Despite Sprint complaints about its future as a stand-alone company if takeover by T-Mobile falls through (see 1806270068), the carrier said Wednesday it's on track to offer 5G in the first half of next year. Sprint also reported generally positive results in the quarter ended June 30. Sprint had postpaid net adds of 123,000 for its 12th consecutive quarter of growth. The company had profit of $176 million, its third profitable quarter in a row, and operating income of $815 million. Revenue was $8.13 billion. T-Mobile also reported, saying it had the best Q2 in company history.

T-Mobile signed a $3.5 billion agreement with Nokia for “end-to-end” 5G technology, software and services, with a focus on 600 MHz and 28 GHz spectrum, the companies said Monday. “We are all in on 5G,” said Neville Ray, T-Mobile chief technology officer. “Every dollar we spend is a 5G dollar, and our agreement with Nokia underscores the kind of investment we’re making to bring customers a mobile, nationwide 5G network.” T-Mobile is building out its network as it works toward buying Sprint (see 1807300006).

T-Mobile and CBS Television Stations said Monday they reached a deal for early repack of WLNY-TV, clearing the 600 MHz spectrum in Long Island, New York, and the surrounding area a year ahead of next year’s deadline. WLNY moved to its new frequency earlier this month, they said. “Partnering with WLNY allows us to clear spectrum and bring 600 MHz LTE to customers in New York City as quickly as possible,” said Neville Ray, T-Mobile chief technology officer. “The T-Mobile team is deploying 600 MHz LTE across the country at record pace, and we’re laying the foundation for 5G in NYC by deploying 600 MHz with 5G-ready gear.” T-Mobile bought the license in the TV incentive auction.

Competition between wireless carriers is likely to increase in the second half of 2018, Macquarie Research’s Amy Yong told investors Thursday. “AT&T will likely leverage its new assets to offer better bundles, while T-Mobile/Sprint could offer promos to showcase their consumer-friendly nature,” Yong said. Verizon, which will soon have a new CEO in Hans Vestberg, will likely take “a fresh approach” to competition, she said. Yong predicted T-Mobile will continue to make investments in its networks as it waits for regulators on the Sprint deal. “T-Mobile is balancing standalone network investments while trying not to compromise deal synergies,” she said.” We expect it will continue its 5G efforts in its 600 MHz footprint, which should fit nicely with Sprint’s 2.5 GHz spectrum efforts.”

Bidirectional sharing of commercial spectrum for federal users to have access to commercial spectrum has emerged as a Trump administration focus. Proposals remain controversial for carriers.

The 3.7-4.2 GHz band will play a role in deployment of 5G, speakers agreed Friday at a New America event, but they jousted over whether the C-band could be cleared in only some geographic areas and complained about lack of clarity and technical details on the two main plans for terrestrial access to the band. Top priority must be preventing harm to incumbent users, and there needs to be far more detail about the Broadband Access Coalition (BAC) and Intelsat/SES/Intel proposals before an evaluation can start, said American Cable Association (ACA) Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Ross Lieberman.

TV stations headed toward repacking would be smart to employ a "belt and suspenders" approach of doing as many things as possible to get viewers up to speed ahead of time, said FCC Incentive Auction Task Force Chair Jean Kiddoo Friday. Stations will have to think about, for example, having staffed phone banks to field calls from people struggling with re-scanning digital antennas, she told us. Requirements for notifications, which have to start at least 30 days before a transition, aren't very prescriptive because broadcasters generally recognize it's in their own interests to do as much as possible, she said.

Commissioners were in lockstep Thursday as they approved a high-band Further NPRM, though there was a party-line rift over the pre-auction limit of 1250 MHz of millimeter-wave spectrum that any party can buy at auction. The agency is sending "confusing signals" to industry given those limits and yet not committing to a time frame for making available more spectrum, said sole Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, who dissented in part. Her support of the pre-auction limits was unclear (see 1805250058). The FCC said there was no substantive changes from the draft, but the approved item wasn't released Thursday. Commissioners also Thursday approved a telecom discontinuance streamlining order and six other items (see 1806070021).

Sharing the C band now used by satellite operators and by broadcast and other programmers sending content using it could be tricky, many stakeholders agree. Where they differ is on whether it should be repurposed or shared or mainly left as-is. True to predictions and comments posted through Thursday, even newer filings reveal differences between carriers on one hand and current users on the other (see 1805310058), a docket 18-122 review shows. A couple dozen filings were posted Friday, from tech companies, carriers, equipment makers, cable and content interests plus other industries.

T-Mobile appears to be spending more than expected to build out its 600 MHz incentive auction licenses, Oppenheimer said in a Wednesday research note. “We spoke with [T-Mobile] management, who appeared to be focused on building out its 600 MHz spectrum for increased coverage/capacity, the correct route in our opinion, but this will require more capex and we increase our estimates,” Oppenheimer said. The analyst raised its capital expenditure estimates by $200 million for T-Mobile’s Q2 to $1.55 billion.