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#1 - You need an interested party that wishes to purchase the licenses before 2019/2020. There is a very strong possibility that many deep pocketed parties are interested in buying Fibertower's 24/39 spectrum. 24 for backhaul activity and 39 for point to point wireless. Strategy and Planning takes many years and the companies interested in purchasing this wouldn't think twice about dropping the cash. $500M to $1B for these big players is nothing. Google, Amazon, Facebook, ATT, Verizon, Comcast, Charter, Cox, Century Link etc...
#2 - FCC and Bondholders would have to agree to the sale.
If they said no they they would be giving the appearance that they are standing in the way of the very thing they are trying to promote. The important thing is it would also allow them to save face and not be in a courtroom where their fly by the seat of their pants policies and enforcement would be exposed. Take for example StraighPath which renewed many of their licenses at locations where equipment never existed simply by falsifying paperwork and submitting. The FCC is apparently giving them a pass. Fibertower on the other hand was out there providing backhaul, developing products, working side by side with equipment vendors on enhanced PTP tech, Spectrum in a Box...etc....
#3 - The back of the envelope calculation I have been using to estimate the hurdle for where shareholders would see some return is $250M. $175M for the Bondholders, $50M for the Unsecured, and $25M for Misc. I have to assume there is quite a bit of overlap with those owning the bonds owning much of the common stock as well. It was trading at $.02 to $.04 for a very long time during BK and when it was finally extinguished. Very inexpensive for the Bondholders to hedge their positions in case of an outcome like #2.
#4 - Fibertower has an average of 354mhz of 39ghz spectrum and 244mhz of 24ghz spectrum in the top 50 markets. The dominoes are starting to fall with the fiber acquisitions and we have already seen Verizon pay $1.8B for XO communications for Fiber and Millimeter Wave Licenses. Is $500M fair for Fibertower? $1B? I don't know but having the deep pockets of $50B to $300B+ market cap companies interested in 5G and Point to Point should give one a lot of confidence.
Back from the (Near) Dead: New Life for FiberTower’s Licenses, Thanks to the D.C. Circuit
Last gasp appeal comes up big, possibly saving 689 24 GHz and 39 GHz licenses.
If you took the long odds and bet against the FCC in FiberTower’s last gasp effort to keep its 689 licenses alive, lucky you! The D.C. Circuit appears to have given FiberTower at least a chance.
FiberTower’s saga goes back several years. Check out our blog posts on that saga for a more complete history. In sum, FiberTower had 689 licenses in the 24 GHz and 39 GHz bands that the FCC cancelled for failure to construct sufficient facilities. FiberTower appealed.
At first glimpse, the Court’s opinion looked like bad news for FiberTower. A statutory argument it presented to the Court got tossed immediamente because it hadn’t been presented to the FCC below, as required by Section 405 of the Communications Act. And FiberTower’s arguments about the FCC’s interpretation of its substantial service renewal standards – i.e., that that interpretation is bad policy – didn’t get very far either (thanks to the deference to which the FCC is ordinarily entitled).
But in the renewal applications relative to 42 of its licenses, FiberTower had indicated that it had in fact completed some link construction and initiated some service. The FCC’s orders had not addressed those showings at all. In fact, the Commission had even gone as far as saying that there had been “no construction of any facilities whatsoever” and “FiberTower was seeking a finding of substantial service without any construction of facilities.” Since (in FiberTower’s view) its showings had demonstrated construction of at least 42 licenses (and satisfied the Commission’s “substantial service” standard), the Commission’s failure to address those showings was fatal error, at least as far as those 42 applications were concerned.
Before the Court, the FCC countered that FiberTower hadn’t raised that particular argument before the agency. (This was the same Section 405 approach that the Commission won on with respect to one of FiberTower’s statutory arguments.) But, wouldn’t you know it, FiberTower had raised it – albeit somewhat obliquely and with virtually no detail – in an application for review it had filed with the Commission. That being the case, the FCC had been given an “opportunity to pass” on the issue, which is all FiberTower needed to do in order to allow it to make the argument to the Court.
