Direct-to-device (D2D) market annual revenue will exceed $17 billion by 2032, according to an ABI Research analysis Thursday (see 2403260063). Apple's iOS 18 and Android 15 will add satellite messaging as a core feature in the coming months, it said. Also driving growth is SpaceX's D2D Starlink network, expected to launch commercial service in the second half of the year, ABI said. These advances will push the combined D2D markets to a compound annual growth rate of 39.8%. The satellite communication market is moving from narrowband emergency services to two-way messaging and data services and “this competition is reducing overall cost to these services while increasing accessibility to more users,” said Andrew Cavalier, ABI senior analyst. Updates to cellular technology will be coupled with increased satellite launch capacity, potentially unlocking a new era of abundance in lower-cost satellite services, ABI said. "We anticipate the seamless access of Starlink and Apple Satellite connectivity on devices will attract new and existing customers to leverage this technology when outside terrestrial coverage,” Cavalier predicted.
The citizens broadband radio service band has shown that spectrum can be shared without interfering with government users, in particular the naval radars that use the band, Richard Bernhardt, Wireless ISP Association vice president-spectrum and industry, said Thursday. Recent changes approved by the FCC, working with DOD and NTIA (see 2406120027), will make the band much more usable, he said during a WISPA webinar on “CBRS 2.0.” The rule changes take effect Friday.
Given the vast amount of capacity SpaceX's Starlink is bringing online and its moves into new markets, along with expectations that Amazon's Kuiper will take a similar approach, satellite incumbents and new entrants face reduced opportunities, Analysys Mason's Christopher Baugh blogged Tuesday. Starlink is moving into markets including military, mobility and backhaul, he said. It offers more than 102 Tbps of capacity today and Kuiper is expected to deliver more than 117 when fully deployed, Baugh said. Contrast that with worldwide high-throughput satellite capacity of just 2.3 Tbps in 2019, he noted. Yet neither constellation will have enough bandwidth to cover the total addressable market, Baugh said. Within three to five years, Kuiper's launch of full commercial service will force connectivity prices further downward. Moreover, pricing pressure and churn across their customer base will challenge most operators. The "plan B" for those competitors could include consolidation, multi-orbit strategies or new verticals such as earth observation.
Most of Paris seems “5G-ready” with the Olympic Games starting Friday, Ookla reported Tuesday. “Our analysis of Speedtest data across Paris shows that 5G is available in almost every corner of the city,” Ookla said. There are coverage gaps in or near the Montparnasse and Pere Lachaise cemeteries and in major parks, “but for the most part you’ll have a hard time finding an area where you cannot connect at all.”
Verizon lost 410,000 prepaid wireless customers tied to the end of the affordable connectivity program in Q2, the company said Monday as it became the first major wireless carrier to report earnings since the impact of ACP's demise could be measured. Overall prepaid customer losses were 624,000. But Verizon also gained a net 148,000 postpaid customers, which beat expectations. Revenue of $32.8 billion just missed consensus estimates. Though most numbers were positive, Verizon was down 6.08% to $39.09 for the day.
FCC commissioners adopted a series of items implementing the Martha Wright-Reed Act of 2022 during their open meeting Thursday (see 2407140001). A report and order reduces the permanent per minute rate caps for audio calls and for the first time establishes interim rate caps for video calls for incarcerated people. The law also clarified the FCC’s authority to also set rate caps for intrastate and international calls.
Boost Mobile prepaid and Boost Infinite postpaid brands will be offered as Boost Mobile, EchoStar announced Wednesday. “Boost Mobile is now the only nationwide carrier with both prepaid and postpaid mobile services under one name because Boost believes how you pay is not a product,” EchoStar said. The company said it’s offering “simplified pricing” with unlimited plans starting at $25 a month, and is “kicking off a nationwide brand and advertising campaign.” EchoStar also offered a 30-day money-back guarantee allowing new customers to try Boost Mobile's 5G network “risk free.” EchoStar owns Dish Network, which obtained Boost Mobile from T-Mobile as part of an agreement with regulators allowing T-Mobile to buy Sprint (see 1911180038).
California’s age-appropriate design law doesn’t violate the First Amendment because it regulates social media data practices, not content, the office of Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) argued Wednesday before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court’s three-judge panel suggested the First Amendment applies.
Providers of incarcerated people's communications services criticized a draft FCC order proposing a reduction in the cap on rates providers may charge for audio or video communications. Most urged the commission to reconsider barring providers from recovering safety and security costs incurred for providing IPCS. Advocates welcomed the move and urged that the FCC continue examining other ways to increase access to communications services for incarcerated people. Commissioners will consider the item during their open meeting Thursday (see 2406270068). Comments were posted through Monday.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asked Gray Television and the FCC Wednesday to prepare supplemental briefs on the effects of the U.S. Supreme Court decision overruling Chevron deference (see 2406280043) on Gray’s pending appeal of a $518,000 forfeiture order. Oral argument in the 11th Circuit case was held in May (see 2405150055). The case concerns the FCC’s ruling that Gray violated an FCC rule -- often called Note 11 -- barring stations from using affiliation deals to skirt ownership limits. Gray has argued that before the FCC enforcement action, the rule was used only to bar swaps of station affiliation, while Gray’s 2020 deal involved the outright purchase of a station’s affiliation. The 11th Circuit order directs Gray and the FCC to file supplemental briefs “addressing whether and to what extent” the Supreme Court's Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo ruling “impacts the analysis on the appropriate deference to afford the FCC’s interpretation of Note 11 in this case.” Broadcast attorneys told us the request for supplemental briefs is likely a positive sign for Gray -- at oral argument a three-judge panel appeared split on the FCC’s interpretation of Note 11. Gray and the FCC didn’t comment. The order gives Gray 14 days to file a supplement. Once that is filed, the FCC has 14 days for a response, and after that filing, Gray has an additional seven days for a final supplemental filing.