The Rural Wireless Association criticized the FCC for moving too slowly to implement a program to rip and replace nonsecure Chinese gear in small carrier networks. In a new report to Congress, the FCC said it has approved reimbursement claims of about $41 million of the $1.85 billion budgeted for the program so far. “This slow-moving effort, demonstrated by the Report … has left Reimbursement Program participants, and in particular rural carriers, in a bind as they attempt to move forward through an overly burdensome administrative process with extremely limited funds,” RWA said Wednesday: “It is time that both Congress, by allocating full funding, and the FCC, in quickly administering the program, take on their responsibility to assist Reimbursement Program participants in ridding their communications networks of unsecured equipment and services that continue to pose a national security threat.” The report was posted Wednesday in docket 18-89.

The FCC approved new environmental sensing capability sensor deployment and coverage plans in the citizens broadband radio service band for Federated Wireless, in parts of Alaska. The order, by the Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology, was posted Tuesday in docket 15-319.

The Wireless Infrastructure Association hired a Crown Castle executive to fill a new position at the association, in charge of developing the group’s workforce services business unit “as it focuses on building America’s broadband workforce through innovative sector partnerships,” WIA said Tuesday. The association hired Amelia De Jesus, formerly national vice president-site acquisition at the tower company, as vice president-workforce solutions. “As Congress, the White House, and states work to expand broadband access to all Americans, WIA is stepping up to support sector partnerships and expand training programs to build a workforce capable of meeting the broadband deployment demands of today and tomorrow,” said WIA Executive Vice President Tim House. The unit is an “evolution of existing efforts,” a spokesperson emailed.

Stephen Bye, chief commercial officer at Dish Wireless and a key executive behind the company’s 5G launch, is leaving that job for Ziff Davis, Dish Network announced Tuesday. "Stephen has been an integral part of building our wireless business, helping lead efforts to maximize our wireless efforts and prepare us to monetize our investments," said Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen. Dish said Bye will become a member of the Dish board, effective Jan. 18. Bye will be president of the Ziff Davis connectivity division starting Jan. 23, in charge of the Ookla, RootMetrics and related properties, Ziff Davis said. Bye is a former CEO of Connectivity Wireless.

The biggest, most surprising wireless development last year was the “explosion” of fixed wireless access, Wireless Infrastructure Association President Patrick Halley blogged Tuesday. FWA “emerged as a 5G killer app and a real competitor to fiber and cable home broadband access,” he said: “You know FWA is having an impact in the market when Comcast is running ads to compete with the technology.” Ericsson recently estimated there were more than 100 million FWA connections worldwide at the end of 2022, he said. Verizon and T-Mobile “added an incredible 900,000 new U.S, subscribers in Q3 alone, with T-Mobile doubling its total number of internet customers in only six months,” Halley said: “UScellular is doubling its FWA subscriber base every 18 months.” Steven Vondran, president of American Tower’s U.S. tower division, joined Halley on the blog and also mentioned FWA. “The availability of mid-band spectrum for wireless marked a step forward in the acceleration of 5G in 2022," Vondran said: “With the rising demand for 5G services, these frequencies provide capacity, speed, and reach to increase performance that wasn’t possible with low bands. As a result, last year we saw increased wireless deployment at scale from Mobile Network Operators.” Leticia Latino-van Splunteren, CEO of WIA member Neptuno USA, said 5G started to take off last year. “2022 was the year where there was ‘less talking’ and ‘more doing’ around 5G infrastructure deployment and networks modernization,” she said: “Even if supply chain challenges and workforce shortages may have hindered achieving the expected deployment speed, it was still a year of substantial progress and on laying a foundation on that front. The equipment being deployed together with several device manufacturers officially launching their 5G smartphones allowed us to start getting ‘glimpses’ of what 5G has promised to do for the world.”

