T-Mobile asked the FCC for waiver for its business agreement with Dish Network tied to its buy of Sprint (see 1907260071) for the upcoming high-band Auction 103. T-Mobile got similar waiver with Sprint for the last two high-band auctions and the December auction of the upper 37, 39 and 47 GHz bands (see 1908270033). “While nationwide carrier applicants may not enter agreements with one another regarding licenses subject to auction, the prohibition does not apply to pre-existing assignments of licenses and other agreements that do not relate to the licenses that are subject to auction,” T-Mobile said Tuesday in docket 19-59. It's asking out of “an abundance of caution.” T-Mobile and SoftBank, parent of Sprint, filed in docket 18-197 that a lawyer representing them spoke with FCC Chief of Staff Matthew Berry on “the Commission’s competition analysis, including the network improvements and efficiencies achievable through the merger and projected in the Applicants’ network and economic modeling.”
Japan’s Rakuten is a firm worth watching, Wells Fargo’s Jennifer Fritzsche told investors. “Rakuten is planning a commercial launch of mobile service which will use cloud-based software and commoditized hardware,” she said Sunday: “If successful it would likely dramatically lower the cost of service for the average consumer and could have significant impact on the 3 larger incumbents in Japan. … Last week Rakuten faced a bit of a curveball and announced it had to delay the launch of its commercial service which resulted in a significant decline in the shares.” The analyst said Dish Network, in particular, appears interested in the technology.
Analysts and others predicted challenges for the next round of iPhones expected to be announced at Apple’s annual special event Tuesday in Cupertino, California. Samsung, LG and Moto jumped into the nascent 5G market early, but Apple has been widely reported to be waiting until 2020 for its first 5G phone. That could give current iPhone owners little incentive to upgrade to 2019 models, analysts and others said. Digital Trends expects a lack of a 5G iPhone this fall due to 5G chip availability and 5G’s early growing pains (see 1909090002). Apple didn’t comment. Citing its own tests of 5G service, Digital Trends assessed the next-generation mobile infrastructure as “still very much in its infancy.” It "struggled to find 5G service that doesn’t drop out from one city block to another.” In 4G, Apple iPhone users experienced higher upload speeds -- useful for sharing photos and videos -- than on download speeds compared with Android users May 27-Aug. 5, reported Opensignal Monday. Noting the three-year U.S. smartphone replacement cycle, analyst Ian Fogg said users with 2015-16 iPhones experienced much slower download speeds than users with recent models: iPhone 7 and 6s users experienced 4G download speeds of 16.7-18.3 Mbps vs. more than 25 Mbps for the iPhone Xs and Xs Max. OnePlus, LG and Samsung smartphone users experienced the fastest U.S. download speeds, said Opensignal. OnePlus 7 Pro, LG V35, LG G8, Samsung S10 and S10 Plus models tied for first place averaging above 36 Mbps. Across the top 50 smartphone models ranked by the speed, 36 percent were Samsung models, 20 percent from LG and 15 percent Google. Two iPhones -- XS and XS Max -- made the list.
Southern Co. stressed the importance of communications before a major storm or other disasters to wireless resiliency, meeting with FCC Public Safety Bureau staff. “The coordination process should begin well in advance, before any specific storm or other event has even been identified,” the company said, posted Monday in docket 11-60. “All parties should be involved in storm preparation that takes place prior to the storm season, such as the drills held by the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.” Southern urged coordination between communications companies and electric utilities, and with “those state and local agencies and organizations responsible for debris removal, which is the first phase of recovery.”
A lawyer for T-Mobile spoke with Will Adams, aide to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, to respond to questions about carrier buying Sprint, said a filing. Also posted Monday in docket 18-197: the Navaho Nation backing the transaction.
Chinese domination of 5G could have broad implications because “modern consumer society has rapidly evolved from domination by ‘things’ to domination by information,” Hudson Institute Senior Fellow William Schneider wrote in a paper released Thursday. “An integrated infosphere meets aspirations held by the People’s Republic of China to dominate and control the global information infrastructure," he said: “Beijing’s investments in 5G reflect an understanding that this technology is the gateway to control the world’s information infrastructure and growing realm of 5G-dependent technologies.”
OMB approved information collection for an order FCC commissioners approved in April on sharing in the upper 37 GHz band (see 1904120058), says a notice for Monday's Federal Register. The order also allows fixed-satellite service to operate with individually licensed earth stations transmitting in the 50.4–51.4 GHz band using criteria identical to those applicable in 24.75–25.25 GHz. Some parts of the rule took effect June 12. The parts requiring OMB OK are effective Monday. Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks partially dissented on the April order.
Amazon encouraged FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to open the 6 GHz band for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed use. The FCC took comment earlier this year and saw lots of opposition to sharing with unlicensed (see 1902250054). “The availability of unlicensed spectrum is of great interest to Amazon and our customers,” Amazon said Friday in docket 18-295. “Access to unlicensed spectrum is essential for the creation and growth of groundbreaking consumer‐oriented technologies.”
T-Mobile Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray spoke with FCC Chief of Staff Matthew Berry and other officials about the company’s proposed buy of Sprint, said a filing posted Friday in docket 18-197. “We discussed several issues raised in the Applicants’ previous submissions and relevant to the Commission’s competition analysis, including the network improvements and efficiencies achievable through the merger and projected in the Applicants’ network and economic modeling,” the filing said.
The Wireless ISP Association told the FCC sharing the C band is critical to WISP's future, filing a letter to Congress and commissioners and supporting letters: “For example, Reach4 serves 2,000 customers in Louisiana and states that it is ‘in desperate need of more spectrum to meet the increased demand for more bandwidth.’” Colorado’s Rise Broadband operates across 16 states and “explains that ‘[m]id-band choices today such as 3.65-3.7 GHz spectrum have already become severely congested,’” WISPA said. The main letter was signed by 232 WISPs, vendors and manufacturers, posted Friday in docket 18-122.