AT&T is seeking to borrow $14 billion dollars to help finance the cost of acquiring 5G airwaves in a competitive auction that has drawn heavy bidding from wireless carriers.
The phone company is in talks with Bank of America to provide a one-year term loan that will likely be refinanced in the bond market and paid off over several years.
AT&T’s loan follows news that T-Mobile USA borrowed $3 billion from investors for its own 5G spectrum acquisitions.
The FCC expects to collect more than $80.8 billion from the auction of 280 megahertz of spectrum around 3.7-3.98 GHz—a portion of the satellite C-band. This is the FCC’s largest mid-band 5G spectrum auction to date. Analysts were expecting bids of around $47 billion, but wireless carriers seem motivated to grab as much 5G spectrum as possible.
AT&T’s loan will add to the company’s existing $159 billion in debts, making it the world’s largest non-financial corporate borrower. Much of AT&T’s debt came from its 2018 $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner, Inc.
Cable internet customers connecting to Spectrum’s large national network of Wi-Fi hotspots may have to make some adjustments on their mobile devices to keep those connections working.
CableWiFi® is a partnership between Altice USA, Comcast/Xfinity, Cox Communications and Charter/Spectrum allowing their internet customers to share access to those four cable operators’ extensive Wi-Fi hotspot networks while on the go. Once configured, customers coming in range of one will automatically connect, protecting their mobile data allowance.
For years, customers traveling outside of their own cable company’s service area typically connected to “CableWiFi” to access the service. But Spectrum is now dropping support for that and requiring customers to take additional steps to maintain their connection:
In order to connect to the same networks outside of the Spectrum Internet® service area, you will need the Spectrum Internet WiFi profile installed on your compatible device(s).
To install the Spectrum Internet WiFi profile on Android and iOS devices, download the My Spectrum App from the Play Store or App Store and follow the instructions in the app. To download the profile on MacOS devices, click here. A profile for Windows PCs is coming soon.
This profile will also automatically connect Spectrum customers to XFINITY (Comcast’s Wi-Fi) and AlticeWiFi (in Altice USA’s service area). We are uncertain if this will also work with those traveling inside Cox’s service area.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. communications regulator on Wednesday approved a plan to allow a growing number of wireless devices to use part of a spectrum previously set aside for automakers to develop methods for vehicles to communicate with each other, a decision that the Transportation Department warned could result in “thousands of accidents.”
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 5-0 to split the spectrum block set aside for auto safety. Over the objections of automakers and some U.S. agencies, the FCC decision finalized a plan announced last year to divide a block of the 5.9 GHz spectrum band that was reserved in 1999 for automakers to develop technology called DSRC, but has so far gone largely unused. Under today’s decision, a 45 MHz portion of the band — 5.850GHz to 5.895GHz will be reallocated to unlicensed Wi-Fi services and made available for consumer use. Consumers may have to purchase new equipment to take advantage of the new frequencies.
45 MHz of the wireless auto band, shown in green, will join the 5 GHz Wi-Fi band shown in blue. Automakers will still be able to use 30 MHz of frequencies from 5.895-5.925 GHz.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said there is “a pressing need for us to allocate additional spectrum” for Wi-Fi, noting the coronavirus pandemic underscored “consumers need access and more bandwidth to be able to engage in telework, remote learning, telehealth, and other broadband-related services.”
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao had warned the FCC decision could result in “thousands more deaths annually on road and millions more injuries than would be the case otherwise.”
Major cable, telecom and content companies back the FCC proposal to open most of the spectrum band to Wi-Fi use.
Comcast Corp praised the FCC vote, saying Wi-Fi is “central to American homes, schools, and workplaces and carries more broadband traffic than all other wireless technologies combined.”
Automakers favor using the spectrum for developing technology to allow vehicles to exchange data about location, speed and direction.
House of Representatives Transportation Committee chairman Peter DeFazio called the decision “a gift to corporate interests at the expense of public safety,” adding it “will undermine decades of development and over a billion public dollars that the transportation community has invested in these technologies.”
The technology has previously been offered on just one General Motors Co vehicle. Government studies have suggested that, if widely adopted among, it could prevent at least 600,000 U.S. crashes annually.
GM said “the FCC has moved towards jeopardizing roadway safety.”
The FCC plans to transition the upper 30 megahertz from DSRC to enable a different automotive communications technology called Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything and use the other 45 megahertz for wireless use. Safety advocates question if the new technology will work.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio)
T-Mobile is widening its wireless home broadband pilot program to cover more than 20 million additional underserved and unserved households in 130 communities in parts of nine states.
