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It has taken months longer than expected, but Dish Network plans later today to commercially launch its homegrown 5G cell service to consumers in Las Vegas.

Why it matters: Dish Network has relied on T-Mobile's network to power its Boost prepaid wireless service, but has been working to build out its own nationwide 5G network and service. It also owns huge swaths of wireless airwaves purchased in government auctions.

Driving the news: Later today, Dish will begin allowing anyone in Las Vegas to sign up for its homegrown 5G service, a source told Axios. 

The service, dubbed Project Genesis, uses OpenRAN, a new type of cellular networking gear based on standard computing technology. 

Project Genesis has been in closed beta for several months and, even with the launch, Dish is aiming for tech-savvy early adopters rather than mainstream consumers.

Dish is starting with a single phone, the Motorola 5G Edge+, but plans to quickly add support for more devices.

Between the lines: The executive cited a number of reasons for the delayed launch, including the novel technology that powers it, as well as Dish's decision to add a roaming agreement with AT&T on top of one with T-Mobile.

The big picture: U.S. regulators approved T-Mobile's Sprint purchase in 2020 in part because of an agreement to establish Dish as a new fourth nationwide competitor. T-Mobile sold the Boost prepaid business to Dish, while allowing Dish the ability to resell service on T-Mobile's network as it built up its own service.

Dish's relationship with T-Mobile has become fraught since T-Mobile announced its plans to shut down Sprint's older CDMA wireless network, a service still being used by a significant number of Boost customers. 

Dish has complained to regulators, while T-Mobile insists it has given Dish more than the required notice of its shutdown plan.

What's next: Dish plans to have service available in 125 cities by June, a rapid expansion it says is possible because the cellular towers are in place and the computing infrastructure to support the service runs in Amazon's cloud. 

A map on the Project Genesis site indicates some of the cities where service is planned, including Salt Lake City, Dallas and Stockton, Calif.

"Getting Vegas working was the hard part," the source said. "We finally got over that hump."

Exclusive: Dish Network to launch commercial 5G service in Las Vegas

A map of where Dish hopes to soon offer 5G service

Screenshot: Axios via Project Genesis website.

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

Technology

A bipartisan Senate bill expected to be introduced Tuesday would require federal regulators to more thoroughly vet internet service providers seeking government money.

Driving the news: The Rural Broadband Protection Act, from Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), shared exclusively with Axios, would require the FCC to develop rules to make sure funding goes to companies that have the technical capability to deliver the broadband service they promise.

The FCC vets companies that are set to receive broadband subsidies, but the lawmakers say the scrutiny should come earlier in the funding process.

Capito has previously raised concerns about the ability of internet service providers to meet their funding obligations in her rural state.

Context: A group of lawmakers last year called on the FCC to thoroughly scrutinize the providers who received funding from the $9 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program.

What they're saying: "By verifying that providers can actually deliver on the promises made to bring high-speed internet to specific areas, we can maximize the influx of broadband dollars coming to West Virginia and move closer toward our goal of closing the digital divide in communities of all sizes across our state," Capito said in a statement.

Exclusive: New bill aims to strengthen internet funding safeguards

The Rural Broadband Protection Act would scrutinize federal funding to internet companies.

Digital divide

AT&T's planned shutdown of its 3G network Tuesday has sparked fears that home security systems, medical alert monitors and a range of other devices will stop working.

Why it matters: Carriers have previously retired networks, but this transition is proving more complicated because the pandemic hindered companies that rely on 3G services from making upgrades. Plus, there are just more devices to manage.

AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon are all planning to shut down their 3G networks this year to support new 5G services. 

Driving the news: AT&T, which first announced plans to sunset its 3G network in 2019, says less than 1% of its mobile data traffic runs on that network.

The company has offered customers free and discounted 4G LTE phones to help them upgrade, totaling about 2 million replacements.

What to watch: AT&T says phone coverage will not be affected, but it's not just phones that use the company's 3G network.

3G-connected cars — including some that are only a few years old — may require software or hardware upgrades, or could lose automatic crash notifications and other features entirely.

As much as 10% of all public school buses across the country will lose GPS and communications services, according to a filing from AASA, The School Superintendents Association.

San Francisco warned bus riders that more than 650 prediction display systems at bus shelters that rely on AT&T's 3G service will stop displaying real-time information.

Details: An alarm industry group says roughly 2 million devices powering burglar intrusion systems, fire alarms and personal emergency alerts will go offline.

