Direct-to-device service will have a worldwide total addressable market of $33 billion to $40 billion annually by 2030, Mach33 said Wednesday. It said its modeling shows that rather than being focused on high-income markets, most of the demand would be in "large, middle-income regions where hundreds of millions of users experience meaningful coverage gaps at any one time." Africa and Asia account for more than half of the global addressable market, it added.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr told reporters Thursday that concerns remain around the cyber trust mark program and possible ties to China. Carr mentioned UL Solutions, which was designated as the lead administrator during the Biden administration. “As a general matter, I think if you’re going to have a U.S. cyber trust mark administrator, it needs to be pretty clean in terms of concerns about ties back into China.” Asked if the FCC might choose a different administrator, Carr said the agency was examining its options.
Small wireless interests are pushing back on plans by AST SpaceMobile, AT&T and Verizon to offer supplemental coverage from space service that doesn't reach the entire continental U.S. The requested CONUS coverage waivers could create interference risks for rural carriers and exclude them from SCS participation, the Competitive Carriers Association argued in its opposition to AST and the carriers' joint application. The group's filing, posted Wednesday (docket 25-201), said waiving the requirement that service cover all CONUS would force primary licensees to prove that it's causing them interference, instead of requiring the applicants to show how they will protect the primary service licensees.
Four major public safety groups on Wednesday opposed a NextNav proposal for the FCC to reconfigure the 902-928 MHz band to enable a “terrestrial complement” to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT).
The FCC Wireless Bureau on Wednesday extended the comment deadlines on the Alaska Connect Fund eligible-areas map and performance plan template. Comments were previously due Oct. 31, replies Nov. 14. The new deadlines are Dec. 4 for initial comments, Dec. 19 for replies, in docket 23-328.
The wireless market is highly competitive, but T-Mobile likes how it’s positioned, said Jon Freier, president of the carrier's consumer group, at a Wells Fargo conference late Tuesday. Freier noted that T-Mobile recently updated its guidance to predict 3.3 million net postpaid phone adds this year, up from 2.95 million to 3.1 million, which speaks to growth in the current quarter. “We're feeling really good about that momentum, the overall switching dynamic that's happening in the marketplace and our ability to compete very effectively.”
CTIA told the FCC this week that the results of its recently released annual survey (see 2509080020) demonstrate that wireless voice and broadband service are “broadly available across the U.S.” The survey “aligns with the data” in the FCC’s national broadband map, said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 25-223. “The rigorous Broadband Data Collection reporting parameters and review processes for wireless availability data have improved the accuracy, precision, and consistency of the FCC’s wireless maps, and they are accurate and reliable for policymaking purposes.”
T-Mobile told the FCC on Tuesday that AST SpaceMobile still hasn't fully explained interference issues raised by its proposed supplemental coverage from space (SCS) operations in the 700 and 800 MHz bands (see 2507170030). “AST has failed to demonstrate that its proposed SCS operations will satisfy the Commission’s stated goal to minimize the risk of interference from SCS services to existing terrestrial networks,” said a filing in docket 25-201. AST hasn't filed “vital information” about where its beams will reach and “how those signals will impact existing terrestrial licensees.”
New research by the Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) found that by the end of October, a total of 647 operators in 191 countries were investing in 5G, GSA analyst Joe Gardiner said Tuesday during the group's webinar. Some have launched, while others have purchased spectrum for 5G or otherwise are planning to offer the service, he said. GSA also found that 358 operators in 140 countries have launched or soft launched mobile 5G services, and 175 providers in 78 countries have launched fixed wireless access service that's compliant with the 3rd Generation Partnership Project.
The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials supports the Safer Buildings Coalition’s July petition asking the FCC to launch a rulemaking on guidelines for getting consent from licensees to install signal boosters, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket RM-12009 (see 2511130025). The commission’s current rules for industrial signal boosters were adopted in 2013 and “would benefit from updates to address gaps that have contributed to inconsistent deployments, instances of harmful interference and diminished confidence among licensees,” APCO said.