GeoLinks is opening its local multipoint distribution service (LMDS) spectrum in the U.S. for use by wireless ISPs, the company said Tuesday. The 29/31 GHz spectrum will be available in 1,300 counties nationwide, it added. “We're opening LMDS so WISPs can deliver fiber-like performance on their own licensed spectrum,” said GeoLinks CEO Kevin Hetrick. “This is how WISPs gain control, end the unlicensed spectrum race, and win their markets."

Broadcom announced Tuesday the introduction of the industry’s first Wi-Fi 8 solutions. They're “purpose-built to address the stringent performance, reliability, intelligence, and efficiency demands of AI-era edge networks,” Broadcom said. The company also announced that its Wi-Fi 8 IP is available to license for IoT, automotive and mobile devices. “The transition to the ‘AI era’ demands networks that are fast, smart, adaptive, and deeply reliable,” said Mark Gonikberg, senior vice president of Broadcom’s wireless communications and connectivity division. The new Wi-Fi 8 products “are meticulously engineered to provide the AI-ready, high-performance, low-latency, and predictability that the modern AI edge demands.”

NextNav completed demonstrations of its next-generation solution for terrestrial positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), a step toward commercialization, the company said Friday. “We have proven the technology with standard 5G equipment and look forward to the opportunity to complet[e] the final steps to commercialization,” said Chief Business Development Officer Sidd Chenumolu. The demonstrations used Lekha Wireless Solutions 5G base stations with positioning reference signal enabled, NextNav said.

Regulators are unlikely to view Verizon’s acquisition of Starry as “meaningfully reducing competition,” though there are unanswered questions about how the deal will be evaluated, New Street analyst Blair Levin told investors Thursday. “The government has not opined on the extent to which a fixed wireless service, such as Starry, competes in the same product market as 5G wireless and/or wireline broadband services,” he said in a report. Verizon announced the deal last week (see 2510080035).

5G Americas released a white paper Thursday exploring autonomous networks and how carriers “can harness AI-driven, self-configuring, and self-healing systems to meet the rising complexity of 5G, AI, IoT, and cloud-native services.” It called the move to intent-driven autonomous networks “one of the most pivotal evolutions in telecommunications history.”

AT&T’s move to a stand-alone 5G network is important for customers who want to see better connections, Network Chief Technology Officer Yigal Elbaz said in a blog post Wednesday. “Not all 5G is created equal,” he said. Much of the 5G in the U.S. is not stand-alone, “which means it relied on older 4G LTE infrastructure.”

Boost Mobile founder Peter Adderton is urging the federal government to tax the money that EchoStar makes from its AT&T and SpaceX spectrum deals. "Fund a new [Affordable Connectivity Plan] for those who really need help," Adderton posted Wednesday on X. "Stop spectrum hoarding. It's only fair." Adderton tagged FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and DOJ Antitrust Division Chief Gail Slater in the post, saying they "must make sure consumers don't lose while EchoStar profits from failing to build the 4th network." Boost Mobile parent EchoStar has dropped plans for its own terrestrial mobile network and plans to sell much of its spectrum holdings to SpaceX and AT&T (see 2509150003).

Innovation in wireless and 6G is dependent on whether carriers deploy open, cloud-based, disaggregated networks, said Milap Majmundar, director of advanced radio access network technology, standards and spectrum at AT&T Labs, at an RCR Wireless 6G conference Wednesday. Open radio access networks (ORAN) “are here to stay,” he said.

Verizon's direct-to-device (D2D) arrangement with AST SpaceMobile is a competitive win for AST over SpaceX, William Blair's Louie DiPalma wrote investors Wednesday after the deal was announced. SpaceX "was likely aggressive" in courting Verizon, and that might have hurt AST in its own negotiations, DiPalma said. It's still possible that Verizon and AT&T, which also has a D2D arrangement with AST, will multisource their satellite partners, he said.

CTIA endorses an FAA initiative to support the U.S. drone industry by streamlining the approval process for beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) unmanned aircraft system (UAS) operations, said a filing posted Tuesday in response to an FAA NPRM. As President Donald Trump has argued, “American UAS leadership can enhance productivity, create high-skilled jobs, and ‘reduc[e] reliance on foreign sources, strengthening critical supply chains, and ensuring that the benefits of this technology are delivered to the American people,” CTIA said.