Wireless Telecommunications

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!

The race to 5G is forcing the world's biggest telecom giants to consolidate. 5G is all about scale; when companies combine, they have more resources and capital to bid on spectrum and build out tools to get ahead. Orange and Masmovil announced they entered exclusive talks to merge their operations in Spain at a valuation of €19.6 billion ($21.7 billion).

Charter CEO Tom Rutledge remains a believer in the bundle — just with different parts.

AT&T offered more concrete plans for its telecommunications operations after it abandons the entertainment business, detailing goals to drop old copper telephone networks and build new fiber-optic lines. AT&T said it would focus its investments on fifth-generation wireless network connections and fiber-optic lines. To that end, the company said it would cut its network of copper lines—a legacy of its landline telephone network—in half by 2025, allowing the company to serve 75 percent of its network footprint using 5G and fiber.

The way T-Mobile sees it, about 40 percent of the US population lives in smaller markets and rural areas – and the company expects to see strong growth in those areas moving forward. Those markets now represent one-third of the company’s net account production, even though the company is still deploying service to those markets and currently has service available to only about one-third of the small and rural markets in the US, said Peter Osvaldik, T-Mobile executive vice president and chief financial officer. Those new accounts are “very high-quality accounts,” Osvaldik added.