Strength in the industry’s 5G “ramp” contributed much of the 15 percent Q1 revenue growth in ON Semiconductor’s “communications end-market” sector, with networking and wireless components, said CEO Keith Jackson on a Q1 call Monday. Revenue of $259 million in the sector was 19 percent of total sales, he said. “We are seeing strong ramp in our power products in the 5G infrastructure market,” said Jackson. “We expect this ramp to accelerate in 2019 with increasing 5G deployments in a few parts of the world.” The “current indication” suggests a “better than expected rate of deployment for 5G systems in the near term,” he said. ON’s power “content” in 5G infrastructure systems is “many times” that of 4G systems, he said. “Our participation in 5G systems is expected to be significantly higher than our participation in 4G systems.”

Verizon named the 20 U.S. cities that will get 5G ultra wideband service in 2019. They are: Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Des Moines, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Missouri, Little Rock, Memphis, Phoenix, Providence, San Diego, Salt Lake City and Washington. Parts of Chicago and Minneapolis were the first two to get the service, which uses high-band spectrum.

Ericsson urged the FCC to repurpose the 6.425-7.125 GHz band for flexible-use licensed service and the 7.125-8.5 GHz band for fixed commercial use, in a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Mike O’Rielly. There's "no large swath of mid-band spectrum available for licensed, macro 5G service in the U.S.,” Ericsson said in docket 17-183, posted Wednesday. “To lead in 5G, the U.S. needs to identify more mid-band spectrum -- and soon -- as other countries are moving forward quickly to seize the 5G mantle.”

Midband spectrum is critical to 5G and the FCC should do what it can to reallocate the C band quickly, blogged Bret Swanson, visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “Existing low bands will continue to provide broad coverage, while the new high bands will provide extremely high capacity links, often in densely populated areas,” Swanson said. “Mid-band spectrum will fill the gap in between.” The C-band Alliance “has proposed a secondary market solution, which could avoid a time-consuming FCC re-auction,” Swanson said Wednesday. There are several proposed solutions for the C band, including an incentive auction, he said: “But the C-band Alliance method seems much simpler and quicker.”

Sprint dropped a February lawsuit against AT&T over the marketing term 5GE, for 5G evolution, to describe upgraded LTE service, they confirmed. Representatives said consumers will continue to see 5GE marketing and advertising. Sprint had asked U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for an immediate preliminary injunction against AT&T. The case is #1:19-cv-01215-VSB. "The significance of AT&T’s deception cannot be overstated," Sprint said then (see 1902080038). “We have amicably settled this matter,” an AT&T spokesperson emailed now.

Qualcomm Technologies said it's providing technology for China Unicom’s 5G launch in collaboration with device makers nubia, OnePlus, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi and ZTE. The companies are scheduled to “showcase readiness for the rollout of 5G devices and networks in China via live 5G demonstrations” at the China Unicom Partner Conference this week in Shanghai, the Qualcomm subsidiary said. “In a span of few weeks, we have witnessed 5G launches in the U.S., South Korea, announcement of an imminent deployment in Europe -- and we are now observing the dawn of 5G in China.”

