Senate Republicans elected Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Commerce Committee chairman Wednesday, as expected (see 1811070054). Wicker was Senate Communications Subcommittee chairman last Congress and is likely to select past Commerce Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., to take over the subcommittee (see 1811150040). Thune gave up Senate Commerce leadership to become Senate majority whip when the 116th Congress convened last week. Wicker told us his early priorities as Senate Commerce head will include 5G deployment items and privacy legislation, with a 5G hearing potentially “one of our first hearings.” Any 5G hearing is likely to include the Streamlining the Rapid Evolution and Modernization of Leading-Edge Infrastructure Necessary to Enhance (Streamline) Small Cell Deployment Act as “starting point” for legislative discussions, Wicker said. The bill, filed last Congress, aims to implement a “reasonable process and timeframe guidelines” for state and local small-cell consideration (see 1806290063). It faced opposition from state and local governments (see 1810040055). Thune said Wicker “is poised for a successful tenure as chairman.” Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry cited Wicker's "deep understanding about what it takes to bring advanced broadband services to rural areas and his work on important issues including Universal Service Fund reform, broadband deployment, access to spectrum, and advancing telehealth services."

"The broad wireless industry" should "commit to labeling something 5G only if new device hardware is connecting to the network using new radio technology to deliver new capabilities," Verizon asked of "competitors, vendors and partners." AT&T noted it's starting such an indicator, which drew criticism from rivals. Verizon "won’t take an old phone and just change the software to turn the 4 in the status bar into a 5," blogged Chief Technology Officer Kyle Malady Monday. "People need a clear, consistent and simple understanding of 5G so they are able to compare services, plans and products, without having to maneuver through marketing double-speak or technical specifications." To let AT&T "customers know when they’re connecting to a 5G Evolution tower, we’re rolling out a '5G E' indicator initially on a handful of 5G Evolution capable devices," emailed a spokesperson Tuesday. Devices with that indicator include the Samsung Galaxy S8 Active and LG V30 and V40. The carrier's 5G Evolution is in over 400 markets, he noted. Sprint Chief Technology Officer John Saw said "AT&T is blatantly misleading consumers -- 5GE is not real 5G." Sprint has its "sights on providing our customers with contiguous coverage using the first 5G smartphone in the U.S.," he added. The company is being sold to T-Mobile, whose CEO John Legere asked on Twitter if AT&T really thinks "customers would fall for their mountain of '5G E' BS?!" Legere said "@verizon isn’t innocent in all this 5G puffery. They’re up on a soap box right now saying they’d 'never do what @att is doing,' but from where I stand they’re doing the same thing." T-Mobile didn't comment further to us on Verizon. All Sprint would say on the subject is that it will market "real 5G that is standards based in the first half of 2019." 5G Americas President Chris Pearson declined comment on Verizon, as did CTIA and the Competitive Carriers Association.

Sprint will debut a Samsung 5G smartphone this summer, said the carrier Monday. The phone will feature LTE/5G “dual-mode connectivity” in Sprint’s 2.5 GHz spectrum, it said. It also will support Sprint’s 1.9 GHz spectrum (band 25), 800 MHz spectrum (band 26) and other LTE spectrum bands for roaming, it said. Samsung didn’t comment. Sprint plans to launch its mobile 5G network in nine U.S. markets in 2019's first half. Sprint previously said it’s working with LG to deliver a 5G smartphone in the U.S. (see 1808140023).

Climbing a broadcast TV tower gave him a better appreciation for the big job involved in the repack required by the TV incentive auction, Commissioner Brendan Carr said in an interview in the National Association of Tower Erectors’ magazine. Carr is pleased with the progress. “This is not the type of work where you’re putting up a small cell or taking down a small cell,” he said. “Getting out there to really see the size and the scope of these broadcast facilities gives you a much better appreciation for the work that’s going on in the repack.” The FCC’s top priority for 5G “is making sure that every community in the country from Thompson, North Dakota, and throughout rural America has a fair shot at next-generation connectivity,” Carr said. “It will not be a success in terms of 5G deployed if we see it only in the bigger cities like New York or San Jose.”

