Global wireless 5G adoption has entered the “rapid acceleration phase,” having exceeded a half billion connections by the end of 2021 and forecast to reach 1.3 billion by the end of 2022, reported 5G Americas Wednesday, citing Omdia data. North American 5G connections grew 292% year on year, reaching 72 million at the end of 2021, said the trade group.

Verizon subsidiary Tracfone's ability to offer the FCC affordable connectivity program monthly discount for all services "is a particularly heavy lift," the carrier said as it sought a 60-day waiver of the program requirement. Tracfone's systems "are not designed to apply a discount ... and then assess the remaining post-discount amount to the customer," Verizon said , in a petition posted Tuesday in docket 21-450. The provider "does not have that capability because it historically has not offered discounts." Tracfone would need "several weeks" to test those systems. Verizon noted Tracfone "has enrolled over 270,000 new ACP-eligible consumers" so far.

Mavenir told the FCC use of open radio access networks would save significant money over use of traditional telecom equipment, in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-89. The FCC reported providers requested $5.6 billion from an FCC program to cover the cost of ripping and replacing Huawei and ZTE gear from their networks, nearly triple the $1.9 billion allocated in a federal fund (see 2202040066). Mavenir can replace gear at an average $420,000 per site, the company said. “Based on publicly available information about the wireless equipment and services that need to be replaced by the Reimbursement Program applicants, it appears that this is about one-third of the average cost of the submitted wireless applications,” Mavenir said: “The Replacement Program could be completed for up to $2 billion less than currently requested if all of the wireless applicants were to use Mavenir’s solution (or a vendor that is similarly cost competitive).”

Qualcomm representatives urged action on the company’s push for sharing the 37 GHz band (see 2104280038), in meetings with staff from FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology. Qualcomm’s proposal would support: “(1) fixed point-to-point and point-to-multipoint links; (2) mobile operations; (3) private networks; (4) device to device (peer to peer) operations; and (5) mobile hotspots, and open all 600 MHz to licensed sharing by multiple licensees, each of whom would have priority rights to a given channel in the Lower 37 GHz band to provide a guaranteed Quality of Service,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 14-177. Qualcomm recommends auctioning priority license channels of 100 or 200 MHz: “Each priority license holder of a particular channel would have primary rights to that channel and secondary rights to the other Lower 37 GHz band channels.”

Some 62,000 attended the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, where a major theme was the fast growth of 5G, John Strand of Strand Consult blogged Monday. Top officials at GSMA didn’t mention “the declining shareholder value of mobile operators,” he said: “Since 1998, the only net value add from has been premium SMS to pay for ring tones, logos, Java games, and TV polls. While mobile data traffic may be up 40% last year, this does not translate into greater revenue for mobile operators. … GSMA's members may talk a big game about the future; it has failed to monetize it.” Strand said “the elephant in the room” was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “While there’s a consensus that Russia’s actions are wrong, few realized just how brutal the invasion could be,” he said. “2022 is likely the last MWC that GSMA and its members can pretend to remain neutral geopolitically. Governments, consumers, and shareholders are forcing companies to choose sides.” MWC was held Feb. 28-March 3.

Verizon said Monday it has reached agreements for early clearance of the C band, allowing it to deploy 5G Ultra Wideband this year in “at least 30 additional major markets” including Atlanta, Baltimore, Denver and Washington, D.C. “The guts of the network must manage the additional capacity, support the additional speeds, and support the additional intelligence and programmability needed for customers to take advantage of the advanced performance of 5G,” said Kyle Malady, Verizon president-global network and technology: “In my career with Verizon, I have never experienced a network deployment move so quickly.” Verizon will pay SES up to $170 million to accelerate the clearing of C-band spectrum, SES said Monday. The agreement “will see SES expand Verizon’s access to the 3700-3800 MHz block in certain markets beyond the 46 Partial Economic Areas cleared in Phase I and earlier than the Phase II accelerated relocation deadline,” the company said. SES will install filters and other equipment at about 500 sites this year, “comparable to the activities executed during Phase I,” and receive an extra payment from Verizon “subject to delivering the clearing on a timeline agreed to by the parties.” Verizon is the first national carrier to rapidly deploy in the C-band, an important part of its 5G strategy (see 2201310061).

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson Friday named staff representatives to participate on each other’s advisory committees. The Wireless Bureau’s Jessica Quinley will participate as an observer on NTIA’s Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee, said a news release: Doug Brake, an NTIA spectrum policy specialist, will participate in the FCC’s Technological Advisory Council, and Senior Adviser Timothy May in the FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council. “This is a critical component of the FCC and NTIA’s Spectrum Coordination Initiative under which they are taking actions to strengthen the processes for decision-making and information sharing and to work cooperatively to resolve spectrum policy issues,” the agencies said.

NAB asked the FCC to set aside 55 MHz in the 6 GHz band for licensed use, including electronic newsgathering, in a filing posted Friday in docket 17-183. NAB said it previously asked for 80 MHz but is dialing down that request. “Just 55 MHz would have the benefit of harmonizing the use of the band internationally” and provide two 25 MHz channels for electronic newsgathering, plus a 5 MHz guard band. The set aside would be at the top of the band -- 7070-7125 MHz. “Journalism, including live coverage of events as they unfold, has never been more important,” broadcasters said: “Access to spectrum is an indispensable component of broadcasters’ ability to provide high-quality and real-time coverage of history as it unfolds.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld an FCC order allowing unlicensed use of the band but asked the FCC for further explanation on a narrow issue raised by NAB (see 2112280047).

U.S. wireless carriers are performing well during a period of global turmoil and inflation, but tougher times loom, MoffettNathanson’s Craig Moffett said in a Thursday research note. “U.S. wireless carriers are entirely domestic, with no exposure to European energy shocks or Eurozone recession risks,” he said. “They have no Eurozone earnings and no export exposure to an excessively strong dollar. If there is a U.S. recession, their services are, by and large, indispensable.” But they also face challenges, especially keeping up subscriber growth, he said. Recent growth is “unsustainable” and “far in excess of population growth, and is seemingly poised for a fall,” he said. “A drop in subscriber growth would probably only increase the pressure on carriers to compete on the basis of price and promotions, making matters worse.” Moffett sees T-Mobile as the major player best positioned to “weather” the storm ahead. “The company is growing share of gross additions and is poised to see declines in churn rate,” he said. “With the industry’s best pricing and the industry’s best network, and with still many growth opportunities ahead (not least in rural America), we believe T-Mobile’s share gains are poised to accelerate,” he said.

Smith Bagley asked the FCC for a three-month extension of its Lifeline waivers, set to expire March 31, “as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to pose challenges for both consumers and providers.” The company and its service area “continue to face significant obstacles associated with being located on remote Tribal lands,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 11-42: The Tribal areas the company serves in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah “are sparsely populated with limited access to transportation, water, electricity, and Internet access. … These challenges make it extremely difficult to make timely contact with subscribers to request that necessary documents for reverification and recertification be brought to” a company store.