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Tag: mid-band

  • T-Mobile Is the Big Winner of the FCC’s Latest Spectrum Auction

    T-Mobile Is the Big Winner of the FCC’s Latest Spectrum Auction

    The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has concluded another spectrum auction, and T-Mobile was the hands-down winner.

    The FCC was auctioning 2.5 Ghz spectrum, in the same range T-Mobile uses for its mid-band 5G. T-Mobile spent $304,325,290 for 7,156 licenses, spending orders of magnitude more than the other top four buyers combined. Buyers two through five spent a combined total of $58,860,700. The top buyers by license volume only bought a combined total of 249 licenses.

    T-Mobile acquired its previous wealth of 2.5 GHz spectrum through its merger with Sprint. Sprint had a treasure trove of spectrum but lacked the ability to use it. T-Mobile immediately began deploying the spectrum to power its mid-band network, bridging the gap between its slower nationwide 5G and its high-speed, short-range mmWave 5G.

    While Verizon and AT&T bet on the 3.7 to 3.98 GHz C-Band spectrum for their 5G network, their rollout has been plagued with problems because of the potential for that spectrum to interfere with aircraft altimeters. T-Mobile’s mid-band is the only one not impacted because it relies on 2.5 GHz spectrum, which is far enough away from the spectrum altimeters use to not be an issue.

    Given the success T-Mobile has already enjoyed with its mid-band 5G, it’s not surprising it doubled down and bought so many more licenses.

  • Nokia Signs Five-Year Deal With AT&T For C-Band 5G Equipment

    Nokia Signs Five-Year Deal With AT&T For C-Band 5G Equipment

    Nokia has scored a big win, signing a five-year deal with AT&T to provide 5G equipment for the carrier’s C-Band spectrum rollout.

    AT&T recently spent $23,406,860,839 at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auction for C-Band spectrum. C-Band is mid-band spectrum, ideal for 5G. The company has turned to Nokia for the equipment necessary to deploy its spectrum, signing a five-year deal.

    “AT&T is committed to bringing the power of 5G to businesses and communities across the nation, and our C-Band deployments with Nokia will help add 5G capacity where it’s needed,” said Igal Elbaz, Senior Vice President of Wireless and Access Technology AT&T. “Nokia has been our trusted collaborator for more than 20 years as we’ve rolled out each generation of wireless technology, and its C-Band portfolio brings the right capabilities to help enable AT&T to deliver an exciting and powerful 5G experience that our subscribers have come to expect from us.”

    “Nokia is ready to support the launch of 5G services into this valuable new spectrum on our customers’ timelines by leveraging our powerful portfolio of C-Band solutions and by being the first to demonstrate a live C-Band network in the U.S. in 2020,” said Ed Cholerton, President of Nokia North America. “Our flexible and comprehensive portfolio will enable AT&T to enhance its 5G services in areas across the nation.”

    Last year Nokia was considering a merger or asset sale, and more recently indicated it was facing “meaningful headwinds” in 2021. Earlier this week, the company announced it is cutting 10,000 jobs. The AT&T contract is a welcome win for Nokia, at a time when its needed most.

  • FCC Votes to Free Military Spectrum for 5G

    FCC Votes to Free Military Spectrum for 5G

    The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has voted to free up additional mid-band spectrum, once reserved for the military, for 5G.

    Mid-band spectrum is the holy grail for 5G, offering the best combination of speed and building penetration. The FCC’s recent $81 billion auction was for spectrum in the 3.7 Ghz to 4.2 Ghz range.

    The FCC has now voted to free up the 3.45 Ghz to 3.55 Ghz spectrum, spectrum the military has used for radar applications.

    “Back to the here and now. Most of the country has yet to experience the benefits of a true 5G network,” said Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement. “The out-there innovations it can deliver are still a ways off because so many of them are not about connectivity delivered via phones. Plus, for so many consumers, the present is confusing, with carriers providing different versions of 5G, which can sometimes feel a lot like the 4G they already have. In part, this is due to the fact that carriers don’t always have the airwaves they need to provide consistent and widespread coverage at this time.