In response, the Commission appears to have argued that it didn’t really need to look at each and every substantial service showing before tossing them all. The Court disagreed: “[I]t ill behooves the Commission to imply that it can cancel licenses for failure to show any construction without reviewing each substantial service showing.” Since the agency record relative to the 42 licenses was silent, the Court remanded those 42 licenses back to the Commission for further consideration.
So FiberTower ends up with 42 and loses the other 647, right? NOT. As it turns out, all the licenses were set to expire in June, 2012. FiberTower had requested a waiver of that deadline, which the FCC denied. But in so doing, the Commission had “acknowledged that the proportion of licenses that have been built out may be relevant to its extension analysis.” In other words, if some of the licenses had been built out, an extension of all of them might be warranted. Since 42 of the licenses might indeed have been built out, the possibility exists that, upon consideration of that fact, an extension with respect to all FiberTower’s licenses might be in order. Accordingly, it appears that the Court has left open the prospect for renewal/extension of all 689 licenses.
So FiberTower’s 689 licenses appear to live on. The likelihood that the FCC will eventually relent and leave them all in place is impossible to gauge at this point, but at least FiberTower’s prospects are better now than they were before the Court’s opinion.
If you could find out how many shares Solus picked up during BK in order to hedge their bond bets that would be a strong confirmation that the common could make out quite well. Back of the envelope calculation is:
Fibertower Sale or Value $500M
Bonds $175M
Unsecured $50M
Misc $25M
=$250M or a little over $5 per share of Fibertower Common.
Deep Pocketed 5G / Fixed Wireless Entrants:
Any one of these players could make a deal for the assets and drop $500M to $1B+ on Fibertower as a strategic acquisition. 24ghz for backhaul and 39ghz for PtP. So many players and so many options. Having the spectrum tied up in the courts until 2019 defies the logic of where the FCC wants to take 5G.
Dish
Facebook
Amazon
Charter
Comcast
Timewarner
Altice
Cox
Verizon
ATT
TMUS
Sprint
Google
Century Link
Crown Castle
American Tower
SBA Comm
T-Mobile
Windstream
Crown Castle buys Fibernet
Centurylink buys Level 3
Is AT&T’s Vision To Make Your Wireless Super-Fast a Pipe Dream?
The AT&T (NYSE:T) – Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) merger created a buzz in the corporate world last week. Jeffrey Bewkes, chief executive of Time Warner has agreed to sell the company for $107.50 per share, a $85 billion deal half in cash, and half in stock. While some analysts believe that the deal is great for everyone, AT&T’s more than 100 million cell phone users and Time Warner’s expansive content, worries consumer groups and rivals. Combining the two companies will not only broaden their content portfolio, but also empower them to compete with other cable companies in terms of delivering Internet as well as television services to subscribers.
In the “Texas Wireless Summit” this year, AT&T unveiled the roadmap for 5G network using a millimeter wave (mmWave) that different carriers are currently testing. 5G is a fifth-generation mobile and wireless network system that delivers huge chunks of data into the Internet of Things (IoT) more rapidly than 4G LTE connections. At the Austin summit, AT&T & Ericsson demonstrated that the 5G-network technology was capable of delivering speeds of up to 14 GB/second with latency nearing 1 millisecond. As the NYT puts it, “your cellphone’s data connection will be so fast that you can download a television show in the blink of an eye and a movie in less than five seconds. (That compares with up to eight minutes now for a movie.)…you may as well just watch TV with your cellular connection and cancel your cable subscription.”
However, even with the revolutionary performance in the summit, many are skeptical about the practicability of 5G technology. While the millimeter wave spectrum of 5G is sufficient, noise control and power boosters are less capable in millimeter wave than that in the lower bands. Additionally, given the technology’s shorter wavelength, cellular sites will only cover short distances as the huge chunks of data are being transferred at a very rapid rate. This means that if AT&T continues to pursue 5G technology, they will require numerous cell towers placed close together throughout the country. And with AT&T’s approximately 70,000 operational cellular sites to date, the company would require about a million towers to ensure 5G network is available nationwide.
AT&T seems to believe that by delivering high-speed internet it can be considered as a serious competitor in the cable industry, which is why it thinks 5G is the key. With Time Warner merger, AT&T is aiming to obtain 5G standards by the end of 2017, which is earlier than 3GPP’s initial timeline of mid-2018. However, how the merger can hasten 5G deployment still remains in question. Considering the long and arduous process of releasing final standards issued by the ITU (International Telecommunications Union), the 5G technology might not be complete until 2021.
