CTIA made an economic case for allocating more spectrum for licensed use as 5G starts. Tuesday's report focuses on 3.45-3.55 GHz being studied by NTIA for possible reallocation, the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band and the C band. It said carriers will invest more than $154 billion on infrastructure to deliver 5G over mid-band spectrum over seven years. The report and economic model are by Analysis Group. The spectrum studied has “really fantastic propagation characteristics and is really well suited for 5G services,” Scott Bergmann, CTIA senior vice president-regulatory affairs, told us. “It blends the ability to have very high capacity with also broader coverage.” Those bands are also getting the most focus from policymakers, he said. The report is consistent with CTIA’s comments at NTIA on a national spectrum plan (see 1902050054), Bergmann said. “There’s a lot of sense that mid-band spectrum is going to deliver benefits to that next generation of networks, that that’s going to have positive impact for the economy” but policymakers are also looking to better understand “how much that’s the case,” he said.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr will take “another look at the federal rules governing wireless infrastructure deployment” and the need for further changes, he told the National Association of Tower Erectors Monday. Carr posted his remarks Tuesday. “We will look to fully and faithfully implement the decisions Congress has made to streamline the deployment of next-generation technologies,” he said. “We will push the government to be more pro-infrastructure by eliminating needless restrictions on siting wireless facilities.” The federal government must also do more to encourage people to train for work on towers, he said: “We need more of you.” Carr told of his own field experiences, including climbing a 2,000-foot TV tower. He said China is determined to lead the world on 5G and has advantages. “The Chinese government can snap its fingers and command that a million towers be built virtually overnight,” he said. “Some view this as an insurmountable advantage. I don’t. A quick glance through the history books shows that this type of central planning and industrial policy is no match for free markets.”

Mint Mobile, which describes itself as “one of the nation's fastest growing wireless companies,” bought a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl Sunday. The ad featured former NFL star Deion Sanders and offered wireless internet for $20 a month, with two months free.

T-Mobile partnered with Lyft to give customers a $10 ride on Tuesdays this month, the carrier said Sunday. Another promotion announced during the Super Bowl gives the carrier's customers a free taco from Taco Bell once weekly when they create an account at the chain’s website and order online.

ARRL asked to withdraw a December FCC petition for a rulemaking on changes to section 97.15 of its rules. ARRL had sought a change to permit licensed amateur radio operators to build and maintain at their residences an outdoor antenna “for the purpose of conducting Amateur Radio communications, notwithstanding the provisions of any private land use regulations that may be imposed on the residential real property.” Now, the group seeks to “withdraw without prejudice.”

The Coalition of E-Reader Manufacturers asked for an extra 30 days to prepare a study on technological development, marketing and consumer use trends in the basic e-reader market. The FCC will use the information to determine whether to leave in place an exclusion from advanced communications services (ACS) accessibility rules, the coalition said. The report was due Friday, required by a 2016 order from Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, which provided a three-year extension. Additional time would “ensure development of a complete record and thereby serve the public interest,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 10-213. The 2013 petition seeking a waiver said members were Amazon, Kobo and Sony.

Consumer cell-signal boosters shouldn’t be permitted to operate in the 2.3 GHz wireless communications service band, AT&T told the FCC. In separate filings, the Aerospace and Flight Test Radio Coordinating Council and Sirius XM “outlined the technical challenges posed to their operations by the presence of WCS transmitters,” AT&T said in docket 10-4. “AT&T has significant experience navigating this interference environment and shares AFTRCC’s and Sirius XM’s concerns.”

Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri has “absolutely no doubt" a "fast and meaningful shift to 5G is underway,” he said Thursday on a Q4 call. All signs say 2019 will be "very second-half-loaded” in the 5G transition because of the “staggered nature" of global 5G rollouts from region to region, he said. He expects “a broader ramp-up starting at the tail end of 2019 and in 2020,” he said. The 5G “ecosystem” is “in its early days,” so “development and testing are operating under considerable time pressure,” he said. Though there’s a “massive amount of 5G-ready hardware already deployed,” some of it “is waiting for the availability and acceptance of the key 5G software releases,” he said. “Those releases will come available as the year progresses.”

The National Diversity Coalition and T-Mobile agreed the carrier will boost diversity if its Sprint takeover is approved. “The two entities discussed ways to collaborate, along with other community groups, on a number of initiatives focused on serving low-income communities and expanding the company’s planned diversity initiatives,” NDC said Thursday. A T-Mobile council of non-employees from “African American, Asian, Latino, Native American and LGBTQ communities, as well as persons with disabilities and women,” will advise on a plan. The announcement Friday said T-Mobile “affirmed a commitment to diversity among its board and workforce recruitment” and to increase diverse spending in California to at minimum meet the Public Utilities Commission’s goal of 21.5 percent spending with diverse businesses. T-Mobile said Friday it will release Q4 results Thursday. An analyst call with CEO John Legere and other executives starts at 8:30 a.m. EST. T-Mobile is the last of the four major national wireless carriers to report.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr will keynote the National Association of Tower Erectors Unite 2019 conference in Grapevine, Texas, Monday and attend a telehealth event with Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, in Lewisville, said Carr’s office. The NATE address will focus on U.S. leadership in 5G and “preparing our workforce for 5G jobs,” it said. Carr will visit the FCC’s Dallas field office, a tower training school and a wireless manufacturing plant.