    “Today we take action to change that. We take action that will move us closer to 5G service that is fast, secure, resilient, and—most importantly—available everywhere in the country. We accomplish that by adopting rules and auction procedures that will make available 100 megahertz of prime mid-band spectrum in the 3.45-3.55 GHz band available for 5G this year. This offers real opportunity because during the past few years the United States was slow, relative to other countries, to recognize the importance of mid-band spectrum for 5G. This meant we were late to bring these airwaves to market. So mid-band spectrum has been the critical component that is missing and our action here helps fix that.”

    Freeing up the additional spectrum will be a major boon for carriers as they continue to roll out 5G networks.

  • T-Mobile Touts Its 5G Following FCC Auction

    T-Mobile Touts Its 5G Following FCC Auction

    T-Mobile is touting the strength of its 5G network following a record-breaking FCC auction of coveted mid-range spectrum.

    Experts expected the FCC auction to fetch as much as $47 billion. Instead, it topped a whopping $81 billion. The spectrum auctioned was mid-range C-band, desperately needed by both Verizon and AT&T to help roll out their 5G networks. Both companies spent appropriately, with Verizon coming in at more than $45 billion and AT&T spending more than $23 billion.

    In contrast, T-Mobile only spent a little more than $9 billion, largely thanks to its strong spectrum portfolio. Thanks to its merger with Sprint, T-Mobile aready had a wealth of mid-band spectrum — considered the ideal spectrum for 5G — which it has been rapidly deploying. Providing a good blend of range and building penetration, T-Mobile has already achieved speeds in excess of 1 Gbps using its mid-band spectrum. Thanks to its position, T-Mobile only bought spectrum in top urban and suburban markets to help round out its existing holdings.

    In its latest post, however, T-Mobile also highlighted the advantage its mid-band spectrum has over the C-band spectrum the FCC was auctioning. With wireless spectrum, the lower the frequency, the longer the range it provides and the better it penetrates obstacles, such as buildings.

    T-Mobile’s current mid-band spectrum is primarily in the 2.5 Ghz range. In contrast, the C-band spectrum just auctioned is in the 3.7 Ghz to 4.2 Ghz range. In other words, the spectrum Verizon and AT&T spent more than $68 billion on is more than a full gigahertz higher than T-Mobile’s primary mid-band, meaning it will offer less range and worse penetration. This will, in turn, result in higher deployment costs for those companies, as T-Mobile points out:

    In the mid-band range, C-Band offers a great mix of coverage and speed, but there are some key differences from 2.5 GHz, the mid-band spectrum T-Mobile is primarily using to roll out Ultra Capacity 5G. Most notably, it doesn’t travel as far. T-Mobile engineers estimate it will require 50% more cell sites for meaningful and continuous coverage, and in some areas, for example in-building, the required densification can be 4x higher than 2.5 GHz. That’s why T-Mobile strategically invested in C-Band to supplement its much broader 2.5 GHz footprint in select urban and suburban areas where it already has a dense network. This will allow for the spectrum to quickly be deployed and provide a more meaningful performance boost for customers.

    C-Band vs 2.5GHz Comparison
    C-Band vs 2.5GHz Comparison

    The company promises it will continue with its 5G deployment, covering 200 million with its high-speed Ultra Capacity 5G this year.

    “T-Mobile customers are the clear winners in this auction. Our already industry-leading 5G network enabled us to be highly selective and strategic, concentrating our wins in top markets nationwide,” said Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile. “As I predicted last fall, the other guys spent an unbelievable amount — because they had to. And even then, the truth is that C-Band is best for urban areas because it doesn’t propagate as well as T-Mobile’s substantial existing mid-band frequencies. For us, C-Band makes a great story even better, and we are incredibly pleased with our clear success in this auction. Our competitors had no choice but to go all in with a break-the-bank attempt to remain relevant in the 5G era.”

  • Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile Won Big at FCC 5G Auction

    Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile Won Big at FCC 5G Auction

    The FCC has finally revealed the winners of its mid-band spectrum auction, and Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile came out on top.

    Mid-band spectrum is the most coveted type of spectrum for 5G. High-band, otherwise known as mmWave, offers the fastest speeds, but its range is extremely limited, as is its ability to penetrate objects. Low-band spectrum offers the best range and penetration, but its speeds are only marginally faster than the fastest 4G. Mid-band spectrum offers the best of both worlds, providing speeds upwards of 1 Gbps, while still offering decent range and penetration.

    Of the three major US carriers, Verizon and AT&T need mid-band spectrum the most. T-Mobile has a wealth of it from its merger with Sprint, spectrum it has been rolling out at a record pace. The other two carriers, on the other hand, have not been able to match T-Mobile’s 5G rollout, largely because of not having enough mid-band spectrum.

    It’s little wonder the spending at the FCC’s auction far exceeded estimates. Analysts had originally predicted spending would reach $47 billion, but the total topped $81 billion.

    Not surprisingly, Verizon (listed in FCC docs as Cellco Partnership, its legal name) was the biggest bidder, coming in at $45,454,843,197. AT&T came in second, spending $23,406,860,839. T-Mobile rounded out the top three at $9,336,125,147.

    While T-Mobile needed, and spent, the least, the company was believed to be buying spectrum to round out its portfolio, further boost its spectrum in heavily populated areas and drive the bidding higher so Verizon and AT&T didn’t get a free ride.

  • Carriers Go All-In On Mid-Band 5G

    Carriers Go All-In On Mid-Band 5G

    The FCC’s mid-band spectrum auction has concluded its initial phase, and the bidding reveals carriers are all-in on mid-band.

    Throughout much of the world, mid-band spectrum has been the cornerstone of 5G rollouts. In the US, however, the Big Three carriers have focused on low and high-band. The only exception is T-Mobile, which inherited a wealth of mid-band spectrum from its acquisition of Sprint, and immediately began deploying it.

    As Forbes’ Bob O’Donnell points out, all three carriers have spent big at the FCC auction, speaking volumes about their view of the 5G market. Verizon has spent approximately $30 billion, AT&T has spent $20 billion and T-Mobile has spent $10 billion.

    As O’Donnell points out, regardless of how much each carrier has been touting their low-band network for its coverage, or their high-band mmWave network for its speed, mid-band is clearly where it’s at. Mid-band is widely seen as the sweet spot for 5G, offering a good balance of coverage and speed. In fact, T-Mobile has even demonstrated speeds of 1 Gps using its current mid-band spectrum. At the same time, mid-band offers far better coverage than the couple of hundred meters that mmWave offers.

    Another benefit of US carriers rallying around mid-band is that it helps phone and cellphone radio makers consolidate the number of frequencies they have to support.

    Either way, the investment is good news for customers.

  • T-Mobile Doubles Mid-Band 5G Coverage, Will Cover 100 Million By Year’s End

    T-Mobile Doubles Mid-Band 5G Coverage, Will Cover 100 Million By Year’s End

    T-Mobile has doubled the extent of its mid-band 5G coverage in just a month, with plans to provide coverage to 100 million by year’s end.

    Mid-band 5G is considered the sweet spot by many experts, providing the range and coverage needed for optimal use. T-Mobile achieved gigabit speed with its mid-band 5G in May. While high-band mmWave is often associated with gigabit speeds, it’s hampered by notoriously short range and even worse building penetration.

    “When it comes to real-world 5G, the only way to get the kind of performance benefits we’ve been promised is through the critical mid-band spectrum,” noted Bob O’Donnell, President of TECHnalysis Research. “Sure, mmWave can be fast, but it’s nearly impossible to find, while low-band 5G is easy to find, but offers smaller improvement over existing LTE. With the 2.5 GHz spectrum being lit up by T-Mobile, however, you get the sweet spot of noticeably improved performance in a respectable coverage area. That’s the kind of 5G benefit that consumers are going to notice and appreciate.”

