5G Americas supports Doreen Bogdan-Martin’s candidacy to be the next ITU secretary-general, said a Thursday news release. ATIS supported her candidacy earlier, and other endorsements are expected (see 2201310055). “Bogdan-Martin has worked tirelessly as the Director of the Development Bureau to bring more women and girls into telecommunications, highlight the role of [information and communications technology] in achieving the UN’s Sustainability Goals, and bridge the digital divide for people around the globe,” said 5G Americas President Chris Pearson: “Her election would benefit the entire membership of the ITU, and their constituencies.”

Open radio access network installations will increase to 22.5 million globally in 2026 from 1.4 million in 2021, projected ABI Research Tuesday. ORAN revenue won't match that of “traditional” RAN but will slowly increase throughout the forecast period, it said. “Considerable vendor resistance” due to integration and technology development issues risks delaying or even killing ORAN momentum “before it reaches a large scale,” said ABI. The industry is now cognizant that ORAN “will still need years of development before it can match large vendor performance and cost efficiency,” it said. That translated into “reduced interest” in ORAN in early 2022, it said.

AT&T has done what it can and won’t delay shuttering its 3G network starting next week, Joan Marsh, AT&T executive vice president-federal regulatory relations, blogged Tuesday. “No network transition is easy,” she said: “We’ve undertaken extensive efforts to minimize the inconvenience for our customers and allow as seamless a transition as is possible. We will continue to remain focused on assisting customers through and past the 3G sunset date.” AT&T offered subscribers free and discounted phones to switch off 3G, created a dedicated transition webpage, certified more than 100 devices for use on AT&T’s 4G/5G network, provided more than $100 million in incentives for businesses to replace devices, and took other actions to ease the transition, she said. Less than 1% of AT&T traffic now runs on the 3G network, she said. “Three years ago, when we announced the 3G sunset, we gave notice to our business customers that then relied on 3G devices,” Marsh said: “We even gave notice in contracts years before that. And most of those companies have used this time effectively to migrate their devices. For example, ADT, one of the largest alarm companies, has publicly said it expects to have all its 3G devices upgraded before the February 22 sunset date.”

Shipments of millimeter-wave-enabled handsets will grow from 14% of 5G smartphones sold in 2021 to 43% by 2026, reported ABI Research Thursday in a white paper. It projects 5G smartphone shipments will top a billion handsets globally in 2024, expanding to 1.3 billion in 2026, of which nearly 560 million will be mmWave-capable. The “impetus” behind mobile mmWave “continues to build with a number of regions and countries targeting deployments, broadening across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, and gaining support from a growing number of chipset suppliers,” said ABI analyst David McQueen. “This ecosystem expansion, along with resolving the inherent complexity and high costs of implementation, will aid the extensive growth of 5G mmWave smartphones.”

Mavenir urged the FCC to adopt open and interoperable interfaces for radio access networks, disputing claims that agency action isn’t ripe. The FCC took comment on open RAN last year, with next steps unclear (see 2108270039). “Some of the comments and ex parte materials in the record wrongly suggest … that it would be premature for the Commission to act on open and interoperable RAN interfaces because they suggest that the technology is not ready for deployment and further testing and standards development are required,” Mavenir said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 21-63. “This argument is circular and confuses the issue,” the company said: “Open interfaces and interoperability are concepts, not technologies to be developed; they are methods of creating and ensuring competition, and they are not associated with any specific technology or technical standard.” It would make no sense for the commission “to wait until after a market is competitive before requiring that it be competitive, at which point no requirement would be needed," Mavenir said.

T-Mobile has spent the past 18 months beefing up its 5G network in Los Angeles for Sunday’s Super Bowl, the carrier said Tuesday. “With a more than $100 million investment in 5G infrastructure across the city, more than 95% of people in Greater Los Angeles are now covered” by T-Mobile’s 5G network, the carrier said. T-Mobile said it upgraded or installed hundreds of 5G macro sites and small cells, and made 5G upgrades at Los Angeles International Airport and “enhancements at numerous other venues.” The system at SoFi Stadium has the capacity of nearly 100 traditional macro cellsites, T-Mobile said.

Public Knowledge urged the FCC to consider delaying AT&T’s Feb. 22 3G shutdown because alarm companies faced delays replacing equipment due to the COVID-19 pandemic and chip shortages that were beyond anyone's control (see 2202030042), in a call with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The FCC should be prepared to issue an order halting the sunset, unless “AT&T can demonstrate either: (a) that it has made arrangements with the alarm industry to prevent disruption of critical services identified in the record, such as home medical alert systems, DUI monitoring systems, home confinement alarms, and other systems necessary to protect life and safety; or, (b) AT&T is capable of immediately restoring service in the event of a significant disruption to these systems critical to protecting safety of life and property,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 21-304. Unlike flight safety concerns that led to the C-band delay “here, the alarm industry has been delayed by circumstances genuinely beyond their control,” PK said. PK Senior Vice President Harold Feld emailed that he’s not sure whether the FCC will act. “It is clear the Republican offices do not feel the need to act, which makes it more difficult for the Chair in a 2-2 Commission,” he said. A delay would “force us to devote scarce spectrum resources to support relatively few, obsolete 3G-only devices rather than repurposing the spectrum to enhance 5G capacity,” an AT&T spokesperson emailed: “Forcing a delay would needlessly waste valuable spectrum resources and degrade network performance for millions of our customers.”

Huawei is making strong inroads throughout Latin America despite U.S. national security concerns, blogged Silvia Elaluf-Calderwood of Strand Consult, Monday. U.S. demands “to restrict Huawei because of security concerns have fallen on deaf ears for most policymakers in Latin America,” she said. Elaluf-Calderwood warned that Huawei is growing its cloud and data business beyond telecom networks. “By over focusing on its most popular and current innovation 5G, the US failed to consider the role of unexpected competitors in different but important fields, like Huawei in clouds and data centres,” she said: “U.S. efforts to safeguard 5G mean little if Huawei stores and processes the data.”

Private wireless revenue last year was “slightly weaker” than projected, leading to a downward outlook revision, Dell’Oro Group said Friday. “The markdown is more driven by the challenges of converting these initial trials to commercial deployments than a sign that demand is subsiding,” said Vice President Stefan Pongratz. “Indicators suggest private wireless activity is firming up.” Private wireless radio access network revenue, including macro and small cells, is still likely to double 2021-26, with LTE dominating the market and 5G gaining share, Dell’Oro said. “The successful launch of private 5G services by suppliers with strong enterprise channels could accelerate the private 5G market at a faster pace than expected,” the firm said: “5G awareness is improving but it will take some time for enterprises to fully understand the value of private LTE/5G.” Dell’Oro said in a second report that Wi-Fi 6E, which uses 6 GHz, is growing more slowly than expected. “Although manufacturers launched Wi-Fi 6E products in mid-2021, products are either not available, or they are in very limited supply,” Dell’Oro said: “Supply constraints have prompted manufacturers to focus on enabling the availability of popular models by re-designing these models with components that are more readily available.”

IBM bought Sentaca to strengthen its cloud consulting business. "Our goal is to help modern networks thrive in an open, hybrid cloud environment that will bring edge and 5G to life," said John Granger, senior vice president-IBM Consulting, Tuesday.