When the deal closes, AT&T plans to promote more over-the-top content on mobile networks, which will bring in more demand for 5G technology. In order to compete with widely used content providers like Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Hulu, Dallas-based company believes that delivering the content faster to consumers is the way to gain their own market share. But, considering the debt that the company will gain with the Time Warner acquisition, and the rivals that are eyeing 5G technology, the odds may not be in AT&T’s favor as these could deter the company’s investment in the technology.
AT&T CEO: We'll Move Faster to 5G Because of Time Warner Deal
AT&T's proposed buyout of Time Warner will accelerate its deployment of 5G rather than acting as a drag on its deployment plans, the CEO says.
"We would probably have a desire to move faster on 5G, certainly not slower," AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) CEO Randall Stephenson said on a call on Monday.
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) has previously said that it expects to start a "friendly" fixed 5G trial at the end of 2016. Execs expect initial deployments will be about fixed broadband to the home, though, with 2020 still seen as the tee-off date for commercial mobile deployments. (See AT&T to Start 5G 'Friendly' Trial by 2016 End.)
"It's a logistical issue right?" the CEO asked, rhetorically, adding that getting standards in place and the vendor community on the case will be crucial for giving 5G a kick in the RAN. [Ed note: That's Radio Access Network, for the uninitiated.] The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has said it expects the initial 5G New Radio (5G NR) specification to be ready in June 2018. (See 3GPP Wants to Complete Initial 5G Radio Spec in June 2018.)
For all the latest news on 5G, visit the 5G site here on Light Reading.
AT&T's CFO said on the call that if and when the Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) deal closes -- expected by the end of 2017 -- it will bring in new revenue streams and encourage AT&T to deploy faster networks to facilitate the video-over-anything concept behind this buyout. "It brings us a lot more financial flexibility... or revenue enhancements and growth that will allow us to fund 5G," the CFO said.
— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading
AT&T announces $35 DirecTV Now streaming plan
The death of cable TV is inevitable in the age of streaming. Little is known about what cable providers will do to stall this decline, but some are beginning to take action.
DirecTV is not waiting for its slow death and is jumping into the streaming wars. Today, it introduced a streaming package for $35 that will carry over 100 channels and launch sometime in November. The new plan, which is called DirecTV Now, seeks to challenge the other streaming giants with its vast library of channels.
The service will be all online—no need for cable boxes or satellites. The plan will also include unlimited data for AT&T customers, which is eerily similar to T-Mobile’s Binge On. No word on what the DirecTV streaming quality will be, but we’re hoping it’s better than 480p.
According to Bloomberg, the plan targets the 20 million people in the U.S. who aren’t on a cable plan. DirecTV is hoping for the plan to be its primary TV platform by 2020.
DirecTV Now takes on Sling TV and PlayStation Vue
AT&T’s DirecTV is not standing pat as the world turns toward streaming. Introducing its own streaming option lets the company jump into the crowded streaming wars with the advantage of having a full catalog of channels are its disposal. Only time will tell if this new approach for DirectTV will shake things up.
AT&T's internet-only DirecTV service launches in November
The streaming TV tier should cost much less than rival options.
Jon Fingas
Jon Fingas, 21h ago
You don't have to sit on pins and needles wondering when AT&T will launch DirecTV Now, its flagship internet-only streaming service. As part of a discussion of the Time Warner acquisition, AT&T chief Randall Stephenson has revealed that DirecTV Now will be ready in November. It might be a bargain, too -- Stephenson vows that it will carry a price "radically lower" than competing offerings. Just what that means isn't certain (which services and tiers are included in this comparison?), but it's promising.
The news takes on added meaning in light of the Time Warner buyout. AT&T already had HBO and Cinemax lined up for DirecTV Now, but the Time Warner deal would give the streaming service a virtually guaranteed source of popular TV without having to work hard for a license. It could theoretically keep the price low without depriving you of must-watch programming. That's assuming that regulators approve the deal in the first place, of course -- there's a concern that AT&T could punish rivals by either charging them more for Time Warner channels or denying some channels altogether.
Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and probably a few others as well.
Well you have to consider current Wireless Networks cannot carry all the DirectTV and potentially Warner Brothers Content that they want to run. Like I said if I were Cable Companies I would be trembling right now. 5G will have the ability to do serious damage to Cable Companies Subscriber Base and Bottom Line. The suitors for Fibertower's Spectrum once it got listed for 5G are:
AT&T
Verizon
Comcast
Google
Other Cable Companies
Dish
TMUS
Sprint
AT&T and Verizon are in the Drivers Seat and everyone else will be playing catch up simply because they have the wireless subscriber bases and a treasure trove of assets to support it. But the wireless subscriber bases are far and away the number one asset. That wireless handset will only get more powerful and will be a conduit to many other devices whether it be your tablet, computer, or television.
The two parties(Fibertower and ?)would have to go to the FCC and most likely the FCC would push it through. There are too many parties that would want the 24ghz and 39ghz making it valuable and keeping it shelved in dispute given there is a good change Fibertower would win on the merits that overall it would defeat the goals of the FCC. You have to think of all the players that would want to do something with the spectrum:
ATT, VZ, CMCSA, GOOG, AMZN, AAPL, MSFT, DISH, TMUS, S etc....
The Bonds were $175M
Unsecured Creditors were $50M
Miscellaneous/Cushion $25M
Total Hurdle for Shareholders $250M
That is why it would be helpful to see who bought up the shares when they were trading for pennies. Approximately 48M shares were outstanding at the time the final BK was approved. The bondholders tried to convince the judge that the spectrum they retained and the spectrum in question with the FCC wasn't worth much so the bondholders should retain everything that was current and under question. The judge saw what they were up to and said not so fact. The spectrum in question which was nearly all of it will be held in a the status of pre-effective chapter 11. Well now we see that spectrum has tremendous value. Simply taking the valuation of Straighpath at $325M versus the $250M owed to the unsecured and bonholders and factor in what the bondholders have already received would leave about $100M for the shareholders or just north of $2 per share. I think the spectrum is worth far more and that will be seen in the next couple of years.
The closest comparable right now is Straightpath who has spectrum in the 28ghz and 39ghz bands. Their market cap is $325M and has gone as high as $500M+.
XO Communications was bought out by Verizon for $1.8/$1.9B I believe and they had 28ghz and some 39ghz spectrum but nowhere near the license count and coverage of Fibertower's all in spectrum. XO communications also had extensive hard fiber assets.
Fibertower's Assets are extensive in the 24ghz and 39ghz bands. Windstream just announced they are rolling out 5G like Fixed Wireless is major markets using Straighpath's 39ghz band.
Other companies that are going the fixed wireless route are Verizon, AT&T, Google and I imagine Comcast and other major cable players will follow soon. The customers want fiberlike connections but rolling direct fiber to households takes too much time and capital investment and the return is just not there. Verizon found that out with FIOS and Google found that out as well. People loved Google Fiber but the return on investment wasn't there.
As you mentioned ATT is going after Time Warner, Verizon is adding Yahoo and will look for more. ATT and Verizon are looking for some growth of any kind and they have to go after and carve up the cable companies. The cable companies are in trouble as they don't have the wireless assets to compete and the smartphone is going to be your modem, cable box, conduit..etc...everything from the network to your end device whether it is your smartphone, tablet, computer, or television.
I would expect Comcast or DISH to go after Sprint or Tmobile for the wireless but they will be well behind ATT and Verizon. An arms race for assets will begin and Fibertower's assets should be on everyone's shopping list long before the court case gets going. Not having those assets available for the public in 2017,2018,2019 etc... will be detrimental to the 5G/Fixed Wireless builds.
They are going to want to deliver those assets/content over their networks. The vision is anytime anywhere and that means mobile devices, tablets etc...Soon your mobile phone will be the equivalent of a high speed modem/cable box on steroids. Current LTE Networks are already experiencing congestion. Getting a 5G network up and running will definitely carve up the cable companies. Both AT&T and Verizon are in the drivers seats with their wireless assets. Something the cable companies simply don't have.