    Thanks to T-Mobile’s Sprint acquisition, it has more mid-band spectrum than any US carriers, putting it in an excellent position to deliver on its promise.

    “Mid-band is the only way to deliver super-fast 5G speeds that can reach for miles. And here’s the secret AT&T and Verizon don’t want you to know: T-Mobile is the only one with big swaths of mid-band dedicated to 5G. T-Mobile has more mid-band spectrum than anyone else,” said Neville Ray, President of Technology at T-Mobile. “We’re the only ones building a transformational 5G network built on dedicated — not shared — airwaves. And that means only T-Mobile is capable of making the world’s best 5G network a reality.”

    Today’s announcement is good news for T-Mobile subscribers.

  • T-Mobile Improves 5G Performance By Mixing 5G Types

    T-Mobile Improves 5G Performance By Mixing 5G Types

    T-Mobile has used new radio carrier aggregation to boost 5G performance, combining mid-band downloads with low-band uploads.

    T-Mobile was one of the first companies to popularize the multi-frequency approach, using low-band, mid-band and high-band mmWave to build a full 5G network. Each of these types of 5G has their own advantages.

    Low-band is only marginally faster than 4G LTE, but offers excellent range and building penetration since it’s in the 600 MHz spectrum. Mid-band is widely believed to be the sweet spot, offering over 1 Gbps speed, combined with decent range. T-Mobile is using the 2.6 Ghz spectrum it acquired in the Sprint merge for its mid-band. mmWave, on the other hand, is the fastest type of 5G and is over 6 Ghz. Unfortunately, its range is only a couple hundred meters and it has abysmal penetration.

    T-Mobile has been experimenting with combining mid-band spectrum for downloads, while using low-band for uploads. The end result has been increased speeds overall, while at the same expanding the carrier’s 5G footprint.

    “When it comes to our network and what we deliver to customers, we never rest on our laurels,” saidx Abdul Saad, Chief Technology Officer at T-Mobile. “We have the first and largest nationwide 5G network, covering over 250 million people across 1.3 million square miles, and we’ll never stop working with industry leaders to develop and refine new technologies like this so we can deliver #5GforAll.”

  • FCC Opens Auction for Mid-Band 5G Spectrum

    FCC Opens Auction for Mid-Band 5G Spectrum

    The FCC has started its auction for 3.5 GHz mid-band spectrum for 5G.

    Many experts consider mid-band spectrum to be the sweet spot for 5G, offering the best compromise between speed and building penetration. Many international carriers have focused primarily on mid-band spectrum as they have rolled out their own 5G networks.

    In the US, however, carriers’ efforts have largely focused on the low and high-band (mmWave) varieties. All three carriers have deployed some mmWave offerings in cities, but mmWave requires repeaters and base stations every couple hundred meters and has very poor penetration. These factors mean it will likely never be used as a nationwide option.

    As a result, T-Mobile and AT&T have both rolled out low-band networks to provide nationwide 5G coverage. Low-band, while offering excellent range and penetration, is only marginally faster than 4G. Verizon, on the other hand, does not have enough low-band spectrum to roll out a dedicated, nationwide 5G network and will have to rely on switching technology to allow 4G and 5G to be served from the same towers, using the same spectrum.

    T-Mobile currently is the only one of the three carriers that has a wealth of mid-band spectrum, thanks to its Sprint acquisition. T-Mobile’s spectrum is in the 2.5 GHz range, and should offer speeds in the 600 – 700Mbps range.

    The FCC is auctioning spectrum in the 3.55 to 3.65 GHz range, which should offer slightly higher speeds than T-Mobile’s mid-band, although slightly less range and penetration as well.

    “5G is critical to America’s global economic and technological leadership, and the start of the 3.5 GHz auction today is a key milestone in our work advancing this national priority,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.

    It’s a safe bet this will be one of the most important spectrum auctions in recent years, with Verizon and AT&T eager to flesh out their 5G networks. It remains to be seen if T-Mobile will purchase some of the spectrum, or if they are content with the mid-band they already have.