“Home broadband has been broken for far too long, especially for those in rural areas, and it’s time that cable and telco ISPs have some competition,” said Dow Draper, T-Mobile executive vice president of Emerging Products. “We’ve already brought T-Mobile Home Internet access to millions of customers who have been underserved by the competition. But we’re just getting started. As we’ve seen in our first few months together with Sprint, our combined network will continue to unlock benefits for our customers, laying the groundwork to bring 5G to Home Internet soon.”
T-Mobile Home Internet customers currently pay $50 a month for unlimited wireless internet for their home or business, using T-Mobile’s existing 4G LTE network. To prevent cell tower saturation, T-Mobile is making the service available on a first-come, first-served basis, where coverage is eligible, based on equipment inventory and local network capacity. T-Mobile is also protecting its high-value mobile customer base by prioritizing mobile network traffic, so speeds may slow for home internet customers during times of peak cell tower usage.
The company adds that its 4G service will soon be joined by a 5G home internet service, which should increase speeds and capacity. The company claims:
The service is self-installed, so no installation visits or charges.
Taxes and fees included.
No annual service contracts.
No “introductory” price offers.
No hardware rental or sign-up fees.
No data caps, but network prioritization may affect speed during peak usage periods, and video streaming resolution may be limited based on available speed in your location.
Other Details:
Pricing: $50/month with AutoPay (price includes sales tax and regulatory fees “for qualifying accounts” whatever that means, and if you don’t AutoPay, the price is $5 higher.)
Credit approval required.
T-Mobile will supply an LTE Wi-Fi Gateway with the service, for in-home use only at the address on the account. The gateway must be returned if you cancel service or pay $207.
List of New Cities & Towns:
Michigan
Adrian
Alma
Alpena
Ann Arbor
Battle Creek
Bay City
Big Rapids
Cadillac
Coldwater
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn
Flint
Grand Rapids-Kentwood
Hillsdale
Holland
Jackson
Kalamazoo-Portage
Lansing-East Lansing
Ludington
Midland
Monroe
Mount Pleasant
Muskegon
Niles
Saginaw
Sault Ste. Marie
South Bend-Mishawaka
Sturgis
Traverse City
Minnesota
Albert Lea
Alexandria
Austin
Bemidji
Brainerd
Duluth
Fairmont
Faribault-Northfield
Fergus Falls
Grand Rapids
Hutchinson
Mankato
Marshall
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington
New Ulm
Owatonna
Red Wing
Rochester
St. Cloud
Willmar
Winona
Worthington
New York
Binghamton
Corning
North Dakota
Bismarck
Dickinson
Jamestown
Minot
Williston
Fargo
Grand Forks
Wahpeton
Ohio
Akron
Ashland
Ashtabula
Bucyrus-Galion
Cambridge
Canton-Massillon
Cleveland-Elyria
Coshocton
Defiance
Findlay
Fremont
Lima
Mansfield
Marion
New Philadelphia-Dover
Norwalk
Salem
Sandusky
Tiffin
Toledo
Wooster
Youngstown-Warren-Boardman
Pennsylvania
Altoona
Bloomsburg-Berwick
Chambersburg-Waynesboro
DuBois
East Stroudsburg
Erie
Gettysburg
Harrisburg-Carlisle
Huntingdon
Indiana
Johnstown
Lancaster
Lebanon
Lewisburg
Lewistown
Lock Haven
Meadville
New Castle
Oil City
Pittsburgh
Pottsville
Reading
Sayre
Scranton–Wilkes-Barre
Selinsgrove
Somerset
St. Marys
State College
Sunbury
Williamsport
York-Hanover
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton
South Dakota
Aberdeen
Brookings
Huron
Mitchell
Pierre
Rapid City
Sioux Falls
Watertown
Yankton
West Virginia
Clarksburg
Cumberland
Elkins
Morgantown
Weirton-Steubenville
Wheeling
Wisconsin
Eau Claire
La Crosse-Onalaska
Menomonie
Wisconsin Rapids-Marshfield
T-Mobile Home Internet: This company supplied video explains how the service works. (1:15)
The FCC is likely to delay for up to two years a massive $9 billion subsidy program that will provide 5G wireless service in rural America because the agency’s broadband coverage maps are too flawed to credibly determine where the money is needed.
The delay is just the latest in a series of speed bumps that have slowed down rural wireless service expansion, hampered mostly by service coverage maps that typically over-promise service that just doesn’t exist in many areas.
A revised subsidy program would double the funds available for rural wireless service, but delay projects at least 18-24 months, with the first awards granted sometime in late 2022.