The Alarm Industry Communications Committee said the pandemic hindered technicians' ability to get into homes to upgrade devices and source materials, and has asked the Federal Communications Commission to force AT&T to delay its plans.

The FCC has not acted on the group's request. Committee spokesperson John Brady told Axios the industry has taken its concerns to the White House, which intervened in a dispute between AT&T and Verizon and the airline industry over 5G signals last month.

"I basically told the White House that you were worried about planes falling out of the sky. How about people dying in their homes? Because that's what's going to happen," said Brady, who is also COO of Connect America, which provides personal alert devices. "They're going to think that their device works, they're going to hit the button, and it's not going to go anywhere."

What they're saying: "We are heading to alarmaggedon," Harold Feld, senior vice president of tech policy group Public Knowledge, told Axios. 

"If you roll the dice, maybe nobody has a problem in the first day or the second day or the third day," Feld said. "But eventually someone's going to have a problem where they will need that alarm."

A senior Biden administration official told Axios the White House is "closely tracking carriers' 3G transition plans and shares concerns about the potential impact of these plans on the function of home security and medical alert devices."

The other side: AT&T says it has built a plug-in device to automatically connect 3G alarm service devices to its LTE network, and is using roaming options to help bridge the transition for many connected devices.

AT&T has argued the largest alarm company, ADT, was able to upgrade its devices and other companies have focused on new installations rather than upgrades. 

Meanwhile, FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, said the agency worked with AT&T to ensure there are roaming agreements in place for devices that rely on its 3G network.

"I think we are on course for this transition to take place with limited disruption," Rosenworcel told reporters at a press conference Friday. 

Republican commissioner Brendan Carr told reporters he worries about further delays to 5G service: "I think it is very important that we get our groove back when it comes to 5G and continue to move forward."

What's next: T-Mobile will sunset its 3G service on July 1, and Verizon plans to end its service by the end of  the year.

Ending 3G service sparks fears of an "alarmaggedon"

Security alarms, medical alerts and other devices could fail once the older wireless services cuts off.

Illustration of a mushroom cloud in the shape of the 3G symbol

AT&T

AT&T, Verizon extend 5G delay over airline panic

The CEOs of leading airlines warned of catastrophic disruption to flights if AT&T and Verizon deployed 5G this week.

The CEOs of leading U.S. air cargo and passenger carriers on Monday warned the Biden administration there could be "catastrophic disruption" after AT&T and Verizon deploy a new 5G service this week.

Driving the news: They said in a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and other top federal officials ahead of the C-Band 5G service's deployment Wednesday that "the nation's commerce will grind to a halt" and "could potentially strand tens of thousands of Americans overseas."

They're calling on the Biden administration's "immediate intervention" in the matter to "avoid significant operational disruption" and ensure "that 5G be implemented everywhere in the country except within the approximate 2 miles of airport runways" at affected airports, according to the letter, first reported by Reuters.

"Unless our major hubs are cleared to fly, the vast majority of the traveling and shipping public will essentially be grounded," states the letter, from CEOs of firms including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines.

For the record: The Federal Aviation Administration cleared about 45% of the U.S. commercial fleet to perform low-visibility landings "at many of the airports where 5G C-band will be deployed on Jan. 19," per an FAA statement.

Context: There's been an ongoing dispute between wireless carriers and the aviation industry over the 5G service, Axios' Margaret Harding McGill notes.

The FAA has warned previously that potential interference from 5G signals, especially in bad weather, could cause flight cancellations or force planes to divert to different airports.

The other side: Verizon and AT&T have previously committed to creating buffer zones around certain airports for six months to reduce interference risks, along with other safety measures.

They also delayed the planned deployment of the services following a request from Buttigieg to address airline industry concerns.

Representatives for Verizon and AT&T and the Biden administration did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.

Airlines call for Biden admin's "immediate intervention" in 5G deployment

They're urging "immediate intervention" from Pete Buttigieg and other federal officials ahead of Wednesday's deployment.

 Airplane runway covered with snow at Newark Liberty International Airport on January 7, 2022 in New Jersey, United States as massive snow storm hits the east coast.

Photo: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg duringa news conference earlier this month in Long Beach, California.