  • T-Mobile Delivers Gigabit 5G Speeds Using Mid-Band Spectrum

    T-Mobile Delivers Gigabit 5G Speeds Using Mid-Band Spectrum

    T-Mobile achieved a significant milestone in New York, passing the gigabit speed threshold with mid-band 5G.

    This is significant because, generally, high-band mmWave is viewed as the flavor of 5G that offers the best speeds. Unfortunately, mmWave has notoriously short range, requiring towers, repeaters or base stations every couple of hundred meters. This makes it logistically impossible to widely deploy it across the country.

    In contrast, low-band 5G has the best range and penetration, even better than 4G LTE in some cases, but offers only modest speed improvements over the older technology.

    Mid-band spectrum, in the 2.5GHz range, is generally considered the sweet spot for 5G, offering the best blend of range, penetration and speed. According to Ookla Speedtest’s Milan Milanovic, however, T-Mobile’s mid-band may be giving mmWave a run for its money.

    Well that was unexpected… Just two weeks after the 2.5GHz NYC launch, @TMobile upgrades the NR bandwidth from 40 to 60MHz!

    NR spectral efficiency further improves… 1.2Gbps. 😳

    — Milan Milanović (@milanmilanovic) May 19, 2020

    The mid-band spectrum was one of the primary reasons T-Mobile worked so hard to merge with Sprint. Sprint had been sitting on a wealth of the spectrum for years, but had never been able to deploy it to maximum benefit.

    It appears T-Mobile’s investment is paying off for the company and customers alike.

  • Verizon Tries to Temper 5G Expectations

    Verizon Tries to Temper 5G Expectations

    Verizon is downplaying 5G, when compared to 4G, saying customers will only see “some improvements” initially.

    Verizon and T-Mobile have been locked in a battle over 5G, with the two carriers taking swipes at the other’s speed and coverage. T-Mobile has repeatedly emphasized the coverage of its nationwide 5G network, while Verizon has ran ads pointing out its 5G is faster and is “5G built right.”

    Now, however, Verizon is downplaying the initial performance of its 5G, with CEO Hans Vestberg saying at the J.P. Morgan investors conference that, “in the beginning, you’re going to see some improvements. Over time, dramatic improvements,”

    As we have covered repeatedly in previous articles, much of Verizon’s 5G issues stem from its focus on the high-band mmWave 5G. While offering speeds measured in gigabits, mmWave is notoriously short-range, requiring towers, repeaters and base stations every couple hundred meters. While this may be feasible in densely populated urban areas, mmWave is not practical for rural regions. As a result, while also unveiling mmWave in cities, T-Mobile has focused heavily on low-band 5G for its nationwide network. Low-band has far better range and building penetration, but provides only marginally better speeds than 4G.

    In Verizon’s case, however, the carrier is at a disadvantage when it comes to low-band spectrum, especially compared to T-Mobile. Verizon’s 4G LTE network is primarily based on 700 MHz spectrum, which is largely responsible for Verizon’s legendary coverage. T-Mobile similarly uses 700 MHz spectrum for its 4G network, but deployed 600 MHz spectrum for its nationwide 5G, spectrum that theoretically has even better range and building penetration than either carrier’s 700 MHz 4G.

    Verizon, however, does not have a wealth of 600 MHz low-band spectrum like T-Mobile. As a result, it has to rely on Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) technology to share its spectrum between 4G and 5G users for its low-band network. T-Mobile’s Neville Ray has warned about technical issues with DSS, and pointed out that the magenta carrier’s wealth of low-band spectrum means it is not dependent on DSS.

    When asked during the conference about Verizon’s DSS plans, Vestberg simply said: “Our technology team are progressing on that.” Needless to say, that response is not reassuring given the issues that have come up with DSS.

    Based on the investor conference, Verizon appears to finally be acknowledging, however indirectly, the challenges in providing a true, nationwide 5G network. In contrast, with T-Mobile’s abundance of low-band spectrum, and the absolute wealth of mid-range spectrum it acquired in the Sprint merger, T-Mobile continues to establish itself as THE carrier to beat in the 5G race.

