Midband spectrum takes center stage
The term midband spectrum refers to the sub-6 GHz spectrum that is higher than LTE spectrum but far below millimeter wave. Equipment vendors around the world are developing smartphone solutions to enable 5G in these bands. Skyworks and National Instruments
announced
collaboration in the sub-6 GHz bands last week, and Qualcomm said it will integrate its millimeter wave antenna arrays into a Vivo device that supports the sub-6 GHz bands. Qualcomm
said
smartphones will need to support both millimeter wave and sub-6 GHz to get the full benefit of 5G.
U.S. regulators have been slower than some of their counterparts in other countries to allocate sub-6 GHz spectrum for 5G. The agency has promised to give the wireless industry shared access to the 3.5 GHz band, and next month will consider proposals for sharing the bands
between 3.7 GHz and 4.2 GHz, the so-called C-Band.
The fight for the C-Band could dwarf the skirmishes over how the 3.5 GHz band will be shared. Broadcasters and cable operators rely on the C-Band for fixed satellite transmissions of their programming. They are lobbying hard, and telling the FCC that reserving part of the C-Band for fixed satellites will be much more effective than mandated spectrum sharing. The National Association of Broadcasters
told
the FCC that virtually every U.S. television household relies on the C-Band for some type of content distribution.
Sprint's spending
While the FCC considers allocating new spectrum to help the U.S. win the "race to 5G," Sprint and T-Mobile are telling the agency that the country needs three strong carriers to win the race. In last week's public interest filing, Sprint
painted a gloomy picture
of its future as a standalone carrier.
With or without T-Mobile, Sprint is moving ahead on its network upgrade, but the carrier is making some changes. Sprint CTO John Saw spoke at Wells Fargo's 5G conference about how the possible merger is impacting the carrier's spending plan. Saw said Sprint is not slowing down at all, but that the scope of its massive MIMO rollout may be changing slightly. He said the company has adjusted the number of sites that will get this technology and has changed the locations of some planned deployments.
AT&T adjusts asset mix
Hot on the heels of its $85 billion purchase of Time Warner, AT&T said it is buying ad sales platform provider AppNexus for an undisclosed amount. The Wall Street Journal reports that AppNexus was valued at $1.8 billion in 2015 but that AT&T may have paid less than that.
As AT&T adds to its media assets, the carrier is selling 31 data centers to Brookfield, a global investment firm with extensive real estate and infrastructure holdings. AT&T will be the anchor tenant at the data centers and says it will also continue to sell data center services. But customer contracts and employees will transfer to Brookfield.
Brookfield is paying AT&T $1.1 billion for the data centers, and AT&T says it will use that cash to pay down debt. AT&T is now carrying roughly $180 billion in debt as a result of the Time Warner acquisition.
Analyst Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson points out that AT&T is now the world's largest issuer of investment grade debt, and he questions the company's ability to maintain that rating while still paying its hefty dividend. He expects credit rating agencies to pressure AT&T to pay down debt, and says more asset sales are one possibility for the company. The problem is that most asset sales would reduce EBITDA, and credit rating agencies look at debt as a multiple of EBITDA. Moffett says AT&T's current ratio is almost 4x, already on the high side.
