Howard Buskirk

Private communications networks are critical to utilities, Sheryl Riggs, president of the Utilities Technology Council, said at the start of a UTC broadband workshop, which runs through Friday. “Many people don’t give a lot of thought to the utility industry; they just assume they’re always there,” Riggs said. “A big reason for this is because of the communications systems -- they’re the invisible infrastructure that utilities rely on to ensure the power, the gas and water is on and available at all times,” she said. Clean energy and the power grid of the future are in the news daily, she said. “All these new technologies … rely on private communications networks that utilities and UTC members develop and operate every day,” she said. Utilities are also increasingly focused on broadband, Riggs said: “More and more utilities of all kinds are becoming key players in connecting people through broadband networks. As important as these networks are to modernizing our energy system, they’re also critical in bridging the digital divide.” UTC recognizes the need to connect more Americans to broadband, Riggs said. “There are unserved and underserved communities in rural and urban areas, shut off for far too long from the exciting world that broadband opens up,” she said. “We need broadband equity and inclusion to all communities,” she said. Utility investments in fiber as they modernize the grid also position them to be broadband players, Riggs said. Public power companies and electric co-ops are offering broadband service to their customers “providing GB speeds at affordable prices,” she said. Some UTC members in rural areas are offering faster, more reliable service than what’s available in urban and suburban areas, she said. Larger investor-owned utilities are mainly leasing part of their fiber networks to ISPs through middle-mile deployments, she said: “This trend is accelerating … and we can see that because more grant money is coming down the pipeline.” Riggs noted utilities are likely to pursue middle-mile broadband infrastructure program funding being made available through NTIA. Attendees heard presentations from NTIA, the Rural Utilities Service and the FCC on funding opportunities.

5G hype is in danger of outpacing reality, speakers said during an IEEE virtual event Thursday. At the same time, experts warned, no killer app has emerged that is driving consumers to think they need a 5G phone. House Communications Subcommittee member Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., meanwhile voiced optimism during a Thursday Punchbowl News event (see 2209080053) about 5G’s potential role in increasing innovation in telehealth and autonomous vehicles.

The first open radio access network projects are starting across the world, though when deployments will happen at scale remains an open question, experts said Wednesday during a Fierce Wireless virtual summit. Dish Network launched a 5G ORAN-based network in the U.S. and the administration began to develop rules for ORAN grants (see 2209060052), but questions have been raised about open networks security and several ORAN players downsized operations (see 2208180052).

T-Mobile agreed to sell Cogent Communications its long-haul fiber network and other wireline assets for $1, unloading a Sprint asset that had been a money loser for T-Mobile. T-Mobile noted the development in a filing Wednesday at the SEC. As part of the transaction, Cogent will offer T-Mobile IP transit services for 54 months after closing, T-Mobile said. T-Mobile will pay Cogent $700 million, with $350 million due in equal payments over the year and $350 million due over the remaining 42 months. “T-Mobile expects to recognize a total pre-tax charge of approximately $1 billion in the third quarter of 2022 as T-Mobile anticipates adjusting the carrying value of the Wireline Business and establishing a liability for the contractual payments of the Transaction, including the $700 million of fees payable for IP transit services,” T-Mobile said. “For Cogent, acquisition of T-Mobile’s Wireline Business is expected to be an ideal strategic fit with its existing business,” the ISP said: “The Wireline Business offers the legacy Sprint U.S. long-haul network that provides an owned network asset to complement and eventually replace Cogent’s current leased network and provides the ability to expand its product set, including the sales of optical wave transport services to new and existing customers.” The asset offers a “customer base who are a fit for Cogent’s products and services, and a group of experienced employees with the knowledge and capabilities to execute the company’s strategy,” Cogent said. The $1 billion non-cash charge in Q3 follows a nearly $500 million write-down last quarter for the assets, said New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin. “The transaction itself should come as little surprise; T-Mobile said on the first quarter call in April that they wouldn’t need the Sprint wireline assets after shutting down the Sprint LTE network, and that there could be an opportunity to monetize the assets,” Chaplin said. “T-Mobile has tended to be a shrewd dealmaker, and so we would expect that the company decided it was cheaper to give away the wireline assets, and pay for their continued use of them, than it would be for T-Mobile to operate these long-haul assets themselves," he said: “We don’t have great visibility into Sprint’s wireline network’s current financial profile, and so we don’t know exactly what T-Mobile is selling. We know the assets were losing money when T-Mobile bought them, with $1.2BN in wireline revenues offset by at least $1.2BN in cash" operating expenses and "at least a couple hundred million" in annual capital expenditures.