  • RootMetrics 5G Report: Verizon Is Fastest, T-Mobile Has Best Coverage

    RootMetrics 5G Report: Verizon Is Fastest, T-Mobile Has Best Coverage

    RootMetrics released its latest report on the state of 5G and the results are exactly what one would expect.

    According to the report, Verizon had the fastest 5G network by a wide margin. Its fastest median speeds were 247 Mbps, while its fastest maximum speeds were 845.7 Mbps. In contrast, Sprint was the next fastest with 136.7 Mbps median and 249.9 Mbps maximum. AT&T clocked in at 47.1 Mbps and 175.2 Mbps, while T-Mobile brought up the rear with 34.0 Mbps and 147.8 Mbps.

    Looking at coverage, however, was a very different story. Verizon’s 5G availability in the cities tested was a mere 3.1%. AT&T’s availability was 9.5%, while Sprint’s was 45.7% and T-Mobile led the pack at 57.1%.

    Given that Verizon has focused on the high frequency mmWave variety of 5G, the results are not surprising. mmWave offers the fastest speeds possible, but at the cost of extremely limited range and building penetration. In contrast, while T-Mobile has some mmWave 5G, it has been focusing on low-band spectrum that delivers speeds comparable to strong LTE, but offers better range and penetration. Sprint’s 5G is in the mid-range bands, which many experts consider the sweet spot of speed and range. Once the merger between T-Mobile and Sprint is complete, T-Mobile will have access to that spectrum to compliment its low-band and mmWave offerings.

    While Verizon may be the undisputed speed king, it will need to do something to truly deliver on the promise of 5G, as most customers would probably take slower, more readily available over blazingly fast 3% of the time.

  • FCC Frees Up 3.5GHz Mid-Band For Wireless Use

    FCC Frees Up 3.5GHz Mid-Band For Wireless Use

    The Federal Communications Commission has authorized the commercial use of the mid-range 3.5GHz spectrum, according to a press release by the CBRS Alliance.

    The 3.5GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum is being marketed under the name OnGo. Up until this ruling, the spectrum was reserved exclusively for the Department of Defense (DoD) and used extensively by the Navy.

    OnGo is a pivotal piece of the U.S. 5G rollout, as it sits squarely in what is considered mid-band spectrum. Low-band spectrum, such as that being heavily deployed by T-Mobile, has the advantage of offering long range and excellent building penetration, but offers only marginally faster speeds than 4G LTE. High-band, mmWave spectrum offers speeds measured in gigabits but has extremely poor range and penetration. This is what Verizon has primarily invested in.

    Mid-range spectrum, such as OnGo, can be used to improve speed and signal strength, first on 4G and then on 5G. The spectrum will effectively help bridge the gap between the long-range but slower low-band and the high-speed, mmWave spectrum.

    According to the press release, “consumers now have access to improved wireless connectivity through OnGo-compatible mobile devices, including the Google Pixel 4, Motorola’s 5G Moto Mod, Samsung Galaxy S10, Apple iPhone 11, LG G8 ThinQ, and OnePlus 7 Pro, all of which are on the market today. The OnGo ecosystem is vast and opens a brand-new market for wireless communications and 5G services in the United States, touching rural broadband via fixed wireless providers (WISPs), enterprise IT, hospitality, retail, real estate, industrial IoT, and transportation, among other sectors.”

    Because of OnGo’s previous status as protected spectrum, it can still be used by the DoD in times of emergency.

    “To ensure that the DoD has continued access to the band, Environmental Sensing Capability (ESC) networks have been deployed along the U.S. coast. The ESC networks operated by CommScope, Federated Wireless, and Google inform the SAS administrators to activate a protection zone and dynamically reassign users in the area to other parts of the band, thus protecting the incumbent’s use of the spectrum while maximizing availability of CBRS spectrum across coastal areas.”

    The FCC’s decision is good news for consumers and businesses alike and will open up a wide range of wireless opportunities.