Next year will be the year for 5G, blogged T-Mobile CEO John Legere Thursday. “We’ll see real, live 5G,” Legere predicted. “Not the 5G Verizon and AT&T are touting, but real, mobile, standards-based 5G. And T-Mobile will continue to be the only company with a real plan for nationwide 5G.” If T-Mobile’s buy of Sprint is approved “the New T-Mobile will bring 5G to everyone, everywhere,” he said. Verizon, meanwhile, refuses to publish a 5G coverage map, Legere said. “I predict media will use the words ‘AT&T’ and ‘5G’ and ‘BS’ at least a dozen times in the same sentence in 2019,” he said. “AT&T is trying to pull some straight up BS -- showing a '5G’-ish indicator on the phone when it’s on LTE.” AT&T and Verizon didn’t comment.

Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray said only T-Mobile is serious about rolling out 5G everywhere. “There’s a LOT of hype about 5G right now … and some real BS that’s being peddled,” Ray blogged Thursday. He took a shot at Verizon, the first to launch 5G with a fixed offering (see 1812180003). “Verizon’s intentions for 5G are for it to be only available in very limited areas,” he said. “They only use millimeter wave spectrum, which covers less than a square mile from each tower and gets blocked by doors, windows, walls, trees, cars. ... They’ll only provide 5G to a few small pockets of a few urban centers.” AT&T got slammed, too. It's "so worried about how limited their 5G footprint will be that they’ve renamed their existing LTE network ‘5G Evolution,” he said. “They’re calling their super limited mmW deployment ‘5G+.’ I’ve heard they even have plans to show a 5G network indicator for LTE on consumers’ devices to hide the fact that actual 5G will be scarce.” Verizon didn't comment. “We’ve said we’ll have nationwide 5G in 2020 on a network that includes both high- and low-band spectrum,” responded an AT&T spokesperson. “We’re live with standards-based, mobile 5G in a dozen markets and have announced the next cities as well. We’ve already announced that we’ll have three 5G devices by mid-2019 that use a mix of high- and low-band spectrum.”

The FCC is working to make sure the U.S. will lead the world on 5G, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai told the Israel Business Conference Thursday. “They call Israel the ‘Start-up Nation,’” said his written remarks. “You have more startups here per capita than any other country in the world. And during my trip, I have seen your innovative spirit for myself. I’ve visited companies like Siklu, Sckipio, and Gilat Satellite” (see 1812190058). The U.S. still leads the world on venture investment. “Venture capital investment in the U.S. was 160 percent higher in 2017 than 2010, and we saw more venture investment during the first half of 2018 than we did during most full years of the previous decade,” he said. Pai tweeted about meetings with Intel’s Mobileye and Israel-based OrCam (see here and here). He said the FCC, holding an event on artificial intelligence, isn't trying to regulate AI. Monday, the FCC and Israeli Ministry of Communications convened the first meeting of a new joint working group to exchange information between the two countries. “The relationship between our two agencies has never been stronger, and I look forward to continuing our cooperation,” Pai said.

The GSMA welcomes the Arab Spectrum Management Group releasing use of 3.3-3.8 GHz to mobile broadband. It "will increase the availability of the right type of harmonised spectrum for 5G deployment across the Arab world and help accelerate ultra-fast 5G network rollouts in the region,” GSMA said Thursday. The ASMG represents 22 Arab countries and coordinates on spectrum management between Arab nations and the ITU’s World Radiocommunication Conference.

Two-thirds of organizations plan to deploy 5G by 2020, and some will need 5G more quickly than many communications service providers can deliver it, a Gartner survey found. In the “short to medium term,” organizations wanting to “leverage” 5G for various uses won’t be able to “fully rely on 5G public infrastructure for delivery,” it said Tuesday. Of 185 organizations, IoT communications “remains the most popular target use case” for 5G, with 59 percent expecting 5G-capable networks to be widely used for that. The next most popular use case is video, chosen by 53 percent. For IoT communications, 5G “is uniquely positioned to deliver a high density of connected endpoints -- up to 1 million sensors per square kilometer,” said Gartner.

AT&T said it will be first to launch mobile 5G over a standards-based network Friday: “While the initial launch starts small and will be limited, as the 5G ecosystem evolves customers will see enhancements in coverage, speeds and devices.” Launches are in parts of Atlanta; Charlotte; Dallas; Houston; Indianapolis; Jacksonville, Florida; Louisville; Oklahoma City; New Orleans; Raleigh, North Carolina; and San Antonio and Waco, Texas. In the first half of 2019, it starts in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Nashville, Orlando, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose. The first adopters will likely be “growing businesses,” Mo Katibeh, chief marketing officer-AT&T Business, said Tuesday, "the starting point" for an unprecedented "technology revolution.” Verizon was the first to launch fixed 5G in October (see 1810010028).