Wireless Internet

Today, in the spirit of learning from the past and building a brighter future, I want to focus on two specific bands where I believe we can do better—the 5.9 and 2.5 GHz bands. I want to walk you through their history and then—no shame—provide some ideas about what we can do right now to ensure these airwaves become the stuff of spectrum success.

An interview with Rise Broadband co-founder Jeff Kholer. Rise Broadband is the largest US wireless Internet service provider (ISP). 

Cities are increasingly marketing themselves as "smart cities" — hyper-connected, sensor-equipped communities — in their latest economic development pitch to attract workers and businesses. Metropolitan areas across the country are trying to take advantage of new technologies to become more efficient and sustainable — two qualities that appeal to younger generations of workers, as well as the startups and big corporations who want to employ them.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, appointed to the post by President Donald Trump, wants to remove a majority of wireless providers that participate in the Lifeline program, in an attempt to eliminate “waste, fraud and abuse.” If such a move were made, the “chaos would be magnificent,” said David Dorwart, the chairman of the National Lifeline Association (NaLA), a trade organization that represents Lifeline businesses.

Corning filed a report at the Federal Communications Commission on August 29, 2018, entitled “Assessing the Impact of Removing Regulatory Barriers on Next Generation Wireless and Wireline Broadband Infrastructure Investment: Annex 2, 5G Attachment and Application Fee Scenarios.” Corning said this report supplements previous reports it has submitted and finds that reducing small cell attachment and application fees could reduce deployment costs by $2.1 billion over five years, or $7,900 per small cell built.

Senator Edward Markey (D-MA) and Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-CA-18) sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission demanding an explanation for reports that Verizon throttled the Santa Clara County Fire Department’s ‘unlimited’ data plan during the Mendocino Complex Fire. In their letter, the lawmakers ask what steps the FCC is taking to address such critical threats to public safety in the wake its decision to repeal strong net neutrality rules.

This paper explains how Mobile Network Operators (“MNOs”) are transforming their networks to meet the 5G challenge and the implications this transformation has for the structure of the cellular industry and broadband competition more generally. Among the many changes both large and small, the transition to 5G is driving MNOs to embrace: (a) agile management of diverse spectrum assets; (b) small cells; and (c) softwarization and virtualization. I explain how the 5G Future will be a converged market in which promoting the survival of fewer but stronger MNOs will promote the healthy evolution

Network neutrality activists are having a field day with the recent report that Verizon “throttled” the mobile data usage of the Santa Clara County Fire Prevention District (FPD). What really happened wasn’t a net neutrality issue: The FPD simply chose a data plan for their mobile command and control unit that was manifestly inappropriate for their needs. The FPD needed a lot of high-speed 4G mobile data — up to 300 GB/month when the device was deployed.

If America’s tech and telecom giants have an opinion about T-Mobile US’s plan to reshape the wireless industry by taking over Sprint , most are keeping it to themselves.Few large companies have gone on record to back or oppose the roughly $26 billion merger, which would combine the country’s No. 3 and No. 4 carriers. Fewer still are using their lobbying prowess to fight the deal behind the scenes. “I don’t think you’re going to have any entity that has motive and means to oppose this deal” among big business, said Blair Levin, an industry analyst at New Street Research.