During T-Mobile’s fourth-quarter 2018 results call, executives maintained that they’re "ready and excited for the launch of the company’s nationwide 5G network." T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray said the company is adding "thousands upon thousands of new sites with 600Mhz capability," already leading to the highest network capacity and lowest tower congestion in the company’s history. When asked about 5G handset availability, Ray noted "some T-Mobile 5G phones will be available in the first half of 2019, but phones with both 600Mhz and millimeter wave support are ‘strong possibilities’ for the second half of 2019."
Georgia Senate OKs rural broadband bill
Georgia senators voted 53-1 for a bill primarily aimed at increasing broadband deployment in rural Georgia and would allow the state’s 41 electric membership corporations (EMCs) to get into the broadband business. In a statement, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan said that, "Broadband a...
5G’s deployment’s downside? Dip in small cell spend
AGL Media Group reported that there may be other factors affecting small cell rollout, such as regulatory uncertainty surrounding the FCC small cell order. Crown Castle’s Scott Longhurst was quoted stating "we are in a strange 90-day window. Even though the small cell order ...
Viewpoint: D.C. needs to speed up 5G deployment
Vincent Orange, president and CEO of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce, penned an op-ed in the Washington Business Journal stating "the robust development of revolutionary 5G networks throughout the city is well overdue." Orange highlighted the benefits of small cells, ranging from pub...
Report: Fiber-based broadband will power 59% of 1.2 billion connections by 2025
The Broadband Forum and Point Topic recently predicted that there will be 1.2 billion broadband subscribers worldwide by 2025, with fiber-based broadband playing an increasingly important role. The report further predicts that 89% of the expected 1.2 billion subscribers in 2025 wi...
What will 5G bring to public safety?
During a session at the recent International Wireless Communications Expo, speakers acknowledged that "5G is only beginning, and it has the potential for paradigm changes — for public safety operations as well as the rest of society." During the panel, Nick Nilan, director of publ...
PG&E faces pole attachment shot clock, as CPUC arbitrator hands Crown Castle a win
An administrative law judge "gave Crown Castle a victory of sorts in a dispute over terms for attaching fiber optic cable to utility poles that Pacific Gas and Electric owns." If the California Public Utilities Commission signs off on the finding, it will establish a 45-day "shot ...