The FCC will revisit wireless emergency alerts and the emergency alert system in an NPRM teed up for a vote by commissioners, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Wednesday. “It is critical that these public safety systems are secure against cyber threats, which means that we must be proactive,” Rosenworcel said of EAS: “The draft proposals shared today will help ensure that our national alerting systems work as intended during emergencies and the public can trust the warnings they receive.” Among the issues teed up are the amount of time EAS participants “may operate before repairing defective EAS equipment,” the need for participants to report compromises of their equipment and the need for security requirements and annual certification of cybersecurity risk management plans. The NPRM also asks about requirements that carriers “take steps to ensure that only valid alerts are displayed on consumer devices.” The FCC said last week 42 state and local government agencies will conduct local WEA tests Monday and Tuesday (see 2208300046).

The $54.2 billion Chips and Science Act, signed into law in August (see 2208090062) will be significant for how industry will look down the road, experts said Tuesday during a USTelecom webinar. The act includes $1.5 billion to spur open radio access networks. Experts also said they don’t expect big future moves from the FCC on ORAN, after a 2021 notice of inquiry.

The FCC likely gained some useful insights through its notice of inquiry on offshore spectrum, but industry officials said they don’t expect a quick turnaround from the FCC on rulemakings or further steps in the proceeding. The FCC logged 22 initial comments (see 2207280032) and 12 replies, posted last week in docket 22-204 (see 2208290038). Most agreed there are steps the agency can take, but there was little consensus on what to do next.

T-Mobile, as expected, dominated the 2.5 GHz auction (see 2208300021), winning 7,156 licenses for $304.3 million, covering 2,724 counties, the FCC announced Thursday. But T-Mobile wasn’t the only bidder -- the FCC said 63 bidders won a total of 7,872 licenses. The auction had gross proceeds of $427.8 million. Among other large carriers, Cellular South bid $11.9 million for 38 licenses. Verizon won nine licenses for $1.5 million. AT&T and Dish Network didn’t get any licenses. AT&T had made an upfront payment of only $1,000, versus $20 million by Verizon and $25,000 by Dish. PTI Pacifica was the second-highest bidder, at $17.7 million. TeleGuam Holdings bid $16.6 million for the mid-band spectrum. By number of licenses won, the No. 2 bidder was North American Catholic Educational Programming Foundation, with 107, followed by Evergy Kansas Central with 54. “This really was T-Mobile’s auction,” Recon Analytics’ Roger Entner told us: “Everyone else either got the scraps that T-Mobile didn’t want or watched how it unfolded.” Down payments by winning bidders are due Sept. 16, final payments Sept. 30, the agency said. The FCC’s auction authority expires Sept. 30, absent action by Congress. “With most of the available spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band located in rural areas, this auction provides vital spectrum resources to support wireless services in rural communities,” the FCC said.

With the comment cycle complete, proponents of a December waiver request seeking permission to start using the 5.9 GHz band for cellular-vehicle-to-everything technology expect a relatively quick order from the FCC. Other requests have followed. But industry observers also note that FCC staff still must wade through all the comments, and the timing of agency decisions on such issues can be difficult to handicap.

NAB responded to New America’s Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge comments in a TV white spaces (TVWS) proceeding. The groups had blasted NAB in comments on how often narrowband devices should have to check a white spaces database. NAB’s objections “stem not from any genuine technical concern but solely from the desire to ‘get Big Tech’ and undermine the use of unlicensed spectrum,” OTI and PK said (see 2208020055). “A careful examination of those comments … demonstrates they are replete with questionable claims, exaggerations, and misleading conflations of projects,” NAB said Wednesday in docket 20-36: “The comments repeatedly conflate, knowingly or not, larger broadband initiatives with TVWS technology and thus seek to ascribe to TVWS the successes associated with other technologies.” NAB cited in particular references to Microsoft’s Airband initiative: “Microsoft’s promise to expand broadband service to three million Americans cannot possibly have anything to do with the meager 213 TVWS devices operating today.” NAB "is making every effort it can to reclaim valuable TV White space spectrum,” emailed PK Policy Counsel Kathleen Burke: “This play isn't about the alleged failure of TVWS services, but rather about the potential profits broadcasters might get by subleasing the spectrum they received for free to non-broadcast commercial uses.” The “supposed innovative uses of ATSC 3.0 are almost entirely ancillary commercial opportunities such as navigation and timing services; datacasts to smart Intenet-of-Things devices and smart vehicles; and interactive sports betting for live event broadcasts” and “have nothing to do with the public interest benefits of broadcast television that prompted the FCC to grant free licenses to broadcasters in the first place,” she said. “In contrast, TV white space services actually connect underserved populations to the Internet. Since ATSC 3.0 requires an internet connection to provide the uplink for its interactive innovations, TV white space services could help ensure that all Americans not just, those already connected to the Internet, can benefit from NextGen Broadcasting.” TVWS “offers a valuable option to rural and remote communities for broadband and, increasingly, to farmers, ranchers and others for narrowband sensors that they can access freely,” responded Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America. “For many years there have been few if any complaints of harmful interference to TV viewers,” he said: “Despite this, at every step, NAB has sought to limit or eliminate public access to this unused spectrum. It is plain to everyone who pays attention that broadcasters are determined to control and monetize not only the free TV spectrum they use, but also the large portion of the TV band they don’t use.”