AT&T has opened 10 5G edge zones across the U.S., with plans to get to “an even dozen by the end of 2022,” with “many more” to follow “in 2023 and beyond,” Chief Technology Officer Jeremy Legg said Tuesday. All the zones have a local stand-alone network core, local public cloud or private data center computing resources and software-defined network capabilities and virtualized network functions, he said. “These edge zones powered by regional 5G standalone network cores will open a range of new capabilities that simply aren’t possible with 4G,” Legg said: “Much like startups that played an integral role in developing new experiences and services because of 4G, we believe that giving them localized, hands-on access to our 5G network will be a foundational building block for tomorrow’s inventors.”

Major tech players met virtually with an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to urge FCC action on 6 GHz and the companies’ “plans and preparations for Standard Power Wi-Fi operations” in the band. They discussed the “costs and complexities that Standard Power operations, in conjunction with an Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) system, introduces to their companies’ solutions and their customers’ deployments, and that fact that AFC coordination is completely inappropriate for the Low Power Indoor and potential Very Low Power modes of operation in the 6 GHz band,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-295. The companies also discussed “indoor Standard Power operations and the use of an industry specified Building Entry Loss (BEL) [measure] when applicable." They urged the agency to complete the standard power device updates “to the 6 GHz unlicensed equipment approvals … as soon as possible utilizing the test products that have been developed within the Wi-Fi Alliance.” Companies on the call were Cisco, Extreme Networks, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Juniper Networks.

T-Mobile had the fastest mobile speeds among major U.S. carriers, with a median download speed of 116.14 Mbps on modern chipsets, Ookla reported Monday. “Verizon Wireless and AT&T were distant runners up,” at 58.64 and 57.94 Mbps, the report said. T-Mobile also had the highest upload speeds, at 10.91 Mbps, versus 8.30 for Verizon and 7.55 for AT&T. “Looking only at tests taken on a 5G connection, T-Mobile had the fastest median 5G download speed in the U.S. at 193.06 Mbps during Q3 2022, a slight increase over Q2 2022,” Ookla said. “Verizon Wireless remained second, and saw a slight increase to 119.80 Mbps in Q3 2022. AT&T remained third at 81.22 Mbps -- a slight increase from Q2 2022.”

Ericsson says moving to renewable energy is critical to helping providers curb their carbon footprint as they deploy 5G. “Where energy consumption is responsible for 20-40% of operational expenditure (opex) for communications service providers, Ericsson’s research shows that if the entire [information and communications technology] industry switched to renewable energy sources for all of its electricity requirements, the carbon footprint could be reduced by 80%," said a Monday report. “With the growing demand for mobile networks to handle more data than ever, there is a unique opportunity to combat emissions,” Ericsson said. The report recommends providers make their networks smarter as they deploy bands coming online for 5G, including by leveraging AI and machine learning “and automation to boost energy savings.”

The FCC Wireless Bureau granted six more licenses Friday in the 900 MHz broadband segment to PDV Spectrum. Three of the licenses are in Missouri, two in Nebraska and one in Kansas. The FCC approved an order in 2020 reallocating a 6 MHz swath in the band for broadband while keeping 4 MHz for narrowband (see 2005130057).

Ericsson projects 510 million mobile subscribers worldwide will upgrade to 5G next year. “Despite spiraling inflation, elevated food and energy costs, and rising interest rates during 2022, consumers globally are still planning to upgrade to 5G,” said the report last week. Consumers report they would cut spending on pay TV, video on demand, music and sports streaming subscriptions before mobile wireless, the report said: “Despite global economic uncertainty, 5G users value reliable connectivity and the majority of existing 5G users are unwilling to return to 4G.” Ericsson said it interviewed online 49,100 consumers in 37 markets.

T-Mobile will hold its Q3 earnings call Oct. 27, starting at 4:30 p.m. EDT, the company said Thursday.

MoffettNathanson lowered its outlook for the stock prices of major tower companies Thursday, citing rising interest rates and the negative impact on adjusted funds from operations. The firm cut its target for Crown Castle to $152 from $186; for SBA, to $285 from $360; and for American Tower, to $204 from $275. Dish Network “is widely expected to be a key driver of tower leasing in coming years, but higher funding costs add additional risk to what we have characterized as a fairly speculative business plan,” analyst Craig Moffett told investors.

A study by utility FirstEnergy said contention-based protocols or low-power-indoor operations aren’t enough to curb interference to fixed-service operations by utilities in the 6 GHz band. “The experimental results confirm an additive interference effect when more than one [device] is simultaneously operating co-channel with the FS system,” the report said: “The study only represented a small sampling of sites and there are anticipated to be hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of future unlicensed Wi-Fi 6E sources of interference along each microwave path.” Researchers studied the effects of two Wi-Fi 6E devices on two microwave paths of an existing, incumbent FS station in central New Jersey. Commissioners approved a Further NPRM 5-0 in April 2020 (see 2004230059) that examines further liberalization of the agency’s 6 GHz rules.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau cited Ride208 for allegedly selling a two-way radio without the required authorizations from the agency. The company also didn’t provide complete responses to an FCC letter of inquiry sent last year, said a citation in Thursday’s Daily Digest. The radio operates in family radio service and general mobile radio service channels. “We direct Ride208 to ... refrain from the importation, distribution, and offering for sale noncompliant radio frequency devices in the future,” the bureau said: “If Ride208 fails to comply … it may be liable for significant fines of up to $22,021 per day for each violation of unauthorized marketing or each day of a continuing violation for each unauthorized model marketed and up to $165,159 for any single act or failure to act, as well as other sanctions.” The company didn’t comment.