Howard Buskirk

Informal complaints filed at the FCC about communications accessibility issues have risen for the past five years, and the nature of the complaints has shifted since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic four years ago, an FCC official told a virtual meeting of the commission’s Disability Advisory Committee on Thursday. The top accessibility complaint is about captioning.

Qualcomm remains hopeful the FCC will approve final rules this year for cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) in the 5.9 GHz band, but the technology is moving forward in the interim, with the agency approving more than 50 waivers already, John Kuzin, Qualcomm vice president-spectrum policy and regulatory counsel, said Wednesday during a Broadband Breakfast webinar. Qualcomm is a longtime proponent of the technology (see 1801220024).

Communication companies should prepare now for the threat from quantum computing, which can break the cryptography that protects data from attacks, Taylor Hartley, network security solutions architect at Ericsson North America, said during an IEEE webinar Wednesday. “Anything that utilizes a public key can easily be broken by a quantum computer,” Hartley said. “We definitely have reason to believe” bad actors are gathering encrypted data so that they will be able to unencrypt it one day, she said. Hartley recommended migrating weakened algorithms to post-quantum cryptograpy. The National Institute of Standards and Technology ran a contest and selected the first three algorithms found to be quantum resistant, she said. It's expected the three will be standardized this summer and “then we can start implementing them,” Hartley said. The concept of quantum computing started in the 1980s, and we’ve known since the 1990s that it could “break the cryptography that we use today,” she said. The first commercially available quantum computer was introduced in 2011, she said. Recently, companies like IBM, Google and Honeywell have made advances in quantum computing, she said. Hartley recommended starting a "quantum readiness road map, conducting inventories, applying risk assessments and analysis and engaging with your vendors.”

Carriers are using AI and machine learning (ML) in potentially transformative ways, experts said Tuesday during day two of Fierce Network’s Cloud Native 5G Summit. But speakers also reminded attendees AI is in its early stages and has a ways to go before providers fully embrace it.

With the wireless industry pushing hard for additional spectrum, particularly in the lower 3 GHz and 7/8 GHz bands, which are being examined as part of the national spectrum strategy (see 2405060051), a top Verizon official said Tuesday the carrier isn’t in the market for additional spectrum. “We like the assets we have right now,” Sowmyanarayan Sampath, Verizon Consumer Group CEO, said at a MoffettNathanson investor conference. Verizon went big in the 2021 C-band auction, bidding $45.4 billion, plus $8 billion in incentive costs to satellite operators (see 2102250046). In markets where the carrier has deployed C-band it continues to see lower churn and a better mix of premium customers, Sampath said. He said Verizon has limited exposure with the loss of the affordability connectivity program, but also sees opportunities for gaining customers. “There could be an opportunity for us to get on the offensive and take some share,” he said. Verizon has “the largest collection of prepaid assets today, ranging from the discount to the mid-market, to the premium end,” he said: “We will have a service at every single price point.” About 15% of its wireless customers also buy broadband from Verizon, and it plans to double that figure, Sampath said. “We're never going to see it at the European levels of 50%, 60% convergence because the market structure is fundamentally different [in Europe] and the regulatory environment is very different there," he said. Sampath said Verizon believes it has the best U.S. wireless network, as a result of “better RF design” and “a better set of assets.” Verizon's tests show “it's a much better network,” he said. “At the end of the day, it comes down to reliability and coverage.”

T-Mobile’s 2.5 GHz spectrum has “about a 30% propagation advantage” over the C-band bought mainly by Verizon and AT&T, T-Mobile Chief Financial Officer Peter Osvaldik said at a MoffettNathnson financial conference Tuesday. “C-band is great” and T-Mobile bought some licenses in the 2021 auction, which it plans to deploy in dense urban areas as a “fourth dedicated 5G layer,” Osvaldik said. The wireless industry can’t change the physics of spectrum, he said. The week after EchoStar reported earnings, with questions about its continual financial viability (see 2405080057), analyst Craig Moffett pressed Osvaldik on whether he sees a buying opportunity. “If hypothetically speaking, some company that owns a lot of spectrum were to suddenly unravel, and mid-band spectrum came on the market, is that something where you would say, 'I always want more spectrum?'” Moffett asked. “If there was a hypothetical spectrum availability out there, we'd approach it very similar to any other opportunity” Osvaldik replied. T-Mobile would consider the spectrum, the price and “what sort of returns can we generate on it versus other ways to create capacity than just buying more spectrum,” he said. Osvaldik said the carrier would look at that opportunity the same way it does when investing in fiber (see 2404250047) or at a potential a deal with UScellular (see 2405090053). T-Mobile is analyzing the subscribers it picked up from its acquisition of Ka’ena, including brands Mint Mobile and Ultra Mobile. “We just closed,” Osvaldik said. “We've got to run it through all of our subscriber reporting rules.” The biggest question the company gets is whether actor Ryan Reynolds, who owned part of Mint, will remain. “There's so much creative work there that he's done so fabulously, so we'll continue to have a relationship with Ryan,” Osvaldik said.

Non-stand-alone 5G networks tied to a core 4G network worked well in 5G's first phase, but they can’t handle network slicing and other things the new generation of wireless is promising, speakers said Monday during Fierce Network’s Cloud Native 5G Summit.

Sometime in October 2025, expect the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to issue rules requiring that companies report cyber incidents and ransomware payments, Wiley's Sydney White said during the second part of an FCBA CLE on Thursday (see 2405090051). The rules are part of additional authority CISA received under the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 (CIRCIA). Numerous cyber incident-reporting requirements exist, so new requirements will add to companies' reporting burden, experts said.

T-Mobile is reportedly examining purchasing spectrum and other assets from UScellular, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The newspaper also mentions UScellular is in separate discussions with Verizon. Both Verizon and T-Mobile declined comment. Industry officials said while Verizon held discussions with UScellular, those talks aren’t ongoing. T-Mobile is closing in on a deal to buy part of the regional carrier for more than $2 billion, taking over some operations and spectrum licenses, the paper reported, citing unnamed sources. The boards of TDS and UScellular are exploring the future of the carrier and examining “strategic alternatives," the companies said in August (see 2308070043). T-Mobile Chief Financial Officer Peter Osvaldik said in January his company was eyeing UScellular (see 2401260071). New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin questioned whether a joint deal with Verizon and T-Mobile makes sense. The firm recently evaluated UScellular’s spectrum portfolio as worth “very conservatively” $3.2 billion, he told investors: “The strongest overlap would be with T-Mobile. Moreover, when T-Mobile set guidance, we thought they were preserving capacity to buy this asset. As such, we are not surprised to see T-Mobile reportedly in talks.” News of the talks initially sent UScellular’s stock price up almost $14 Thursday. The stock closed up $9.90 at $45.95, an increase of 9.9% for the day.

Challenges remain as companies implement a voluntary cyber-trust mark program based on National Institute of Standards and Technology criteria, speakers said during an FCBA CLE on Thursday. FCC commissioners approved the program 5-0 in March (see 2403180046), but the order has not appeared in the Federal Register and the program's timeline is unclear. The cyber mark label will appear on consumer IoT products with an accompanying QR code. It's comparable to the ENERGY STAR program, which certifies products as energy efficient.