Advanced Television

Spectrum

AT&T switches on EchoStar’s spectrum

It was only on August 26th that AT&T agreed to buy EchoStar’s terrestrial 3.45 GHz wireless spectrum for $23 billion. But AT&T has capitalised on that investment in record time. AT&T says it has now equipped 23,000 of its cellular sites to take advantage of the valuable spectrum. It means that some two-thirds of the […]

November 19, 2025By Chris Forrester

Sweden: Tele2, Telenor secure new spectrum

Tele2 and Telenor, through their joint network company Net4Mobility (N4M), have secured new spectrum in the 1800 MHz band in the spectrum auction conducted by the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority, at a total auction amount of SEK 465,850,000 (€42.4m). The new frequency allocations are a significant step in future-proofing Net4Mobility’s shared mobile network and […]

November 18, 2025

India: Jio urges TRAI to speed up

Indian telco Jio (part of the Reliance Jio Infocomm business) is urging India’s regulators to speed up their approvals process for the Jio satellite to consumer plans. The Jio Space Technology with Luxembourg-based SES scheme was designed to expand broadband access to remote and underserved areas of India. While the joint venture was formed in […]

November 12, 2025By Chris Forrester

SES backs C-band action from FCC

The FCC unveiled plans earlier this week to again hold an auction of satellite C-band spectrum. It has now emerged that SES, the main satellite beneficiary of the restructuring, is firmly in favour of the FCC’s scheme. The FCC plan is to auction “at least” 100 MHz by July 2027. The FCC said the commission […]

October 31, 2025

FCC plans further C-band auction

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has circulated a proposal to advance America’s leadership in wireless by seeking comment on auctioning additional mid-band spectrum in the Upper C-Band. The draft Notice of Proposed Rulemaking will seek comment on a range of options, including auctioning up to 180 megahertz of spectrum in the 3.98-4.2 GHz band for next-gen […]

October 30, 2025By Colin Mann

Telco CEOs call for urgent EC action on digital connectivity

The CEOs of Europe’s major mobile operators and manufacturers have sent a letter to EC President Ursula von der Leyen calling for greater urgency and boldness in how her Commission is executing her mandate to restore Europe’s competitiveness. They say that in a society and economy that is ultradependent on digital connectivity, the market and […]

October 29, 2025By Colin Mann

Ofcom spectrum auction: Results finalised

UK comms regulator Ofcom has announced the final results of its mmWave spectrum auction, following completion of the remaining stages. On October 16th, Ofcom announced the results of the Principal stage, which determined how much spectrum each of the three bidders – EE, O2 and VodafoneThree – had won, and how much they had committed […]

October 24, 2025By Colin Mann

1st stage UK mmWave spectrum auction over

UK comms regulator Ofcom has announced the outcome of the Principal stage of its auction to release more airwaves to improve 5G in the busiest places. A total of 5.4 GHz of spectrum was up for grabs – the most ever to be made available in an Ofcom auction. This spectrum, known as ‘mmWave’ because […]

October 16, 2025By Colin Mann

EchoStar clears key regulatory hurdles for Starlink deal

EchoStar has met global regulatory conditions, unlocking the S-band sale to SpaceX and paving the way for Starlink’s 20x faster direct-to-device rollout. This is an important move for SpaceX. The S-band frequencies unlock Starlink’s direct-to-device rollout, aiming for a claimed 20x speed boost. The real benefit is S-band’s resistance to rain fade, and which can […]

October 6, 2025

Academic calls for FCC disbandment

Mark Jamison, Non-resident Senior Fellow at public policy think tank The American Enterprise Institute, has suggested it is time to disband the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), arguing that it has “run its course”, having become “a convenient political tool”. Writing in the AEIdeas blog, he suggests that current FCC Chairman Brendan Carr now has the […]

October 3, 2025By Colin Mann