There is a sizeable short interest causing these swings. They have to realize that 3Q gas prices were 32% higher than 2Q gas prices and SWN upped their cap ex plan for the rest of 2016. So far October Gas prices are 40% higher than Jan-Sep YTD average price.
Nat Gas going through the roof. CHK up today. SWN getting manipulated and beaten like a drum.
Fibertower / 24 ghz / FCC / Cambridge
39 ghz covers the access spectrum piece of 5G
24 ghz covers the backhaul spectrum piece of 5G
See the 2 links below for the Cambridge Video and then the Ex Parte they filed with the FCC on the 24 ghz backhaul product.
https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filing/10062397803948/document/10062397803948f653
http://www.ccsl.com/metnet-system/
Windstream / StraightPath / 40 Markets / 39 GHZ / Fixed Wireless
LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Oct. 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Windstream (WIN), a leading provider of advanced network communications, today announced a strategic partnership with Cambridge Broadband Networks (CBNL) and Straight Path Communications Inc. that will significantly expand the last-mile fixed wireless options for Windstream customers in 40 markets across the country. CBNL is the market leader in millimeter wave licensed point-to-multipoint (PMP), and Straight Path is the largest licensed millimeter wave spectrum holder in the U.S.
Windstream will deploy CBNL’s VectaStar® 39GHz licensed PMP radios and utilize Straight Path’s 39GHz spectrum to rapidly expand its last-mile customer connectivity options in key markets. The expansion is part of Windstream’s previously disclosed capital investment plan, and the partnership with CBNL and Straight Path will significantly scale coverage of Windstream’s fixed wireless technology and allow customers to truly diversify their networks by integrating fiber, copper and fixed wireless access technologies.
The licensed spectrum and radios being used to deliver the service ensure that it is more robust and secure than other wireless technologies and offers end-customers reliable service level agreements. This new technology will allow Windstream customers to access the company’s advanced data, voice, network and cloud services at speeds of up to 275 Mbps full duplex, and it also supplements Windstream’s other fixed wireless access technologies that range in speed from 1 Mbps to 1 Gbps.
Windstream will enhance seven of its markets where it currently offers fixed wireless access technology – Chicago, New York City, Boston, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Little Rock – by leveraging equipment from CBNL and spectrum from Straight Path. Windstream will also deploy CBNL equipment in 33 new markets where it will begin offering its fixed wireless technology. Those markets include Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Kansas City, Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Richmond, San Antonio, Seattle and St. Louis. Under the agreement, Windstream has the option of eventually expanding fixed wireless to an additional 32 markets where Straight Path owns 39GHz spectrum.
The partnership among Windstream, CBNL and Straight Path is the latest example of Windstream investing in its advanced metro fiber and fixed wireless networks, and it also represents the first nationwide deployment of CBNL’s new 39GHz solution, which has the ability to scale hub site capacities to 13.2 Gbps. This announcement closely follows Windstream’s successful VectaStar network in New York City, which utilized Straight Path’s 28GHz spectrum.
Quotes from Executives
Joe Harding, Enterprise Chief Marketing Officer at Windstream:
“As Windstream’s network solutions become increasingly mission critical for our business customers, we are committed to leveraging the latest technology to continuously improve the scalability, reliability and security of our services so that we can craft even better solutions to meet our customers’ evolving business needs. It’s clear that millimeter wave offers immense potential and we’re delighted to partner with industry leaders CBNL and Straight Path to maximize the benefits for our network and for our customers. As one of the most proven and efficient millimeter wave technologies, VectaStar was the simple choice for Windstream. We look forward to rolling out the first deployments later this year and improving access to faster broadband speeds for businesses across the country.”
Lionel Chmilewsky, Chief Executive Officer at CBNL:
“CBNL is delighted to sign our first nationwide agreement alongside Straight Path and play such a key role in Windstream’s expansion strategy. Delivering 13.2 Gbps per hub site and total cost of ownership savings of up to 50 percent compared to point-to-point, VectaStar provides Windstream with a ground-breaking business case. This is further supported by the reuse of spectrum where VectaStar’s dynamic µ-TDMA can offer up to 4.4 Gbps of provisioned capacity per sector from just two 50MHz channel pairs. With VectaStar already deployed across 46 countries and nine states, this agreement marks the latest collaboration from CBNL and Straight Path to provide unparalleled nationwide access to 39GHz and deliver an evolutionary path to gigabit capacities and 5G fixed wireless.”
