It’s official: Copper retirement reform has landed in the U.S.
The U.S. government is picking up the pace on copper retirement reform Operators will still have to deal with states if they want to fully shut down their legacy networks Copper retirement is further along in Europe, but progress is...
AST SpaceMobile and the problem of delivering broadband from space
AST SpaceMobile will have 60 BlueBird satellites up by 2026 The firm is promising the launch of its next generation of satellites from summer this year Mobile Experts analyst Joe Madden finds that data from the BlueBirds will still be...
Carriers prepare for battle to fill US spectrum pipeline
New Street Research analysts figure 500 MHz+ of spectrum could end up in U.S. carriers’ hands over the next four years They estimate the value of these bands at $160 billion based on prior transactions That sounds like a lot...
Airspan CEO pins hopes on open RAN, private networks
Airspan emerged from its 2024 restructuring with a stronger balance sheet The company recently received a $42.7 million grant to fund open RAN development In addition to open RAN, CEO Glenn Laxdal sees more opportunity in private networks Open Radio...
CEO Exclusive: Utopia Fiber chief thinks AT&T isn’t really doing open access
Utopia Fiber CEO Roger Timmerman says true open access supports a number of internet service providers He noted that AT&T and BlackRock’s Gigapower JV primarily supports AT&T, currently Meanwhile, Utopia’s network often supports as many as 19 internet service providers...
Op-Ed: Annoyingly, T-Mobile’s got the best 5G coverage, hands down
T-Mobile execs like to talk about how the “un-carrier” has risen from “challenger” to “champion” in the 5G era That mantra may be annoying, but it’s not wrong And no, this correspondent is not chugging the magenta Kool-Aid “Spot moose...
2024: Open RAN’s tumultuous year
It was a roller coaster year for open RAN AT&T validated the technology when it selected Ericsson to lead its transition to open RAN But many people wonder about the roles of smaller vendors The past year has been...
Rip and replace funds AND an auction: Happy New Year!
Congress passed a big defense bill that includes full funding for the rip and replace program The legislation includes a provision for an FCC auction of AWS-3 licenses The spectrum is attractive to carriers because they already own equipment that...
5G APIs for 2025? Analysts agree fraud protection works
Much of 2024 didn’t hold much for the prospects of 5G APIs That started to change in Q3 as Nokia and Ericsson and some operators stepped up Analysts expect to see security and anti-fraud APIs arrive in 2025 Through much...
T-Mobile: What race? Convergence is already here
Convergence between wireless and wireline emerged as a big topic in 2024 AT&T and Verizon are moving to bundle more fiber-based internet services with mobile T-Mobile is getting involved in fiber JVs, but it’s downplaying the importance of a fiber...