Wireless Telecommunications

Global standards ensure that things like smartphones and laptops — and even the internet itself — work across borders. "Standard bodies are essential to ensure interoperability which is critical to achieving 'economies of scale' and technology reach the masses," wireless consultant Chetan Sharma told Axios.  "Geopolitical tensions have a real prospect of splintering the Internet and the wireless industry and the emergence of completely decoupled supply chains and ecosystems around the world," Sharma said.

There’s a lot of money flowing to 5G network buildouts right now as US wireless operators race to expand their 5G coverage. In fact, it’s likely that 2022 to be the peak year for 5G spending by US wireless operators. Stefan Pongratz, vice president at Dell’Oro Group, said that the company expects US wireless capital expenditures to grow at a double-digit rate in 2022 and then taper off in 2023 and 2024. One reason behind this is that both AT&T and Verizon are ramping up their mid-band 5G deployments in the C-band and the 3.45 GHz spectrum bands.

There’s no doubt that the open radio access network (RAN) movement has taken the wireless industry by storm. Interest is at an all-time high, but is there a risk the whole thing will blow up due to industry sniping? After all, some players would like to see the big incumbent vendors get out of the way, making room for the new and, presumably, improved set of players.

As Russian artillery fire rained on Mariupol, Ukraine, the largest mobile-network operator in the country said repair crews worked to keep its last working cellular tower in the city from going offline for a few extra days.

Omdia's 5G Consumer Broadband Pricing Tracker for Q4 of 2021 projects 1.3 billion 5G connections by the end of 2022. The company reports that 303 million 5G connections were added worldwide during 2021, reaching a total of 521 million.

The Broadband Forum wrapped Phase II of its wireless-wireline convergence (WWC) effort, unveiling new specifications which will allow legacy residential wireline gateways to take advantage of certain 5G capabilities. Its latest work builds on Phase I specifications completed in 2020 and includes two key updates: multi-access support and multi-session enablement for fixed network residential gateways (FN-RGs).

The 5G for 12 GHz Coalition announced the addition of the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society—one of the most respected voices in shaping communications policy.

Verizon has entered into agreements with satellite providers for early clearance of additional C-band spectrum the company acquired in 2021, providing an opportunity to deploy America’s most reliable 5G Ultra Wideband service to more customers in more places in 2022. With this early clearance of the second phase of C-band spectrum, originally scheduled to be cleared in Dece

T-Mobile announced the new Connect by T-Mobile prepaid plans, including a new $10 plan. Connect by T-Mobile provides a low-cost option to help keep millions of families and individuals connected to family, friends, work, school, and information. Connect by T-Mobile is part of the company’s 5G for Good initiative and builds on the T-Mobile Connect plans launched in March 2020 to keep Americans connected during the pandemic.

For those of us in Telecom land, the annual season of Spectrum Wars holds an attraction like no other. 2022 is shaping up to be a major spectacular, with lots of old plotlines coming back (like 5.9 GHz), sleeper issues (like 12 GHz), and an unexpected new dramatic plotline around the Federal Communications Commission’s overall auction authority — and More!