Big Cable and Mobile Are Ready to Rumble - WSJ 10/07
Wireless is clearly the future of connectivity, but here’s a question: Do today’s big wireless companies have a future? Or do they risk becoming commodity wholesalers of basic roaming service for cable operators and possibly other powerful tech brands, like Apple and Google?
Big mobile’s only realistic competitive response might be quickly to roll out 5G wireless that can compete with, and even exceed, cable in delivering high-speed access to the home. Busted open would be cabledom’s biggest strength in the coming showdown, its oligopolistic safe haven in the domestic retail market.
Very Deep Pockets are looking at Fixed Wireless/5G:
Facebook
Amazon
Charter
Comcast
Timewarner
Altice
Cox
Verizon
ATT
TMUS
Sprint
Google
Fixed 5G Wireless Could Upset the Video Market Soon
http://www.itbusinessedge.com/blogs/data-and-telecom/fixed-5g-wireless-could-upset-the-video-market-soon.html
The excitement over 5G technology focuses on the great benefits it will bring to mobility. That’s reasonable, but 5G will excel in another use case: fixed wireless.
Indeed, fixed wireless is first on the agenda. Providing a service to a moving target, and one that is switching between adjacent service areas, is particularly tricky. It makes sense that the fixed services, which figure to be a bit simpler, would be established first.
It’s happening. This week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved Verizon’s request to lease 28 GHz and 39 GHz licenses from NextLink, an XO Communications subsidiary. The move means that Verizon will deploy fixed 5G services before 2018, according to Light Reading.
Verizon is aiming for pilot projects next year. The idea is that fixed testing and rollouts are moving up, which means that the mobile 5G move is likely to meet or even beat initial timeline estimates:
Verizon is effectively collecting all the pieces it needs to start 5G deployments, once further tests are completed of course. Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said that 2017 will be a "development year" for 5G. "To get to a commercial launch and actually start to generate revenue -- I think that will come in very late '17 or '18," Shammo said during the earnings call.
Verizon is not the first guest to arrive at the 5G fixed wireless party. C Spire said earlier this month that it tested a 5G fixed wireless solution in Mississippi using Nokia equipment. The trial involved television content, including ultra-high definition television. Transmission speeds as a high as 2.2 gigabits per second (Gbps) and latency lower than 1.4 milliseconds were reached. C Spire says it has holdings in the 28 GHz range.
Technology, it should be noted, is a lot like having an extension built on a home: If things happen on the original timeline, they are, in reality, beating expectations. Things almost never happen earlier than promised.
Fixed wireless is not just a developmental stop on the way to mobile services. As the C Spire test implied, the technology is fast enough to distribute video. Investor’s Business Daily positions 5G fixed wireless as a threat to the cable industry; a quote from a Comcast executive noted why the company is not worried (small service areas, too much equipment). It will take a long time to see how it plays out. However, if it does gain traction as a broadband alternative, the telecommunications industry may experience another drastic change in the landscape.
The Motley Fool made the same point about video earlier this year, suggesting that fixed 5G wireless could be a big deal:
There's still a lot we don't know about Verizon and AT&T's fixed wireless plans, but what's clear is that they intend to take on traditional cable Internet in an entirely new way -- which could give home Internet consumers more choices than ever before.
Tests will continue through at least next year. How they go and precisely what is being tested should be interesting to watch.
Verizon Cleared for Take-Off on Fixed 5G
From Dan Jones at Light Reading.
The FCC has granted Verizon permission to move ahead with fixed 5G deployments before 2018, revealed senior executives during the operator's second-quarter earnings call held on Tuesday.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved Verizon's request to lease 28GHz and 39GHz high-frequency radio licenses from XO Communications Inc. 's subsidiary NextLink: Verizon stumped up nearly $2 billion for XO in February. (See Verizon Bags XO for $1.8B.)
The FCC took the view that Verizon's "aggressive" 5G deployment plans will be a benefit for the American consumer. Verizon is hoping to launch its fixed wireless 5G pilot in 2017. (See Verizon Hits 1-Gig+ in 5G Trials, Eyes Early Applications.)