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

President Biden has made the COVID-19 crisis and a post-Trump return to national unity and traditional democratic ideals his top priorities. From vaccinations to stimulus to schools, Biden is seeking bipartisan compromise while showing a willingness to use executive authority and bare Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and Senate to implement his policies. Republican leaders are navigating deep party divisions over if and how to move beyond former President Trump.

Politics & Policy

It's been long known that trees can slow down some 5G signals. A recent federal study aims to figure out just how much, in order to create more accurate signal strength prediction models.

Why it matters: 5G has the potential to supercharge wireless networks, but its rollout has revealed a range of complex challenges.

What they found: Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology measured the strength of signals that rely on the high-frequency millimeter wave spectrum through different types of trees during different seasons of the year.

Researchers have known that obstacles like foliage or even rain could reduce millimeter wave signal strength, but the NIST team wanted to more precisely measure the impact trees have.

The researchers conducted measurements on seven types of trees at their campus in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

As expected, the leafier the tree, the more strength the signal lost, Nada Golmie, chief of NIST’s wireless networks division in the Communications Technology Laboratory, told Axios.

The research, which is part of an ongoing project, aims to provide more precise measurements of that signal loss, which Golmie says NIST is sharing to help make modeling more accurate.

What they're saying:  "By providing measurements, and methods to measure, we're enabling others to more accurately, precisely assess the loss so that it can be overcome," Golmie said. "We believe it can be overcome."

The big picture: Verizon already uses millimeter wave spectrum for some of its 5G services, but both it and AT&T plan to use airwaves at a lower frequency known as the C-band to expand 5G service.

Spectrum at that lower frequency can better penetrate obstacles, but the C-band comes with its own set of controversies amid concerns from the aviation industry about potential interference. (T-Mobile isn’t using C-band for its 5G services and has avoided the drama.)

What's next: With more services crowding airwaves, Golmie says using millimeter wave spectrum — and overcoming its limitations — will be necessary.

Overcoming 5G's tree problem

5G coulsupercharge wireless networks, but its rollout has faced a range of complex challenges.

Illustration of a tree trunk with a Wifi symbol in place of leaves

An Alphabet-backed company wants to rethink how 5G services are delivered to ensure communities don't fall into a wireless digital divide.

Why it matters: The internet has become necessary infrastructure during the pandemic, but ubiquitous 5G service has been slow to fully develop in the U.S.

Driving the news: Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners (SIP) said Tuesday it will invest $100 million to both acquire wireless infrastructure company Dense Air and use its small cell technology to build a "borderless classroom."

SIP, which was spun out of Google-parent Alphabet, intends to work with an as yet unnamed city to build a private wireless network for a school district so students can connect to the same network whether they're in the classroom, on the school bus or at home, SIP co-CEO Jonathan Winer told Axios.

"The idea behind it would be to create a single wireless network that would be administered actually by the school district itself —they could set how often the kids would use it, what they could see," Winer said.

The big picture: Given the capital-intensive process of building better, faster internet networks, new companies are looking to rethink the business model for internet access.

Community infrastructure company Underline began building its first open-access fiber network in Colorado earlier this year, with the goal of operating a fiber network that multiple service providers use to offer high-speed internet to customers. 

How it works: Building ultra-fast 5G networks in cities involves deploying equipment known as small cells to densify wireless networks, as opposed to the large towers that covered wide swaths of areas in earlier wireless evolutions.

Instead of companies each deploying their own equipment, which can take thousands of cells, SIP envisions changing that model, where they or municipalities share the Dense Air small cells to extend networks to underserved areas.

For example, rather than deploying three different small cells from three carriers over and over, a city might say, "couldn't we build a small number of total small cells but include a bunch of communities that don't have access to wireless?" Winer said.

Reality check: While wireless companies have come around to sharing space on the same big towers, they will likely be reluctant to share network equipment in this way.

And carriers already are deploying small cells that are serving a huge number of wireless customers.

Winer acknowledged the potential hesitation, but said cable companies that want to get into the wireless space, or cities that want their own networks, are more likely customers.

Of note: Google, and parent company Alphabet, have a long history of pushing alternatives to the traditional provision of internet and telecom services, from backing municipal WiFi efforts to establishing Google Fi and Google Fiber.

Yes, but: It's not clear if these new types of models of sharing fiber or small cell networks to extend broadband access will succeed.

New Street Research advisor Blair Levin, a former FCC official, said the models generally involve delivering a similar service, and it's not apparent there's a cost structure advantage.

"If it works, it's huge, but the odds of it working out are not high," Levin told Axios.