What the metaverse is, and will mean for consumers, is still evolving, speakers said during a CES discussion Saturday. The metaverse means “we’re going to be able to be anywhere, have anywhere be with us, together,” said David Treat, Accenture senior managing director. “It’s the end of that two-dimensional, highly constrained version of the digital world,” he said. “Screw the metaverse,” said Justin Hochberg, CEO of Virtual Brand Group, a metaverse company: “I am tired of giving Facebook, i.e., Meta, branding over all of the things that we do. I don’t want to call it metaverse anymore.” Hochberg said he agreed with Treat in general, but there are problems. “Right now, it’s a lot of technology, but not a lot of use cases,” he said. Zach Bruch, CEO of non-fungible token company Recur, said when he hears metaverse he doesn’t think about Facebook. Bruch said the definition should be broad. “You can be riding a Peloton, you’re in the metaverse; on a Zoom call, you’re in a metaverse,” he said. “Using the digital world to connect with other people, for all sorts of different things and different use cases, to me that’s what the metaverse is,” he said. “You’re on the metaverse,” said Betty (who uses only her first name), CEO of NFT company Deadfellaz. “We’re already in these digital spaces all day, every day -- I think that’s the metaverse,” she said. “In reality, it’s [gaming platform] Discord, it’s Twitter, it’s where we’re already at,” she said. “I don’t think it’s chaotic, but it can feel chaotic from an outsider’s perspective,” she said: “The tech and the aesthetics don’t line up just yet, but they will.” Every major wave of innovation is “proceeded by a couple of decades worth of work that laid the foundation,” Treat said. The metaverse integrates years of work on blockchain technology and augmented and virtual reality, he said. If you think of the metaverse as decades of innovation converging, “you see a multi-decade, natural progression to an inevitable outcome that will break us away from the digital world [as] something that we experience on a flat plane of glass in the computer we’re sitting in front of or the phone we’re holding up,” Treat said.

T-Mobile reported preliminary Q4 results, tabulating postpaid phone net adds of 927,000, it’s best numbers since it completed its buy of Sprint. T-Mobile released the preliminary results Wednesday, as Chief Financial Officer Peter Osvaldik spoke at a Citi financial conference. AT&T and Verizon officials also presented, but the companies didn’t release preliminary numbers. For all of 2022, T-Mobile said it expects to report postpaid net customer adds of 6.4 million, the “best in industry and record high, above high end of guidance” and postpaid phone net customer additions of 3.1 million. T-Mobile also had 524,000 high-speed internet net customer adds, “more than AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Charter combined,” T-Mobile said. Osvaldik said the carrier predicts capital expenditures of $9 billion-$10 billion this year. “T-Mobile just posted amazing results -- our highest ever postpaid account net adds (the best measure of our industry-leading growth in customer relationships), both postpaid customer net adds and broadband customer growth that are expected to lead the industry, and our lowest-ever churn numbers," said CEO Mike Sievert.

T-Mobile is joining with Delta Air Lines to make free Wi-Fi available to all SkyMiles members flying the airline, regardless of their wireless carrier, T-Mobile said Thursday. “Travel is expected to soar in 2023, with over two-thirds of people feeling more optimistic about traveling this year compared to last,” T-Mobile said: “Staying connected is such a major priority that more than half of global travelers say having a phone and connectivity is non-negotiable. And that’s where T-Mobile and Delta come in.”

The FCC Wireless Bureau approved five additional licenses Thursday in the 900 MHz broadband segment for PDV Spectrum. Three were in Kansas and two in Missouri. The FCC approved an order in 2020 reallocating a 6 MHz swath in the band for broadband, keeping 4 MHz for narrowband (see 2005130057).

CTIA told the FCC it welcomed its appointment to the 3.45 GHz Reimbursement Clearinghouse Search Committee, in a letter posted Thursday in docket 19-348. “CTIA commends the FCC on its efforts to free up mid-band spectrum for 5G deployments,” the group said: “The 3.45 GHz band is an important band for America’s 5G strategy, and it is critical that this 100 megahertz, as well as additional spectrum below 3.45 GHz, be made rapidly available under conditions that will support robust 5G deployments.”