Justin Scott

NEW T-Mobile said it plans to purchase around 30% of UScellular spectrum holdings, all of its 4.5 million customers and its retail stores in a deal worth $4.4 billion. T-Mobile has also said it will make job offers to "a significant number" of UScellular's employees as part of the transaction. Broadly, the deal builds on T-Mobile's efforts to grow its wireless business through the acquisitions of Sprint in 2020 (worth $26 billion) and Mint Mobile in 2024 (worth $1.3 billion). However, T-Mobile may face challenges in getting regulators to approve its latest acquisition – particularly given new research that found T-Mobile's purchase of Sprint "led to higher prices and consumer harm." But some analysts, such as Blair Levin, believe T-Mobile's move on UScellular will ultimately pass regulatory muster. "We believe the transaction(s) is likely to gain government approval but there would likely be a second request [for information]. Further, given the current antitrust leadership, the odds don't reach the high level of certainty that they would have in a prior time," wrote Levin, a policy adviser to New Street Research and a former high-level FCC official, in a note to investors Tuesday, following the announcement of T-Mobile's deal for UScellular. The Biden administration has moved against a number of prominent companies in antitrust actions in recent years. T-Mobile's new agreement with UScellular also highlights the challenges that smaller, regional wireless network operators like UScellular have faced in recent years. Indeed, UScellular is just the latest in a long line of such operators to sell their operations to larger wireless players. "In the face of rising competition and increasing capital intensity required to keep pace with the latest technologies, and following our careful and deliberate strategic review, we are confident that continuing to deliver on our mission requires a level of scale and investment that is best achieved by integrating our wireless operations with those of T-Mobile," said LeRoy T. Carlson Jr., chair of the board of directors of UScellular, in a release. LeRoy T. Carlson Jr. is the son of LeRoy T. Carlson, who founded TDS – the parent company of UScellular – in 1969. Under his leadership, TDS grew from a collection of small, rural telephone operations in Wisconsin to a national telecommunications provider with billions of dollars in revenue. LeRoy T. Carlson died in 2016 at the age of 100. Walter C. D. Carlson, LeRoy T. Carlson Jr. and other members of the Carlson family have since guided TDS. The company put UScellular up for sale last year. T-Mobile's stock jumped from around $165 to $168 per share on the news of its bid for UScellular Tuesday. Shares in both TDS and UScellular fell in response to the news. MORE: https://lnkd.in/gwDmnipB

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The U.S. Government has deployed #AI in more than 700 cases — from supporting the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs medical teams in the operating room to bolstering the customer experience at the Internal Revenue Service. As state and federal agencies explore ways to operate more efficiently with AI, they first need to review their #ITinfrastructure. Windstream’s Stephanie Billey shares five key ways government agencies can establish a strong foundation for AI and how to evaluate if you need to upgrade it in this GovLoop story: https://bit.ly/4aJaFq2   #govit #govtech #network #cybersecurity

