Wireless Telecommunications

Dish Network said that its Las Vegas 5G wireless service is in the final phase of construction and will launch in beta by the end of September 2021. The beta launch is an important first step toward its commitment to covering 70 percent of the US population by June 2023, a target that’s looking more ambitious by the day as the company continues to lose wireless customers.

The Federal Communications Commission published its brand-new map showing mobile coverage and availability data in the US from the country’s largest wireless providers. This is the first public map showing updated mobile coverage released by the FCC and represents a significant improvement over other data previously published by the agency.

Both T-Mobile and Verizon appear to have excellent timing in regard to their fixed wireless access (FWA) initiatives. They’re advancing FWA right when the US government is poised to spend billions to close the digital divide in America following the pandemic. In terms of the types of communities that are ripe for FWA, T-Mobile is targeting underserved areas of rural America, remote areas with challenging geographies, and lower-income neighborhoods in urban and suburban areas.

Verizon is enlisting artificial intelligence models to help place thousands of 5G wireless transmitters for optimal performance.

T-Mobile has committed to a June 30, 2022 shutdown date for Sprint’s LTE network. It’s an expected move as T-Mobile continues to absorb Sprint’s network and customers into its own base, and comes six months after its contentious planned January 1, 2022 shutdown of Sprint’s 3G CDMA network.

Federal agencies are competing with one another over radio waves used to help predict changes in the climate as the sky is increasingly cluttered with noise from billions of smartphones. On one side are NOAA and NASA. They have developed space satellites that passively capture and decode the faint energy signals given off by changes in water vapor, temperatures, rain and wind that determine future weather patterns.

Inmarsat, the UK's biggest satellite company, plans to launch a constellation of low-earth orbit (LEO) spacecraft and set up 5G wireless networks, joining a new space race against the likes of Elon Musk. The project, called Orchestra, will create a hybrid network of the company’s existing geostationary satellite technology, land-based 5G networks and LEO satellites, according to Inmarsat CEO Rajeev Suri. The system will provide next-generation 5G service in high-demand areas and add speed and capacity at digital chokepoints as data use soars.

T-Mobile is introducing a new prepaid promotion with incentives for customers on other prepaid MVNOs to switch to Metro by T-Mobile, including waiving switching fees, a discount on an unlimited plan with 5G, and a trade-in offer for a new 5G phone. In other words, it’s doing exactly what it told regulators it wouldn’t do when it acquired Sprint a year ago.

5G is considered a key technology for society, but its implementation is surrounded by controversy. Beyond its technical aspects, 5G has become a question of security and national interest for many EU Member States as well as an international policy issue. Technological autonomy and digital sovereignty are increasingly recognized as strategic priorities on a global scale, yet the EU's position is unique for two reasons. On one hand, the EU has unintentionally become part of the playing field in the US-China dispute over technology companies and 5G.

The Federal Communications Commission made additional mid-band spectrum available for 5G service in the United States. Specifically, the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau announced the grant of 5,676 licenses in the 3.7 GHz service (3.7 to 3.98 GHz, also referred to as the C-band) following completion of Auction 107 earlier in 2021. The action keeps the transition of this band to flexible use on track, paving the way for carriers to use this spectrum to provide 5G and other advanced wireless services.