Verizon held what CEO Hans Vestberg called the “first earnings call in the 5G mobility era” Tuesday, and as usual the first major carrier to report quarterly. Vestberg was asked about the company’s emphasis on high-band versus mid-band frequencies for 5G. The high band isn’t “coverage spectrum,” but “the throughput and speeds are enormous” in limited areas, he said. “No one else in the whole industry” knows more about 5G than Verizon, he said. Its initial 5G launches are “performing as expected” and the company is on pace to begin services in new markets in the second half of the year, Vestberg said: “As more features within the network enhancements become available … we are providing increased coverage, improved capacity and greater throughputs.” Vestberg emphasized Verizon is in “the very early stages” on 5G. Most handsets that come out next year will have chipsets for high-band spectrum, he said. Phones by Samsung, Motorola and LG available this year will be 5G ready, he said. “The whole ecosystem, from chipsets, to equipment is ramping up quickly,” Vestberg said: “We are in the forefront of technology here, so of course we are … on the edge of the demands and the supply on equipment at the moment.” Verizon added a net 61,000 retail postpaid customers in Q1, including 174,000 postpaid smartphone net adds. Retail postpaid churn was 1.12 percent. Verizon also reported $5.2 billion in profit, compared with $4.7 billion in the year-ago quarter and revenue of $32.1 billion, up 1.1 percent. “Results were a bit mixed, as wireless top-line beat on strong ARPU [average revenue per user], but wireless margins were far weaker than expected, and adds were a touch soft,” said New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin: “On the strategic front, there was little news as the company continues to emphasize their cost-cutting and mmWave 5G efforts.” Other analysts agreed the results were mixed. “Somewhat elevated churn was a disappointment in contrast to a quiet backdrop,” Macquarie’s Amy Yong told investors. “Verizon has a small window to take the charge on 5G and it continues to focus on network leadership. But, signs of commercialization have been slow.”

T-Mobile Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray questioned how big a role millimeter-wave spectrum, as being deployed by Verizon and AT&T, will play in 5G. In a video Ray posted Monday, as someone from T-Mobile slides close a glass door, the high-band signal drops completely. Millimeter wave “has great potential in terms of speed and capacity, but it doesn’t travel far from the cell site and doesn’t penetrate materials at all,” he blogged. “It will never materially scale beyond small pockets of 5G hotspots in dense urban environments.” Ray also said Verizon’s first 5G markets suffer from more than propagation shortcomings. Customers pay an extra $10 a month and “coverage is very spotty and unreliable,” he said: “Verizon won’t publish a coverage map or acknowledge how limited their strategy really is, but people quickly found that Verizon’s 5G was awfully hard to find, barely available at the places it was promised to be available, dropping repeatedly to 4G and disappeared if they stepped into a building.” Verizon and AT&T didn't comment.

A group including Dish Network, small carriers, public interest and consumer groups and labor unions sent a letter to DOJ Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim Thursday asking the department to block the T-Mobile/Sprint deal. T-Mobile and Sprint, meanwhile, had a key meeting at the DOJ Thursday to discuss their proposed transaction, industry officials said. “If allowed to proceed, this transaction would consolidate the nation’s wireless market from four to just three carriers, lead to price increases for virtually all wireless customers, substantially raise wholesale rates for smaller wireless carriers, and cause significant job losses -- all while failing to deliver the promised benefits of accelerated 5G deployment or expanded rural coverage,” the letter argues. “The parties have had more than 11 months to make a convincing argument that their deal is in the public interest and that it will not harm competition. To date, they have failed to make this case.” Among those signing on are the AFL-CIO, Common Cause, Communications Workers of America, Consumer Reports, The Greenlining Institute, Incompas, New America’s Open Technology Institute, Next Century Cities, the Open Markets Institute, Public Knowledge, the Rural Wireless Association and the Wireless ISP Association. The companies didn't comment. "An honest review of the facts clearly shows that this merger is in the best interest of American consumers -- the New T-Mobile will deliver the nation’s best 5G network, create more competition and drive jobs growth," A T-Mobile spokesperson said in response: "This opposition group is clearly focused on maintaining a status quo that benefits them, instead of truly improving things for consumers. We are confident the transaction will be judged on its merits."

Intel will exit the 5G smartphone modem business and “complete an assessment of the opportunities” for 4G and 5G modems in PCs, IoT devices and other products, said the company Tuesday. It won’t abandon the 5G network infrastructure business, it said. Intel will continue servicing existing 4G smartphone modem orders but won’t introduce 5G smartphone modems, “including those originally planned for launches in 2020,” because it sees “no clear path to profitability and positive returns" in that space, it said. Intel developed a “valuable portfolio” of wireless products and intellectual property for 5G, it said. “We are assessing our options to realize the value we have created, including the opportunities in a wide variety of data-centric platforms and devices in a 5G world." Intel expects to give more details about the decision on its Q1 earnings call April 25, it said.