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The build "I think the word 'cell site' goes away," AT&T's Todd Zeiler said. "I think this pivots to a world of CU, DU, RU. Servers and access points." Under AT&T's agreement with Ericsson, the operator is planning to shift to an open radio access network (RAN) design which breaks the RAN up into three main blocks: First is the radio unit (RU) atop a cell tower, which receives and handles customers' radiofrequency signals. Next comes the distributed unit (DU), a box often near the tower site (sometimes at the foot of it) that is mainly responsible for the "baseband" functions that process those signals. Further away is the central unit (CU) that looks after the control plane – essentially the network's traffic cop. Each of those elements could be updated under AT&T's contract with Ericsson. But the company is starting with its RUs. Zeiler explained that AT&T is using 3D imagery, including digital twins, to catalog its current cell tower sites and plan its network upgrade efforts. "That's speed to market. Speed to market is money," he said of AT&T's planning process. But AT&T will also rely heavily on third-party construction companies (called "turf vendors") to conduct the physical work of removing Nokia's radios from its cell sites and replacing them with radios from Ericsson, or other radio vendors. According to a report from Inside Towers, roughly 18 unnamed engineering firms received requests from AT&T for the initial rip and replace work. And according to Wireless Estimator, AT&T is funneling much of its network management needs to MasTec Network Solutions and Pearce Services. MasTec will primarily oversee the East Coast, while Pearce will manage the West Coast. Citing unnamed sources, Wireless Estimator reported that AT&T previously used around 29 smaller contractors around the country for its network management work. In December, the operator shifted that work to MasTec and Pearce in a move designed to cut operating costs. However, AT&T confirmed to Light Reading that Pearce is not involved in its network upgrade project. MasTec CEO Jose Mas cheered his company's new deal with AT&T. "We significantly expanded our relationship with our biggest customer AT&T. AT&T expanded both our scope and geographic territory on our core wireless work," Mas said in May, according to Seeking Alpha. "This expansion coupled with their announcement of a complete swap out of Nokia equipment to Ericsson equipment over a five-year period is expected to significantly increase our wireless business over the next few years." Officials from Ericsson confirmed that the company will not be hiring large numbers of new employees to handle its work with AT&T. MORE: https://lnkd.in/g9t9_VcX

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Secondary sources The situation could push wireless network operators like T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon to other sources of spectrum. Already T-Mobile has proposed a $4.4 billion purchase of UScellular's spectrum and customers. However, that purchase could bring T-Mobile's total spectrum holding in some locations beyond the FCC's "spectrum screen." The FCC first introduced its spectrum screen in 2004 in order to prevent wireless network operators from gobbling up all the market's available spectrum, thereby blocking rivals from acquiring it. The screen is generally triggered when any one company acquires more than one-third of the total suitable and available spectrum for commercial services in a given market. It might be T-Mobile that frees up more spectrum for AT&T or Verizon. Specifically, Dish Network has indicated it won't buy a 13.5MHz chunk of spectrum in the 800MHz band from T-Mobile. That paves the way for T-Mobile to auction that spectrum. However, whoever buys that spectrum would have to pay at least $3.6 billion, and T-Mobile would need consent from the Department of Justice to sell it to AT&T or Verizon. Another source of spectrum might come from Dish Network itself. The company has mostly given up on pursuing around $3.3 billion worth of AWS-3 spectrum. That could potentially pave the way for the FCC to re-auction the spectrum – if the agency were to regain its auction authority. But there are still other sources of spectrum. For example, NextNav is seeking federal approvals to release spectrum between 902MHz and 928MHz for 5G operations. Separately, the merger between SES and Intelsat could free up to 100MHz of C-band spectrum at some point in the future. And Ligado Networks has long suggested that its contested L-band spectrum holdings – which sit in the 1525-1660.5MHz range – could be used for 5G. And that doesn't even cover other spectrum bands under ongoing federal review, from 7GHz to 12GHz. To be clear though, most such spectrum holdings are either too meager to generate much interest, or they don't have the propagation characteristics of more valuable midband spectrum. What happens next is anyone's guess. more: https://lnkd.in/gbQxTswa

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NEW Verizon officials this week pleaded with federal regulators to withhold 50MHz of spectrum in the 4.9GHz band from FirstNet, arguing that giving the spectrum to the agency would amount to a $14 billion gift to AT&T. "A giveaway that would advantage a single provider, and one with no competitive process, would undermine the competitive wireless marketplace and US spectrum policy," Verizon wrote to the FCC this week. The company instead suggested an auction. Verizon's new filing details meetings between Verizon's top lobbyists and officials across the FCC, including those in its Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau. In those meetings, Verizon's officials made it clear they're worried that AT&T, with 4.9GHz spectrum, could gain a competitive advantage against Verizon in the market for public safety wireless connections. "Like AT&T's FirstNet service, Verizon Frontline provides first responders with access to all of Verizon's commercial spectrum bands, and, like AT&T's FirstNet service, Verizon Frontline provides first responder customers with priority and preemption," the company wrote. "Other wireless providers compete every day in the first responder service marketplace. There is no reason to gift valuable mid-band spectrum to one competitor over others." According to Verizon, the Brattle Group recently valued the 50MHz of spectrum in the 4.9GHz band at over $14 billion. MORE: https://lnkd.in/g6jDPg_G

