CTA CEO Gary Shapiro warned Wednesday of a potential “brain drain” in the federal government should the Donald Trump administration continue its assault on the bureaucracy. The Joe Biden administration lacked enough officials who understood how business works, and Trump's don’t understand government, Shapiro said during a Broadband Breakfast webinar. Unions that represent federal employees, including at the FCC, slammed the latest Trump actions.
T-Mobile is continuing its industry-leading growth, adding 903,000 net postpaid phone customers in Q4 and 3.1 million for the year, the carrier said Wednesday. In addition, it had its lowest average postpaid phone churn ever, at 0.86% throughout 2024. The company is targeting public safety agencies with T-Priority based on 5G network slicing, T-Mobile executives highlighted on a call with analysts.
EchoStar, the Rural Wireless Association (RWA), Communications Workers of America and other parties countered arguments that T-Mobile and UScellular made as the two battled opponents of their proposed deal (see 2501100036). The companies announced in May an agreement where T-Mobile will buy “substantially all” of the smaller carrier’s wireless operations, including some of its spectrum, in a deal valued at about $4.4 billion, including $2 billion in assumed debt (see 2405280047).
Securus urged the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to transfer to the 5th Circuit the company’s challenge of the FCC’s July order implementing the Martha Wright-Reed Act of 2022, which reduces call rates for people in prisons while establishing interim rate caps for video calls (see 2407180039). Securus and various states disagreed sharply with public interest groups about whether the rates set were too low or potentially too high.
With President Donald Trump yet to lay out with any detail what course he will chart on spectrum, experts warned Tuesday that the current administration faces the same issues as the last (see 2411140042). With various band studies underway, launched under Joe Biden, there are no obvious bands left to reallocate for exclusive licensed use, experts said at the RCR Wireless Wi-Fi Forum.
AT&T CEO John Stankey said Monday the carrier will move aggressively to shutter more of its legacy copper network in coming months, filing applications at the FCC to stop selling legacy products in about 1,300 wire centers. That is about a quarter of AT&T’s footprint, officials said on a call discussing Q4 results. AT&T also announced that its growth is continuing, with 482,000 postpaid phone subscription net adds in the quarter and 307,000 AT&T Fiber adds.
New FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s decision to pull all items on circulation for a vote by commissioners wasn’t a surprise, industry officials said. Since taking office a week ago, President Donald Trump has pushed a deregulatory agenda and issued a regulatory freeze among a slew of executive orders on his first day (see 2501210070). Among the FCC items withdrawn was a controversial NPRM that former Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated in March on banning bulk broadband billing in multi-tenant environments (see 2408010064).
Todd Schlekeway, president of NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association, called for changes in how the wireless industry does business with tower companies. Schlekeway's open letter came as earnings season begins for carriers and NATE members.
Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg told investors Friday that the carrier’s network is holding up reasonably well in the Los Angeles area as wildfires sweep through the region. Meanwhile, Verizon announced it added more than a billion postpaid mobile and broadband subscribers in Q4, its best numbers in more than a decade, though the carrier's move to AI dominated its investor presentation. There was little discussion on the call about Verizon's huge investment in 5G.
An auction of AWS-3 licenses returned to the FCC by affiliates of Dish Network in 2023 is expected to start and possibly end this year, wireless industry experts said. In addition, the auction will offer unsold licenses from the initial Auction 97, the AWS-3 auction 10 years ago. The FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, which authorized the auction, allows 18 months for it to be held. It would be the FCC’s first auction of spectrum for full-power licensed use since 2022, with part of the proceeds going to fully fund the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program.