The citizens broadband radio service auction proceeds were at almost $2.6 billion Friday, after 31 rounds. That's a price of 12.5 cents per MHz/POP. New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin told investors Friday the auction is off to a “very strong start,” likely due to bidding by Dish Network. “It always sucks for the carriers when Dish shows up for a spectrum auction,” he said. “The last time this happened prices went through the roof,” he said, citing the AWS-3 auction. New Street forecasts Dish will spend $6 billion, mostly on the C-band auction, but also on CBRS licenses. “We wouldn’t be at all surprised to see them spend more; it will all come down to whether they can find the funding,” Chaplin said.

T-Mobile is adding 2.5 GHz spectrum at the rate of 600-700 sites every week, said Neville Ray, president-technology, on the carrier’s Q2 call Thursday (see 2008060074). “We are running very, very hard,” Ray said: “We’ve got great resources out there working very safely and with health and safety paramount. Our supply chain is actually really robust.” Chief Financial Officer Peter Osvaldik said 95% of customers that took advantage of the FCC’s Keep America Connected pledge have made some form of payment. “There is a small subset of FCC pledge customers that likely will not recover,” he said: Q2 results reflect 110,000 deactivations, including 90,000 postpaid phones.

T-Mobile said it sprinted past AT&T in Q2 to become the No. 2 U.S. carrier with 98.3 million total customers. This was noted in the first quarterly report since the buy of Sprint was completed. The combined company reported 253,000 postpaid phone net adds with churn of 0.8%. CEO Mike Sievert said on a call with analysts T-Mobile now has its eye on surpassing Verizon. T-Mobile said more than 10% of Sprint’s postpaid customer traffic has moved to the T-Mobile network and site decommissioning has started. The carrier reported total revenue of $17.7 billion, service revenue of $13.2 billion and net income of $110 million. T-Mobile said earnings were hurt by $798 million in pretax costs for closing the Sprint deal and COVID-19-related costs of $341 million. T-Mobile 5G users are seeing average speeds above 300 Mbps, which is “better than most home internet speeds and eight times faster than 4G LTE,” Sievert said. The carrier has 319 MHz of low- and mid-band spectrum on average nationwide, he said. “It’s now clear to most observers that it takes all spectrum bands to build a real 5G network.” The stock rose 6.3% to $114.90 at 6:46 p.m. EDT. T-Mobile has more 5G devices on its network than AT&T and Verizon combined, the executive said. AT&T and Verizon didn't comment.

Astronomy interests raised concerns as the FCC looks at future use of the 70, 80 and 90 GHz bands. Comments on a June NPRM were posted in docket 20-133 Wednesday. Nokia and Qualcomm sought changes. The American Astronomical Society stressed the negative implications on “scientific exploration and discovery” if the NPRM is approved. “A process that gives significant weight to the input of experts from the scientific community is sorely needed,” the group said. A proposal for airborne use of the 70/80 GHz bands is particularly concerning, the society said: While “Aeronet mentions the need to protect radio astronomy in its proposal, there is no detail provided on how this will be done.” The National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Radio Frequencies raised similar issues. “There is no indication on the record of how the vitally important coordination task will take place for airplanes in the skies near Haystack,” said the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Haystack Observatory. Nokia supports the lead proposal to increase the maximum beamwidth 3 dB points from 1.2 degrees to 2.2 degrees and to reduce minimum antenna gain from 43 dBi to 38 dBi. “This simple rule change will allow needed flexibility to deploy smaller, lighter backhaul antennas to facilitate 5G deployments in urban settings,” Nokia said. Other proposals require more study, the company said. “The inherent nature of 5G-based communications in this 70/80/90 GHz high band spectrum allows for multiple co-primary, co-located licensees to each deploy communications systems,” Qualcomm said.

T-Mobile said Tuesday it's the first wireless carrier to launch a commercial nationwide stand-alone 5G network. It's "expanding 5G coverage by 30 percent, now covering nearly 250 million people” and using 600 MHz spectrum, the company said.

The law is clear the FCC can't make changes in a proposal for further changes to wireless infrastructure rules for collocations in an NPRM approved 3-2 in June (see 2006090060), said local and state governments. Industry urged moving forward. Replies were posted Tuesday in docket 19-250 (see 2007230070). “The record does not support” this interpretation of Section 6409(a) of the 2012 Spectrum Act, said NATOA, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, National League of Cities, National Association of Counties and National Association of Towns and Townships. “Comments supportive of this proposal fail to address the clear statutory limitations,” they said: “The programmatic agreements on historic preservation and environmental review are not related to Section 6409(a), and the desire for ‘consistency’ between these agreements and the Section 6409(a) rules cannot override the statutory limits.” If the commission adopts the proposed compound expansion rule, “Western Communities Coalition favors measuring the existing site only from the original site boundaries,” the coalition said: “This approach would be more consistent with both the statute and existing regulations, while also avoid penalizing local governments that have previously approved site expansions in their discretion.” Industry called for action. “By classifying site expansions of up to 30 feet as non-substantial, the Commission will streamline upgrades to existing sites, and advance its longstanding policy to promote more intensive use of existing infrastructure, which can reduce the need for new construction,” CTIA said. “The Commission has ample authority to adopt these clarifications to its rules implementing Section 6409,” the Wireless Infrastructure Association said: “Doing so will promote collocations, provide greater clarity, reduce costs and timelines for deployments, and promote the usage of the equipment necessary for 5G deployments and public safety operations.”

The FCC released new versions of its speed test app Monday, with updates for iOS and Android. “Like its predecessor, the updated app allows users to test their cellular and Wi-Fi network performance for download and upload speed, latency, jitter, and packet loss,” the agency said.

Duke Energy is onboard with installing 5G cell nodes on utility poles, executives told staff for FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Brendan Carr. Duke built 380 sites “utilizing a variety of multi-purpose structures to support both lighting and small cell collocation,” the utility said, posted Friday in docket 17-84. So far this year, Duke has constructed 400 sites “notwithstanding the challenges presented by COVID-19” and “is on pace to more than double the number of sites constructed in 2019.”

AT&T and Verizon face a tough challenge from T-Mobile, New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin told investors: “We haven’t seen what they plan do with their newfound assets yet, but we will soon with the relaunch of T-Mobile’s brand and the arrival of the first 5G iPhone. I suspect they will make things uncomfortable.” Both can narrow T-Mobile’s advantage in spectrum through the C-band auction, he said. “They won’t be able to rein T-Mobile in entirely, the magenta cowboys will have at least a two-year head start, but the auction will determine whether it is two years, or forever.” T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert said Monday the Sprint brand is no more: “Yesterday, we unified the T-Mobile and Sprint brands to operate under the T-Mobile flagship."

Comments are due Aug. 18, replies Aug. 28 on incumbent C-band satellite operators' choice of RSM as C-band relocation coordinator, said an FCC Wireless Bureau public notice Monday. It's seeking comment in docket 18-122 on whether RSM satisfies such criteria as ability to coordinate the band-clearing schedule and determining when necessary migration actions for earth stations. It said the same deadlines apply to the suitability of the relocation payment clearinghouse -- CohnReznick and subcontractors Squire Patton and Intellicom Technologies -- selected by the search committee.