The U.S. needs to make the C band and other mid-band spectrum available for 5G, said Ericsson Global CEO Borje Ekholm and North American CEO Niklas Heuveldop in a meeting with FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. “It is being rolled out faster than anticipated,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 18-122: “Globally, Ericsson is seeing a lot of demand for 5G mobile broadband, but we expect to see more use cases centered on enterprise solutions -- taking IoT and industrial applications to the next level.” The FCC may act soon on an auction of the C band for 5G.

Subscribers in more than half the U.S. could use a 5G phone on a 5G network in 2020, said Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg on CNBC Friday. The market will be “different for sure” if T-Mobile buys Sprint and Dish Network launches its own network, he said. “We will not change our strategy." Vestberg predicted T-Mobile/Sprint will probably be completed with “some hurdles left.” The market has been competitive for years, he said. Vestberg said to “get the best out of 5G” requires high-band spectrum. “I think we have the best engineers in the industry both tuning and fixing networks. Other guys really need to do a lot of things to catch up," he said. His team is “executing on our 5G strategy, and we're now up to 15 markets” (see 1910250022) Vestberg said during a call with analysts. The uptake rate is rising for 5G phones and all handsets “coming out next year will be 5G-capable,” he said. Verizon reported profit of $5.3 billion and revenue of $32.9 billion, both beating consensus estimates. Wireline revenue fell 3.8 percent year over year. It reported 193,000 retail postpaid net adds, including 239,000 phones, and retail postpaid churn of 0.79 percent. “Wireline results, while admittedly secondary to wireless, were nothing short of awful,” MoffettNathanson’s Craig Moffett wrote investors: “Verizon’s wireless business is, for the first time in memory, lagging AT&T’s." AT&T, not Verizon, "has the better story to tell about balancing 5G speed AND coverage,” the analyst emailed.

Verizon 5G is in Dallas and Omaha in limited pockets, bringing markets to 15, it said Friday. The carrier’s next-generation service is available in parts of Chicago; Minneapolis; Denver; Providence, Rhode Island; St. Paul, Minnesota; Atlanta; Detroit; Indianapolis; Washington; Phoenix; Boise; Panama City, Florida; and New York. It plans 30 cities by year-end.

FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks told the Mobile World Congress 5G will play a role in cutting global warming: “5G will take smart grid technology to the next level.” It will help smart factories, buildings and homes adjust lighting and heating to reduce energy consumption, and will assist precision farming, he said: “Autonomous electric vehicles will connect with each other and the transportation infrastructure to plan the most efficient routes to our destinations and reduce emissions by over 80 percent compared to gasoline-powered" AVs. Thursday, Verizon noted that Starks' MWC speech disclosed the carrier's "working to achieve carbon neutrality for our 5G network and supply chain by 2025." Tuesday, Starks and fellow Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland wrote for The Hill that they have been "exploring ways in which Congress and the FCC can work together to deploy next generation networks like 5G and encourage telecommunications companies to help address climate change."

Qualcomm will invest a total of $200 million globally through an “ecosystem fund” in companies building out the 5G infrastructure, it said Thursday. The investments will prioritize startups “developing new and innovative 5G use cases, driving 5G network transformation and expanding 5G into enterprise markets,” said Qualcomm. “This fund is designed to help accelerate 5G innovation beyond the smartphone and drive 5G adoption.” The fund’s “intent” is to “fuel innovative 5G businesses” that can exploit the global 5G market opportunity worth $13.2 trillion by 2035, said CEO Steve Mollenkopf.

Verizon installed its 5G Ultra Wideband service in Corning’s fiber cable manufacturing facility in Hickory, North Carolina. “Corning will use Verizon’s 5G technology to test how 5G can enhance functions such as factory automation and quality assurance in one of the largest fiber optic cable manufacturing facilities,” Verizon said Wednesday.

T-Mobile told the FCC it should make at least 300 MHz of spectrum available for 5G in the C-band proceeding. The FCC is expected to schedule a private auction of the band in the first half of 2020 (see 1910100052). “Just making some C-band spectrum available, or some available now and some available later, based on the self-interested discretion of current license holders will imperil the Nation’s ability to win” the race to 5G, T-Mobile filed, posted Tuesday in docket 18-122. “Maximize the amount of spectrum that can be made available by recognizing the opportunity for incumbent users to move their operations to fiber,” it asked said: “End users have expressed an interest in using alternative technologies and encouraging them to do so will not only clear additional spectrum, but promote broadband deployment more broadly.”

Forecasting that 5G will “revolutionize” IoT for retail was among “high-level predictions” Nielsen released Tuesday for 2020 “and the decade ahead.” IoT “finally becomes a mainstream reality” with 5G, “providing end consumers with access to more data at their fingertips with virtually no response delay,” it said. Nielsen predicts manufacturers “will produce locally to win globally,” it said. “We're entering a new era in consumerism,” it said. “With the duel impetus of tariffs and consumer alignment with locally sourced products and waste reduction, manufacturers will face increased pressure to produce locally, import fewer goods and search for economic differentiation.” Other trends Nielsen advised watching for: (1) “Increasingly frictionless” commerce in both online and through physical stores “will change the game for retail”; (2) “Try-before-you-buy will come into consumer homes,” based on the increasing shift to cloud commerce and “enablement” of smartphones to be truly augmented-reality devices; and (3) “Transparency will be tomorrow's brand currency,” creating opportunities for companies “to grow trust and authenticity.”

Samsung's 5G new radio access unit (AU) supports 28 GHz. Combining a radio, antenna and digital unit, it's the first integrated radio for millimeter-wave spectrum, compliant with the 3rd Generation Partnership Project NR standard, Samsung said Tuesday at Mobile World Congress Los Angeles. The AU can be installed on streetlights and building walls, for a faster way to build out 5G networks with 10 Gbps, Samsung said.

The upcoming World Radiocommunication Conference will bring millimeter wave spectrum to 5G, said Grace Koh, heading the U.S. delegation, in an interview with FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. International harmonization of spectrum will ensure “interference doesn't undermine the deployment of new services,” she said. If the world can agree on what bands should be used for 5G, “it makes the equipment much more interoperable, and it also makes it easier for operators to deploy," she said: “If we can all agree on what kinds of spectrum we want for 5G instead of piecemeal” allocations, “you have the ability to lower the cost of 5G deployment immensely.” The U.S. has been preparing for the WRC for years, she said. The nation's looking to make sure its plans for high-band “align” with and “sometimes even lead what the world is going to do on millimeter-wave spectrum,” she said. Koh sees 24 GHz as critical. Based on her travels, “every region of the globe is interested in identifying” that spectrum for 5G, she said. Another important WRC focus is satellites for broadband, she said. Without revised regulations, it will be “difficult to understand how they impact current satellites that do actually already provide critical services, and it will be difficult to figure out how to make sure that we get them up there in a safe and practical manner,” she said. The WRC will consider 47 agenda items, Koh said. The issues are “incredibly challenging,” she said.