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This is a great article about #SuperBundling, well done Avi Greengart

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NEW "Money talks and bullshit walks," VIAVI Solutions CEO Oleg Khaykin said this week during his company's quarterly conference call, according to Seeking Alpha. Khaykin was responding to a question on whether telecom network operators would start spending again in 2025. Khaykin explained that operators continue to suggest they'll soon begin buying new network equipment – but that they continue to defer actual spending. As a result, vendors like Viavi have been left waiting for demand to pick back up. Earlier this year, Viavi officials had suggested that spending might pick up in the second half of this year. They don't feel that way anymore. "We expect the conservative spend environment to persist for the remainder of calendar '24," Khaykin said this week. Viavi isn't alone. For example, Cisco said earlier this year that it doesn't expect network operators to resume spending until next year, rather than later this year as it previously anticipated. Broadly, a global slowdown in spending in the telecom industry – stretching from 5G to fiber to cable – started last year and today shows few signs of relenting. For its part, Viavi reported quarterly net revenue of $246 million, below most analysts' expectations of $249 million. MORE: https://lnkd.in/g9TcRG65

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Do you know how today's technology leaders are working towards broadband access for all? Message me here on LinkedIn to discuss the three strategies. #broadband #digitalequity #comcastbusiness #iworkforcomcast

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Is #5G worth the cost to upgrade? Page load speed indicates it might be, but only if your time=money https://ookla.d.pr/hRvsj4

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BREAKING According to a new Wall Street Journal report, T-Mobile is in the final stages of a $2 billion purchase of a chunk of UScellular. Meanwhile, Verizon is eyeing a purchase of some of the remaining parts of UScellular, though that transaction is still in its early stages. Citing unnamed sources familiar with the deals, the publication noted that neither agreement had been finalized. The report indicated the T-Mobile portion of the deal could be announced later this month. According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), splitting UScellular between T-Mobile and Verizon could help appease regulators who are uneasy with ongoing consolidation in the US wireless industry. Indeed, a purchase of part of UScellular by T-Mobile would be that operator's latest financial adventure in recent weeks. T-Mobile just this month closed on its $1.3 billion purchase of Mint Mobile's estimated 3 million customers. The operator also announced a joint venture with EQT for fiber operator Lumos. Further, splitting UScellular and its roughly 5 million mobile customers between T-Mobile and Verizon would also push AT&T farther into third place in the US wireless industry. Verizon remains the nation's biggest US mobile provider based on number of customers, while T-Mobile entered the second spot following its acquisition of Sprint. UScellular is one of the few large regional wireless network operators left. MORE: https://lnkd.in/gucxwR2n

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🌐#DigitalDivide! As a long-time contributor to all things broadband, I know a thing or two about connections, and if you care about equity, it’s time to join the fight for access to broadband. It’s not just about faster downloads or smoother streaming (though, let’s be honest, we all love that). It’s about empowering communities and providing connectivity that bridges the gap that divides us. 💡Check out this article by Tech Policy Press that sheds light on why broadband access is a cornerstone for equitable opportunities. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/d4_feHPB #BroadbandForAll #TechForGood #InnovationWithPurpose

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Insightful article by Brett Willitt on how Communications companies can accelerate broadband deployments. Click below to read ⬇️

