The Georgia Department of Transportation said it would be willing to accept conditions approved as part of the joint waiver allowing early cellular-vehicle-to-everything use of the 5.9 GHz band, said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 19-138. The FCC approved the joint waiver request in April (see 2304240066). The Georgia DOT sought the waiver last year (see 2209130063).

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr criticized the agency Thursday for declining to issue licenses that T-Mobile and others won in the 2.5 GHz auction last year, saying the agency had the right to do so despite its auction authority lapsing this year (see 2304260058). “The FCC’s statutory is clear, and the analysis is straightforward,” Carr said during a Senate confirmation hearing (see 2306220067), in response to question from Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C. The FCC’s authority to hold an auction under Section 309(j) of the Communications Act expired, but its authority under Section 309(a) to award licenses remains, Carr said: “When we issue licenses bought at auction, we always cite 309(a), not 309(j), as source of authority.” The FCC didn't comment.

North America is leading the world in the uptake of 5G with 41% of subscribers signed up for the new generation of wireless at the end of last year, according to the Ericsson Mobility Report, released Wednesday. Ericsson projected a 25% compound annual growth rate in mobile network data traffic through 2028. “Managing this growth while improving the mobile user experience requires continued network evolution,” the report said: “Notably, 5G mid-band build-out is proving to be more energy-efficient and cost-effective compared to the expansion of 4G networks.” 5G subscriptions are increasing in every region of the world and forecast to reach 1.5 billion by the end of 2023. Some 240 commercial 5G networks have been launched so far, Ericsson found. India is having the fastest growth anywhere. Following the launch of 5G in October, “the 5G market is witnessing huge network deployments under its Digital India initiative,” the report said: India reached 10 million 5G subscriptions by the end of 2022 and 5G is projected to account for about 57% of mobile subscriptions there by the end of 2028. Paroma Sanyal, co-leader of the Telecom, Media and Internet practice at the Brattle Group, said Wednesday new numbers from Ericsson show Brattle potentially underestimated growth in an April report commissioned by CTIA (see 2304170009). That report said without new spectrum bands allocated for licensed use, the U.S. could face a 400 MHz deficit by 2027 and 1,400 MHz by 2032. “We thought a 23% CAGR was quite high, but now they’re projecting even higher,” said Sanyal, former chief economist at the FCC Wireless Bureau, during a Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy webcast. She said what the data flow will look like remains unclear. “We have seen so much fixed wireless deployment under 5G, so it’s not just the mobile network,” she said. There will probably be a lot more “data hungry” apps in use, she said. Improved spectral efficiency won’t be enough to keep up with projected data demand, she said, adding that while people say you can put in more towers, “there’s a physical limit to how many towers you can put in, how spectrum can be reused because of interference issues. So there’s always physical limit to what else you can do.” At least 64% of the projected demand needs to be satisfied by increased spectrum availability, she said. Sanyal predicted that once FCC auction authority is restored the lower 3 GHz band will be the next target for full-power licensed use.

Several groups supported T-Mobile’s proposed buy of Mint Mobile (see 2303150032) in filings at the FCC. While the review of acquisitions is “important, both from a national security and competition standpoint, the current administration’s posture has been far too extreme,” National Taxpayers Union said, posted Wednesday in docket 23-171. “This case should not warrant an excessive review process or lawsuits,” the group said: “In this case, at just north of $1 billion in value, this is not a blockbuster acquisition by the broader acquisitions market and even by T-Mobile’s standards, which just closed the Sprint acquisition only three years ago for $23 billion.” The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation said the FCC should “narrowly tailor” its review to “the purposes of Section 214" of the Communications Act, which governs foreign ownership. T-Mobile is partly owned by Germany’s Deutsche Telekom. “Because this proposed merger presents little chance of consumer harm and a strong probability of consumer benefits, the Commission should approve it as consistent with the statute and recent Commission precedent,” ITIF said: Protecting the public interest “is only an intelligible principle when it is in service of the Commission’s statutorily prescribed authority. It is not a freewheeling grant to go on a generalized policymaking expedition.” Silicon Harlem also supported the transaction. “Carefully consider the potential positive impact this transaction can have on expanding affordable wireless access and promoting digital equity,” Silicon Harlem said. “By approving this acquisition, you would send a clear message that the FCC is committed to fostering the inclusion of historically underserved communities in the digital economy,” the group said. New York’s Capital Region Chamber also filed in support, citing the “connectivity challenges that rural communities continue to face.”

