S&P addressed major C-band auction bidders Thursday. S&P moved Verizon to stable from positive based on its $45 billion in bids, noting the carrier must pay an additional $8 billion in incentive costs to satellite operators. Verizon's adjusted debt-to-EBITDA ratio will likely increase to about 3.2x this year, from about 2.6x in 2020, “and will remain substantially above our 2.5x threshold for an upgrade over the next couple of years,” S&P said. AT&T bid $23.4 billion and is likely on the hook for an additional $4 billion, the firm said. S&P changed the carrier to negative from stable since its debt-to-earnings ratio is likely to rise to 4x from about 3.65x at the end of 2020. “Ongoing declines in business wireline and video due to secular and macroeconomic pressures, coupled with investments in HBO Max and potentially weak advertising trends at WarnerMedia in 2021, creates higher operating uncertainty and could result in leverage remaining at or above 3.75x through 2022,” S&P said. T-Mobile bid $9.3 billion, with an expected $1.6 billion in incentive payments, S&P said. “Despite the increase in leverage to fund the purchase of spectrum in the auction, our rating on T-Mobile is unchanged because we expect leverage will remain comfortably below our 5x downgrade threshold over the next year,” the firm said: T-Mobile has “good prospects to reduce leverage to the mid-3x area by 2023 as synergies ramp up and [Sprint] merger costs wind down, coupled with service revenue growth.”

UScellular CEO Laurent Therivel sought a 3.45 GHz auction with similar rules as the C-band auction, but with smaller license sizes, in a call with FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. “Adopt 10X10 MHz licenses as opposed to 5X20 MHz,” said Wednesday's posting in docket 19-348: That “provides more opportunities for more competitors to win licenses.” Therivel urged county-sized licenses.

Ericsson North America CEO Niklas Heuveldop cited the importance of the proposed 3.45 GHz auction and making midband spectrum the agency’s top 5G focus, speaking with acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Heuveldop supported open radio access networks, said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 21-63. “The policy of the U.S. should continue to be technology neutral,” Ericsson said: “The U.S. has clearly demonstrated that open and intense competition, not government mandates, is the most effective way to mobilize the telecom industry.”

Charter Communications will continue in the cable TV business, though its video offerings will go beyond that, CEO Tom Rutledge said at a Morgan Stanley investor conference Tuesday. He said live TV being sold in a linear package will continue "for a significant period," though it's becoming less affordable and streaming products are gaining market traction. He said Charter will sell streaming packages alongside its existing video products. Though TV “is becoming a broadband product,” Charter will have cable TV service “for years," he said. Asked about competition from 5G fixed wireless as that service comes to market, he said 5G "would take an enormous amount of capital" to serve as a substitute for cable broadband and it's "not likely to be deployed rapidly." He said Charter's internet-only customers use around 700 GB monthly, while wireless-only averages around 10-12 GB, so 5G "is not a full replacement for where we're going."

Network “slicing” will be a “crucial enabler” of new business models and a “key concept to empower the potential of 5G,” reported ABI Research Tuesday. Communications service providers can use network slicing to offer “varied service levels of network availability, throughput, latency, level of security, and several other performance indicators,” it said. “This lays the groundwork for a more controllable and flexible connection environment without modifying the underlying infrastructure's properties that provide the raw network capabilities.” It projects 5G network slicing will generate $20 billion in global revenue by 2024. 5G slicing “enables vertical partners to bring to market a wider range of business services based on network slices that are customized in line with required service-level agreements and network key performance indications,” said analyst Don Alusha.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Tuesday that he plans to lead Democrats in bowing legislation aimed at using investment in 5G and other emerging technologies to counter Chinese advances. Senate Democrats’ emerging tech package needs to “address America’s short-term and long-term plans to protect the semiconductor supply chain, and to keep us No. 1 in things like [artificial intelligence], 5G, quantum computing” and data storage, Schumer told a news conference. “We can’t let China get ahead of us in chip production.” Schumer expects the Senate to be ready to consider the measure on the floor this spring. “We need to get a bill like this to” President Joe Biden’s “desk quickly to protect America’s long-term economic and national security,” he said. The Semiconductor Industry Association praised Schumer’s plan. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I., raised concerns during a Tuesday hearing about China’s “aggressive attempts to undercut our current technological superiority.” Lawmakers “must also be concerned about the strength of our national research and innovation enterprise, including the workforce, the health of the manufacturing and industrial base, and the infrastructure that we need to support technology development,” he said.

T-Mobile’s new Magenta Max 5G plan (see 2102220043) shows the company is starting to press its advantages over competitors, New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin told investors Wednesday. It's offering “genuinely unlimited 4G and 5G data,” he said: “Verizon and AT&T can’t match this, at least not without a host of nasty caveats.”

Global 5G subscriptions are expected to triple, reaching 2.1 billion in 2024, reported the Norwegian personal finance website Aksje Bloggen Wednesday. North America is the second-largest region for 5G adoption, behind Northeast Asia, with 60 million subscriptions in 2021. “This figure is forecast to hit 276 million by 2024, a 360% increase in three years.”

Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Division asked T-Mobile to modify advertising claims, including that it offers “the best" and "most reliable 5G network” and the “best prices” for 5G. NAD said the challenged advertisements didn't "reasonably convey that the aspirational future benefits that will result from the T-Mobile-Sprint merger" aren't "presently available,” NAD said Tuesday. “While T-Mobile made certain commitments to the government as part of the merger approval process and is in the process of expanding and improving its 5G service, the complete integration of the T-Mobile and Sprint networks is not expected to occur for between three to six years.” The ads cited stopped airing in July, but "we’ll continue to make sure consumers know that T-Mobile’s 5G network … is delivering unprecedented reach and more coverage than anyone else,” a T-Mobile spokesperson said.

Dish Network will use SBA Communications towers as part of the infrastructure for its nationwide 5G network, it said Monday, announcing a long-term lease agreement. It said SBA also will provide a variety of related offerings under the deal, such as site acquisition and regulatory and compliance services.