"We're extremely pleased the FCC approved the XO lease agreement," Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam told analysts on the earnings call.
For all the latest news on 5G, visit the dedicated 5G site here on Light Reading.
NextLink has 93 28GHz licenses and nine 39GHz licenses that cover 67% of the US population. Verizon needs these Local Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS) licenses because they are already set up to allow an operator to offer fixed wireless radio services within a 1.5 mile radius of the basestation.
Verizon is, effectively, collecting all the pieces it needs to start 5G deployments, once further tests are completed of course. Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said that 2017 will be a "development year" for 5G. "To get to a commercial launch and actually start to generate revenue -- I think that will come in very late '17 or '18," Shammo said during the earnings call. (See Verizon Could Take Fixed 5G Nationwide.)
This, it should be noted, is still a very aggressive claim to make in relation to commercial 5G services: Many operators are expecting to start to deploy initial 5G networks around 2020.
McAdam laid out one reason why this haste to get 5G connections might be attractive to Verizon: The CEO is expecting a "significant cost saving" from deploying a 5G home router, compared with the cost of delivering ultra-broadband services over a Fios fiber connection.
McAdam said Verizon has been testing connections at ranges of "500 yards or less," with multiple HDTV streams, virtual reality streaming devices and a large number of tablets.
"We've got a big deployment down in Dallas working with Ericsson and Nokia. We've got several in New Jersey and some down in Virginia," McAdam explained.
Next, the operator wants to test how the system does with vegetation and weather patterns outdoors in a typical "200 home development." The concern with vegetation and weather is that the vary narrow bands in millimeter wave radios can struggle to get through leaves, walls and other obstacles without smart antenna arrays and extremely guided, directional radio signals.
McAdam said the operator is expecting to place 5G radios every 1,000 meters or so in order to cover this gigabit fixed wireless test.
All of which means that Verizon will have to build out a much denser network in order to provide coverage: McAdam pointed out that this effort to densify has already started with its deployment of 4G LTE small cells.
"By aggressively moving to densify and then using that infrastructure for 5G, Verizon will stay on the leading edge for the next decade," McAdam claimed.
"All of this fixed frenzy will lay the foundation to build mobility use cases [for 5G] later in the decade," the CEO concluded.
— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading
The Next Development in Wireless Broadband
Jul 25, 2016 9:33 AM PDT
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By Paul Budde
In the USA the FCC has started the discussion on the next level of telecoms in the wireless market, aimed at making spectrum in bands above 24GHz available for flexible-use of wireless services, including next-generation, or 5G networks and technologies.
New technologies such as massive-MIMO are going to make it possible to deliver 'fibre-like' speeds over short distance wireless networks operating in the 24+GHz bands. This will make the technology especially useful for high-speed broadband services in densely populated areas.
Because this spectrum is only useful over relatively short distances, the base stations will need to have fibre optic network connections. Most mobile base stations are already connected to fibre, and fibre-connected buildings are ideally suited for the many more base stations needed for these new wireless technologies.
It is expected that these new services will be able to provide high-speed broadband at very competitive prices.
While there are calls to also make this spectrum available for unlicensed services, the mobile industry will push hard for their use of the spectrum, and they will again be willing to pay billions of dollars for it. And governments will be very tempted to simply take that money. However it is expected that some capacity will be available for unlicensed services.
A question that remains unanswered is how wireless networks will handle capacity.
Currently 4G networks offer excellent broadband services and, as long as the usage is limited, the prices are competitive. However, as soon as the mobile networks are being used for entertainment services such as Netflix the affordability drops significantly. Looking ahead, more and more of these entertainment services will be delivered over broadband and more and more people will move from traditional TV to these broadband-based services. At the same time, the quality is moving from HDTV to 4K, and it remains unlikely that these services can be supported by wireless networks at affordable prices.
However, if fixed network operators are not providing FttH infrastructure, and are thus not going to be able to deliver the broadband quality that people demand, the wireless industry will look for new opportunities and will push the boundaries further and further.
Progress has been made here also. Already off-the-shelf point-to-point wireless links operating in the 70-80GHz bands can provide as much as 6/6Gb/s over distances of 1500-2500 meters. At those frequencies the beams are exceedingly narrow so many links can be placed on the same rooftop.