Smartphone shipments worldwide dropped 9.6% year over year in 2022, but the market is expected to grow 2.4% this year, with shipments of 1.24 billion globally, ABI Research said Tuesday. It said the global smartphone market should grow annually 1.5% between 2023 and 2028. It said COVID-19 pandemic issues are overshadowed now by trade wars, the overall economy, inflation and supply chain issues. But offsetting those will be 5G device affordability as a big growth driver, especially in large fledgling markets like India, it said. ABI said Apple dominated market share, claiming 23.8% in Q4 2022, with Samsung following at 19.4%. It said 5G smartphones' share of the overall market was 62% in 2022, up from 44.8% in 2021.

AT&T provided some of the first subscriber projections for Q2 Tuesday, putting postpaid phone net adds in the range of about 300,000, below the 476,000 forecast by Wall Street analysts. AT&T Chief Financial Officer Pascal Desroches cited the numbers in a Bank of America conference. AT&T expects a “normalization of overall industry growth” in 2023, compared with the “elevated levels of growth” in the past two years, he said. AT&T reported 424,000 postpaid phone net adds in Q1 (see 2304200059). The AT&T wireless team is performing well. Desroches said: “We went from a place where we weren't growing. We were losing share. … Now we have added share. We're growing wireless service revenues. We're growing [average revenue per user]. We're growing profits.” AT&T isn’t losing wireless subscribers to cable, he said. Desroches dismissed rumors earlier this month that Amazon may work with other major wireless carriers, but not AT&T, to offer free or low-cost wireless service (see 2306020055). “This was a rumor about nothing,” he said. Amazon already has a penetration “north of 80% of US households,” he said. “Would they really enter into a variable pricing construct for an incremental 5%, 10%?” Desroches asked. AT&T is on track to meet or exceed a goal of generating $16 billion in free cash flow this year, he said. Cash flow has been an analyst concern for AT&T in several recent quarters. T-Mobile CFO Peter Osvaldik told the conference T-Mobile remains optimistic about postpaid growth in Q2. “We do see slight industry normalization from what we saw in elevated 2022 levels,” he said. T-Mobile growth will come because the company offers “the best product at the best price, combined,” he said. T-Mobile is picking up enterprise and government customers, markets where its share was historically below 10%, he said. Osvaldik said customers are reporting higher satisfaction levels with T-Mobile’s Home Internet product than they had with cable and fiber broadband. Fixed wireless remains “an amazing opportunity,” he said. T-Mobile expects Dish Network to emerge as a postpaid competitor, he said. “I would never put anything past” Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen, he said: “I think he's a fierce competitor. We certainly have a good working relationship and we're here to support them.” Osvaldik also downplayed the Amazon rumors, noting Dish Wireless uses T-Mobile’s network and “our arrangement with Dish doesn't allow for resale of our network to a different brand -- under a different branding construct.”

Comments are due July 21, replies Aug. 21, on a Further NPRM proposing to require participating wireless providers to ensure mobile devices can translate alerts into the 13 most commonly spoken languages in the U.S. aside from English to send as thumbnail-sized images in WEA messages and other changes, said a notice for Wednesday’s Federal Register. Commissioners in April approved FNPRM 4-0 (see 2304200040). “These requirements would assist the millions of people who do not speak English or Spanish, as well as those with disabilities, understand and respond to WEA messages, and result in a more precise and tailored use of WEA through increased flexibility and options for consumers and alerting authorities,” the notice said.

Samsung Electronics America representatives met with FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology staff to present data supporting the company’s request for a 5G base station radio that works across citizens broadband radio service and C-band spectrum (see 2303100019). Samsung redacted the data from the filing, posted Friday in docket 23-93, and asked that the information be treated as confidential.

The FCC Wireless Bureau proposed to modify two 218-219 MHz stations operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) of New York, providing the authority with spectrum to improve the reliability of its positive train control system in four counties. The bureau proposed modifying Station KIVD0002 by authorizing the use of an additional 250 KHz of spectrum from the commission’s inventory “where additional spectrum is required to enhance the reliability” of the system. MTA must return “a like amount of spectrum from Station KIVD0001,” the bureau said Friday: “That spectrum would become unassigned and available for future disposition as determined by the Commission, and would result in a net gain of spectrum to the Commission.” MTA has 30 days to protest the proposed order.

The FirstNet Authority announced Thursday that Renee Gordon was named vice chair of the authority board, effective immediately, replacing Richard Carrizzo, who was earlier promoted to chair (see 2304270020). Gordon is director of the Alexandria, Virginia, Department of Emergency and Customer Communications and a board member since November.