To the uneducated, licensed spectrum is a valuable commodity. For carriers such as AT&T, Dish, T-Mobile, and Verizon to deploy next generation 5G access and services broadly, these service providers need a wide range of spectrum assets. The spectrum gap was abundantly clear as...
Happy Valentine’s Day from Charlotte/ Davidson/ Lake Norman, NC. We have prepared a very special issue this week for both President’s Day and Valentine’s Day holidays. Because it’s a long weekend, we took the liberty to slightly increase the length of this week’s Brief.
A...
Big Game greetings from Lake Norman/ Charlotte/ Davidson, NC. Pictured (r-l) are Darius Warton, Bob Guth (audophile and telecom legend), Gary Eason and yours truly. Gary and Darius have started a business selling vinyl records and turntables – check out their selection at www.thetwistedvinyl.com.
We build...
The concern many industry watchers have seen coming for years was finally addressed by Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, and Tim Cook, Apple CEO. They say that we have created a dangerous environment. Cook says rampant disinformation and conspiracy theories created by algorithms to increase...
Greetings from Statesville and Davidson, NC, where vaccinations are in full swing. Pictured is the appointment-only drive thru line at our regional hospital where the elder Pattersons received their first jab Saturday (getting the appointment for Jim’s folks was a definition of “luck of...
The RDOF auction started with the great promise of bringing broadband to vast swatches of the U.S. that is lacking this essential utility. It ended with questions of whether that promise can be fulfilled.
The RDOF auction was established to provide government funding to deploy...
iPhone Kick-Starts 5G’s Mass Market Appeal
5G was officially launched in South Korea in mid-2019 with a few smartphones, followed by many countries with additional commercial launches and new devices. Prior to this, and in a very similar pattern to 4G launches, 5G was only...
When cable TV companies didn’t have competition, they didn’t care about the customer. They only focused on the investor. This worked for them because there was only one cable TV provider for every region, so they had nothing to lose. Now that things are...
Signals Research Group (SRG) has been actively involved in tracking the advancement of 5G NR since its inception in September 2015 at a 3GPP workshop, held in Phoenix, Arizona. At the time, no one knew for certain what 5G NR would look like, what...
NFL playoff greetings from Lake Norman, NC (we only wish we were at Kansas City’s Union Station, pictured right). As we await two excellent NFL football games, we thought we would dive in to the opportunities facing one of the Telco Top 5 – Comcast. We...
You may be wondering with all the talk about 5G, which wireless network is the fastest between AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and Sprint. Well, mobile Internet speed testing firm Ookla Speedtest, once again gave the top honor to AT&T for 4Q of 2020....
Defying all the naysayers, when ultimately mmWave bands were proven to be well suited for 5G networks, the biggest question on everybody’s mind was, whether they are cost-effective for building large scale networks. GSMA Intelligence (GSMA-I), the market analysis wing of the operator industry...
As a keen industry observer, I have seen with awe, the attention patents (aka IPR- Intellectual Property Rights) have recently gotten. And that has everything to do with the importance 5G has gotten. Most of the stakeholders now realize that IPR leadership indeed means...
More snowy and chilly greetings from Jefferson City and Willard, Missouri, as well as the Tar Heel state, where we anxiously await next week’s warmup. The opening picture is from a Zoom presentation last week to the Colorado Wireless Association (COWA). A terrific discussion...
Everyone is always searching for the best companies. Investors are looking for the best companies to make money. Users are looking for the best quality and reliability. Workers are looking for the best companies to work for. There are always winners, losers and stallers...
Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf will be retiring June 30 after a successful 26-year run with the company. He will be replaced by Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon. Amon has been with the company since 1995. While there are always concerns when there is a change...
Snow and ice-filled greetings from Davidson, NC, and Springfield, MO. Pictured is yours truly (with assistance from a nephew) providing an afternoon snack to a few of the many bovines at the in-laws’ Missouri farm. A relaxing family holiday in a rural setting seems...
5G is set to have a significant impact on backhaul networks in the coming years. From ABI Research’s own research on the top 30 markets, 5G mobile subscriptions are expected to grow by a 41.2% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) between 2021 and 2027,...
Artificial Intelligence is one of the most exciting, amazing and powerful new technologies we have ever developed. However, there is a flaw with AI. Whether it is helpful or hurtful, right or wrong, good or bad depends on one thing. It depends on the...
Chilly December greetings from Lake Norman, where “Santa Jim” was busy distributing Christmas treats to the neighborhood dogs. They are certainly an attentive bunch.
Thanks for the many responses to last week’s Brief. As seen below, content/streaming developments seem to occur daily, and we are...
Despite mid-60s degree temperatures, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Davidson (pictured are the Giving Trees on the Village Green). They have been a tradition for decades - a highlight of our most unusual Holiday season.
We are going to start looking...
The tech industry has seen a blistering pace of innovation and market dominance. Global equity markets are swayed by how Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Netflix, Intel, Nvidia perform. Seven out of the top ten companies in S&P500 and three out of the top...
At a UBS investor conference last week, John Stankey, AT&T CEO said he likes the strong momentum in their wireless business during 4Q20. This growth is thanks to the changes made by Stankey earlier this year after he took the reins. Ever since, AT&T...
December greetings from Springfield, MO, and Davidson, NC. Pictured is yours truly standing in one of the world’s largest coal shovels (used for strip mining in rural Missouri in the 1950s). This particular shovel is prominently displayed in a small town (Rich Hill) in...