Furthermore, this is not simply about FttH networks. Most cities still don't have a city-wide fibre-based backbone structure that is, for example, able to service their increasing number of apartment buildings. Here we see companies such as netBlazr in Boston providing a high-speed wireless backbone system to beam capacity to the roofs of these building and then linking this to existing internal Cat5 and Cat6 cabling for internal distribution.
Based on this configuration, they are able to provide 300/300Mb/s service to residential apartment or condo dwellers (for $59/month) and with new technology developments, they are currently upgrading selected buildings to 500/500Mb/s (at the same price).
In the case of Blazr, most of this wireless infrastructure is using the 200MHz-wide band of spectrum at 24GHz which is licence-exempt in the US (and many other countries). With readily available radios they can get 1/1Gb/s of capacity over a 24GHz link and the beams are directional enough (3 degree beamwidth) that we can locate many separate links on the same rooftop, interconnecting a building with many other buildings.
Their usage costs are only a small percentage of their operating costs (<3%). When several hundred customers have been aggregated with 300/300Mb/s service, peak traffic (typically 9-11pm) averages 1.2Mb/s per customer. Many of their customers are younger and are cord-cutters.
codesilver, it is interesting how Fibertower and StraightPath went about getting their licenses renewed. Wonder what your and others take is in comparing Fibertower's position to that of Straighpaths.
Fibertower on one hand tried to work hand in hand with the FCC and seemed to have approval just before the deadline and then the carrot was pulled away. They also had a viable backhaul business and were developing products and services for their spectrum.
StraightPath on the other hand appears to have almost tried to sloppily dupe the FCC. What I found most disturbing from the StraightPath findings was there complete lack of protocols, policies, and procedures. The response from their so called investigation still leaves one wondering what exactly happened? Did they ship equipment to the locations only to have it sent back and never installed or up and running?
Interviews and contemporaneous documents consistently confirm that equipment was deployed at the original locations in connection with the substantial service applications, but the investigators concluded, based on the weight of the evidence, that the equipment was likely put in place for a short period of time at each location. Although the investigators did not find any evidence that the equipment used in connection with the substantial service applications is still present at the originally specified locations, the investigators found no credible evidence that anyone informed Straight Path prior to November 2015 that equipment may no longer have been present at those locations, except that Straight Path became aware in late 2013 that equipment was missing from a single location that the Company addressed at that time.
New Street: Spectrum Frontiers airwaves unlikely to devalue mid-band spectrum
The FCC will likely free up nearly 11 GHZ in new spectrum, as the chairman has proposed, when it votes on the Spectrum Frontiers initiative tomorrow, New Street Research predicts. But the analysts say the increase in supply probably won't slow demand for existing airwaves.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has asked the commission to approve new rules "that will identify and open up vast amounts of spectrum for 5G applications." New Street analysts expect the commission to free up two main swaths during tomorrow's vote: 3.85 GHz of licensed, high-band airwaves; and 7 GHz of unlicensed spectrum.
High-band spectrum is widely viewed as crucial for carriers because it offers increased capacity, enabling service providers to densify their networks and deliver more mobile data. Wells Fargo Securities analysts noted several weeks ago that the value of high-band spectrum has risen recently as data consumption continues to ramp up, and the value of those airwaves will almost surely continue to rise as carriers transition to 5G technologies
The FCC will likely free up nearly 11 GHZ in new spectrum, as the chairman has proposed, when it votes on the Spectrum Frontiers initiative tomorrow, New Street Research predicts. But the analysts say the increase in supply probably won't slow demand for existing airwaves.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has asked the commission to approve new rules "that will identify and open up vast amounts of spectrum for 5G applications." New Street analysts expect the commission to free up two main swaths during tomorrow's vote: 3.85 GHz of licensed, high-band airwaves; and 7 GHz of unlicensed spectrum.
High-band spectrum is widely viewed as crucial for carriers because it offers increased capacity, enabling service providers to densify their networks and deliver more mobile data. Wells Fargo Securities analysts noted several weeks ago that the value of high-band spectrum has risen recently as data consumption continues to ramp up, and the value of those airwaves will almost surely continue to rise as carriers transition to 5G technologies