The wireless subsidy program is designed to enhance rural wireless/mobile coverage across the United States. The FCC estimates about 83% of rural America is currently covered by 4G LTE service providing an average of 10/3 Mbps. In urban and suburban communities, 97% of areas have 4G coverage and often at faster speeds. Small, independent wireless carriers have popped up to serve rural states and regions that have been ignored by AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, but coverage gaps still remain far from well-traveled interstate highways or in mountainous regions. Carriers have typically considered those areas unprofitable to serve, failing Return On Investment formulas that expect investments to pay off within a certain number of years. Wireless subsidies cover a portion of the cost to build and operate unprofitable rural cell towers, coaxing wireless companies to be more willing to expand coverage.
The ongoing problem of wireless coverage accuracy has had a direct impact on rural funding programs that have rules forbidding spending in areas that already have coverage. Wireless companies with overeager marketing departments have routinely issued coverage maps claiming solid 4G LTE coverage in areas where many claim it doesn’t exist. The conflict over accurate coverage maps became so contentious, the FCC canceled plans to spend billions on wireless subsidies in late 2019 until more accurate coverage maps could be created.
Next week the FCC plans a vote to authorize the new $9 billion subsidy program, but funds will likely be held until wireless companies can prove their coverage claims and update coverage information so the FCC can pinpoint areas that can qualify for the funds.
“This approach won’t be the fastest possible path,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai wrote. “But it will allow us to identify with greater precision those areas of the country where support is most needed.”
Be Sure to Read Part One: Astroturf Overload — Broadband for America = One Giant Industry Front Group for an important introduction to what this super-sized industry front group is all about. Members of Broadband for America Red: A company or group actively engaging in anti-consumer lobbying, opposes Net Neutrality, supports Internet Overcharging, belongs to […]
Astroturf: One of the underhanded tactics increasingly being used by telecom companies is “Astroturf lobbying” – creating front groups that try to mimic true grassroots, but that are all about corporate money, not citizen power. Astroturf lobbying is hardly a new approach. Senator Lloyd Bentsen is credited with coining the term in the 1980s to […]
Hong Kong remains bullish on broadband. Despite the economic downturn, City Telecom continues to invest millions in constructing one of Hong Kong’s largest fiber optic broadband networks, providing fiber to the home connections to residents. City Telecom’s HK Broadband service relies on an all-fiber optic network, and has been dubbed “the Verizon FiOS of Hong […]
BendBroadband, a small provider serving central Oregon, breathlessly announced the imminent launch of new higher speed broadband service for its customers after completing an upgrade to DOCSIS 3. Along with the launch announcement came a new logo of a sprinting dog the company attaches its new tagline to: “We’re the local dog. We better be […]
Stop the Cap! reader Rick has been educating me about some of the new-found aggression by Shaw Communications, one of western Canada’s largest telecommunications companies, in expanding its business reach across Canada. Woe to those who get in the way. Novus Entertainment is already familiar with this story. As Stop the Cap! reported previously, Shaw […]
The Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission, the Canadian equivalent of the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, may be forced to consider American broadband policy before defining Net Neutrality and its role in Canadian broadband, according to an article published today in The Globe & Mail. [FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s] proposal – to codify and enforce some […]
In March 2000, two cable magnates sat down for the cable industry equivalent of My Dinner With Andre. Fine wine, beautiful table linens, an exquisite meal, and a Monopoly board with pieces swapped back and forth representing hundreds of thousands of Canadian consumers. Ted Rogers and Jim Shaw drew a line on the western Ontario […]
Just like FairPoint Communications, the Towering Inferno of phone companies haunting New England, Frontier Communications is making a whole lot of promises to state regulators and consumers, if they’ll only support the deal to transfer ownership of phone service from Verizon to them. This time, Frontier is issuing a self-serving press release touting their investment […]
I see it took all of five minutes for George Ou and his friends at Digital Society to be swayed by the tunnel vision myopia of last week’s latest effort to justify Internet Overcharging schemes. Until recently, I’ve always rationalized my distain for smaller usage caps by ignoring the fact that I’m being subsidized by […]
In 2007, we took our first major trip away from western New York in 20 years and spent two weeks an hour away from Calgary, Alberta. After two weeks in Kananaskis Country, Banff, Calgary, and other spots all over southern Alberta, we came away with the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: The Good Alberta […]
A federal appeals court in Washington has struck down, for a second time, a rulemaking by the Federal Communications Commission to limit the size of the nation’s largest cable operators to 30% of the nation’s pay television marketplace, calling the rule “arbitrary and capricious.” The 30% rule, designed to keep no single company from controlling […]
Less than half of Americans surveyed by PC Magazine report they are very satisfied with the broadband speed delivered by their Internet service provider. PC Magazine released a comprehensive study this month on speed, provider satisfaction, and consumer opinions about the state of broadband in their community. The publisher sampled more than 17,000 participants, checking […]