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NEW Top US wireless providers continue to push regulators for more time to comply with new rules designed to prevent phone-based scams and fraud. "The current six-month implementation timeline does not give providers adequate time to implement effective and comprehensive compliance programs for the new, complex rules," wrote a group of wireless trade associations and companies, including CTIA, CCA, NCTA, Verizon, T-Mobile, Charter Communications and AT&T. "And moreover, the current timeframe by which order-compliant processes and systems must be developed and deployed is unclear." In their new filing with the FCC, the companies argued that the agency's compliance date – July 8, 2024 – does not give wireless providers enough time to upgrade their systems to meet the FCC's new rules. In their filing, the associations highlighted the work they'll need to do to meet the FCC's new rules: "A provider would typically prepare a requirements document incorporating elements from the [FCC's] Order and have it reviewed by various business units to assess impact on their focus area, allowing for feedback and strategic planning," according to the filing. "The provider needs to have its architecture team develop a high-level solution and often engaging a third-party vendor to develop a written proposal detailing the solution and associated costs. This stage often involves extensive discussions over weeks, engaging both business teams and developers, culminating in the finalization of the solution and its cost. And different business units (e.g., postpaid versus prepaid) often have different systems that require different solutions. Providers may have separate provisioning and care systems and different methods of communication with different categories of subscribers (e.g., prepaid versus postpaid). Providers also cannot easily replicate processes, like customer notices, currently applied to a limited subset of customers and apply them to all customers. In all cases, the provider will need to perform testing and plan for when any software update can be reliably deployed based on preplanned existing update cycles, which are set to minimize the number of operational disruptions to the system." In general, they argued that they won't be able to complete that work before the July 8 compliance deadline. MORE: https://lnkd.in/gNVbp_W3

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According to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, there are now more than 400 active municipal broadband networks in the US. These initiatives highlight the ways communities are bridging the gaps left by large, private IPSs, whose services can be unaffordable or simply unavailable to many people, especially among rural, low-income and marginalized populations. For many of these communities, municipal and publicly owned networks are the only way to truly get connected. https://lnkd.in/gHZzJg3a

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NEW The expectations In general, the analysts expect T-Mobile to continue to lead the industry in net postpaid phone customer additions. For example, the financial analysts at Evercore predict T-Mobile will gain 650,000 postpaid phone customers in the second quarter of this year, a figure that would be above its first quarter performance. "T-Mobile continues to take share, as it has done every quarter since the merger with Sprint," added the financial analysts at New Street Research. They said they believe T-Mobile's growth rate is starting to slow in big markets, but that the company is offsetting that slowdown with growth in smaller markets. AT&T, meantime, is expected to gain 260,000 new postpaid phone customers, according to Evercore. That would be a decline from its first quarter performance. As for Verizon, most analysts expect the company to continue its upward trajectory following the unveiling of its new logo. Specifically, the company is expected to gain 125,000 postpaid phone customers, according to Evercore – a reversal from its first quarter losses. Part of that growth may be due to Verizon's new $10 per month second number offering. Overall, though, wireless industry growth in the US is slowing. The TD Cowen analysts predict that industrywide postpaid phone net customer additions will top 1.85 million in the second quarter of 2024, a figure that's down 11% from the second quarter a year ago. As in past quarters, cable companies like Altice, Comcast and Charter Communications are expected to account for almost half of the overall US wireless industry's net customer additions. MORE: https://lnkd.in/gmjFz-mx

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We need to use ALL of the #tools in the #broaband toolbox!

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Press releases are extremely flexible, versatile, and cost-effective tools to inform and engage external and internal audiences on company news and milestones. Customer announcements like the one FNT Software posted on their client Blackfoot Communications enables the company to educate media, analysts, prospects and partners, as well as investors and employees on key developments. Press releases can provide a way to deliver a multimedia content experience by linking graphics, video, and other collateral. Once published, they can be socialized and shared via email and other channels. Media coverage from announcements can also be integrated into your marketing mix. Developing an editorial calendar to track and plan key announcements will keep your team focused on delivering timely news and memorializing them via press releases. Questions? I welcome the opportunity to discuss this topic further. #PR #pressreleases #mediarelations #contentstrategy #contentdevelopment #storytelling #marketing #marketingcommunications

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This week's Brief is out. In a hat tip to yesterday (May 4), we discuss T-Mobile's Lumos transaction - why it makes a lot of sense. Also, many other items in the market commentary... More inside #sundaybrief

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