T-Mobile will be able to deploy service immediately on some of the 600 MHz spectrum it’s buying from Comcast, in a deal announced Tuesday (see 2309120076), T-Mobile Chief Financial Officer Peter Osvaldik said Wednesday at a Bank of America financial conference. Markets where Comcast hasn’t deployed the spectrum aren't subject to the “clawback” that’s part of the deal, “but the operating markets potentially are,” he said. The deal encompasses all of Comcast’s 600 MHz licenses except Philadelphia, he said. “It’s structured in the form of a long-term lease, so we can go and deploy that 600 immediately for the benefit of consumers with the option, of course, then to purchase it in 2028,” Osvaldik said. T-Mobile doesn’t need the spectrum, per se, but also didn’t want to pass up an opportunity to add its portfolio, he said, noting 600 MHz is a “great spectrum band” able to penetrate buildings. Osvaldik also touched on the dispute with Dish Network, which is asking for additional time to buy 800 MHz spectrum from T-Mobile. T-Mobile and parent Deutsche Telekom oppose the extension (see 2308280055). The license purchase agreement, which was part of T-Mobile’s buy of Sprint, is “fairly clear from our perspective as to what Dish’s opportunities are,” he said. Dish could either purchase the spectrum by the Aug. 11 deadline or pay the termination fee, he said: “The ball is in their court.” Jon Freier, T-Mobile president-Consumer Group, said with the unveiling of Apple’s iPhone 15 this week “this is always an exciting time for us in our space.” During parts of the year, carriers promote their plans more than in others times, he said: “This is one of those periods … over the last couple of years, where it's been a little bit more promotional on devices.” While the wireless market is “a competitive space,” T-Mobile views it as being “very, very stable,” Freier said. The industry showed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting “economic turmoil,” that wireless is “a tremendously resilient industry, because connectivity is becoming more and more central to people's lives, how the economy works,” Osvaldik said.

T-Mobile agreed to buy 600 MHz spectrum from Comcast for as much as $3.3 billion, said a Tuesday filing at the SEC. The purchase requires approval by the FCC and other regulators and is expected to close in the first half of 2028, T-Mobile said. The geographic areas covered by the licenses that may not be removed from the license purchase agreement include markets covering approximately 39 million people, including New York, Orlando and Kansas City, Missouri, T-Mobile said: Comcast has the option to remove markets from the sales agreement covering 110 million people.

The wireless industry would likely welcome a sale of returned and unsold spectrum licenses, especially Dish Network’s surrendered AWS-3 licenses if the agency holds a remnants auction, as proposed by FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel last week, industry experts told us.

T-Mobile started rolling out four-carrier aggregation on its 5G stand-alone network in limited markets, to go nationwide in coming weeks, the company said Tuesday. Peak speeds top 3.3 Gbps, T-Mobile said. The technology combines two channels of 2.5 GHz spectrum with one channel each of 1900 MHz and 600 MHz spectrum. “That’s like taking four separate highways and turning them into a massive superhighway where traffic can zoom faster than before,” T-Mobile said: “Customers with the Samsung Galaxy S23 will be the first to experience four-carrier aggregation with more devices to follow.”

Dish Network certified at the FCC that as of June 14 it offered 5G broadband service to nearly 246.5 million people in the U.S., equal to 73.56% total U.S. population based on 2020 U.S. census data. Dish said download speeds are equal to or greater than 35 Mbps, and it has deployed 16,399 5G sites. “DISH’s user equipment offering includes the Motorola Edge Plus 2023, an advanced 5G smartphone,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 22-212: “It operates on, among other spectrum frequencies, DISH’s AWS-4, AWS H Block, 600 MHz, and Lower 700 MHz E Block spectrum licenses. The coverage calculations and link budgets in this 5G Buildout Status Report are based upon the technical specifications and performance of this device.” Dish previously announced it had met the June 14 coverage milestone (see 2306150010). “Project Genesis is available to anyone in a qualifying location, and offers unlimited 5G data and voice services for $25/month,” Dish said. The carrier asked that technical data it submitted be given confidential treatment by the FCC and not publicly disclosed. "Disclosure of the Confidential 5G Materials would be particularly harmful to DISH because of our status as a nascent competitor to the largest incumbent wireless carriers," Dish said. "DISH zealously guards information about its ongoing 5G deployment from incumbent competitors because its disclosure would give them an undue commercial advantage competing with DISH, which is a competitor in the consumer mobile wireless market."

The FCC helped Dish Network clear up a clerical mistake on 600 MHz licenses. Earlier this month, a Dish staffer meant to cancel lease of the licenses to T-Mobile, and instead canceled the licenses. The incident came up last week during the Dish earnings call (see 2305080055). “We went in to cancel the lease” and “inadvertently canceled the license,” said Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen, who predicted the mistake wouldn’t be an issue. “Today, the FCC granted DISH’s request to correct the error and the situation has returned to the status quo,” New Street’s Blair Levin told investors Monday: “Our analysis: Case closed; DISH has full use of the licenses. On to the next issue, which in our view is the question of whether DISH will exercise its right to purchase T-Mobile’s 800 MHz spectrum.” Ergen declined to say what the company would do on the 800 MHz licenses, during last week’s call.

There are wireless/satellite schisms as the FCC tries to put together a framework for supplemental coverage from space (SCS) service. The divisions are over whether a preexisting arrangement with a terrestrial mobile operator should be a prerequisite, per docket 23-65 comments that were due Friday. The wireless industry is pushing for SCS applications to be handled by waivers, calling a rules regime premature. Multiple commenters called for streamlining the blanket earth station licensing framework. The SCS NPRM was adopted 4-0 in March (see 2303160009).

Dish Network is better positioned than its competitors, with the most advanced wireless network available, Chairman Charlie Ergen said during a call with investors Monday as the company reported Q1 earnings. Ergen also said he's disappointed the FCC didn’t reallocate the lower 12 GHz band for 5G (see 23042700774). Dish reported customer losses across most of its businesses, finishing the quarter with 7.91 million wireless subscribers, a net loss of 81,000 in the quarter, with churn of 4.57%. The company lost 343,000 in the year-ago quarter.

As NTIA tries to craft a national spectrum strategy, advocates are far apart on whether exclusive licenses for spectrum or reuse and sharing should be the primary focus, per comments submitted this week (docket 2023-0003). It continued to get pushes for repurposing bands including 3.1-3.45 GHz (see 2304170009).

Tower companies are looking to diversify their revenue streams as 5G unfolds, experts said during a Network Media Group webinar Thursday. The rollout of 5G presents “both challenges and opportunities for tower companies, including the need for infrastructure upgrades, competition in a highly regulated industry and potential for diversifying revenue streams,” said Will Townsend, Moor Insights principal analyst-networking.