State of play: The major wireless carriers have rolled out 5G deployments over the past few years despite the pandemic, but as Axios' Ina Fried has noted, the full impact of faster speeds and new uses has yet to be felt.

What they're saying: Winer said Dense Air's first U.S. project will be a pilot with a municipality willing to be a "co-creator" and work with the company as it navigates this new model.

"Like all our projects at SIP, it's about taking technology that we think can have a huge impact and proving it out," Winer said. "And the only way you can figure this out is you're going to put it in the field to see what you can deliver."

First look: A different 5G business model

The internet has become necessary infrastructure, but 5G service has been slow to develop in the U.S.

Illustration of a close up of a cell phone showing the largest reception bar breaking off the screen.  

Back in 2018, White House National Security Council official Gen. Robert Spalding wrote a controversial PowerPoint deck on how the U.S. government could play a greater role in building 5G networks. Now Spalding has left government and military service and landed $20 million to bring some of his vision to life via a private company.

How it works: The startup, Sempre, aims to offer a more secure, smarter alternative to the traditional cell tower, adding computing power at the edge and making the cell tower itself more resilient to attacks.

Details: Spalding tells Axios most of the $20 million in funding comes from the private offices of wealthy individuals. The round was led by Goff Capital, the family office of John Goff, a Texas real estate investor.

Between the lines: It's early days for the company, which is still looking for "anchor tenants" for a network of such towers.

Sempre is still figuring out how best to work with the existing players, including tower companies and wireless carriers, as well as where it can work directly with military, government agencies and businesses to offer private 5G networks.

 The company has also won a bid for an early trial with the military and is exploring other ideas for working with first responders and other governmental agencies.

The big picture: Spalding says Sempre aims to offer its customers added computing power by placing a mini-data center at the tower, as well as protection from electromagnetic pulses caused by nuclear attack or solar flare. 

Commercial carriers are also working to place data centers closer to the edge of their networks.

This "edge computing" approach can minimize delay and speed app performance.

Growing competition with China and an increase in cyberattacks are among the motivations for building a more secure network. "Data really defines who we are in the digital economy today," Spalding says.

Yes, but: 5G networks are rolling out fast in the U.S., and it's unclear what kind of broad demand there might ever be for Sempre's "hardened tower" approach.

Flashback: In 2018 — as Axios first reported — Spalding's PowerPoint presentation was circulating through the White House listing a series of ways that the government could foster creation of a more secure 5G network by playing a bigger role in its creation. 

The idea was widely criticized by those who saw the commercial industry already well on the way to establishing their own 5G networks.

Spalding insists he was never trying to nationalize 5G. Rather, he saw an opportunity for the government to play a broader role in securing next-generation networks, or perhaps by spurring the major wireless players to work together.

"Nobody told me to do it," Spalding said. "I did it on my own."

Spalding left the White House shortly after the 5G presentation became public and went back to the Pentagon, where he began the process of retiring from the Air Force. While other retiring officers were making plans for golf or fishing, Spalding said he was making plans to launch a tech company.

"This is my passion," Spalding recalls telling his wife. "It’s not something that people are really working on."

What they're saying: Rhydon Lee at Goff Capital, which led the financing round, says Sempre fits with his focus on sectors of the economy that will see increased investment due to competition with China, areas like space, national security, climate tech and quantum computing.

"There is now an incentive for innovation in some of these areas," Lee told Axios. Lee said he was attracted both to Sempre's product ideas as well as to Spalding himself.

Exclusive: Retired general nabs $20 million for secure 5G tower plan

Sempre aims to offer a smarter, more secure alternative to the traditional cell tower.

Column / Signal Boost

The largely successful U.S. effort to hobble China's Huawei has benefitted a host of other tech companies — from smartphone makers such as Apple and Xiaomi to chipmakers like Qualcomm to network vendors including Nokia and Ericsson.

Yes, but: The massive disruption to the industry furthered an industry wide mismatch between supply and demand, exacerbating the global chip shortage.

International sanctions on Huawei, promoted by the U.S., had a two-fold effect, according to Neil Shah, a partner at market analysis firm Counterpoint Research.

"Firstly, Huawei sucked in most of the components supply to help its smartphone business survive for the next twelve months," Shah said, with Huawei gobbling up most of the available short-to-mid-term capacity. 

That, in turn, pushed mobile competitors to race to book orders even though the overall smartphone market has been relatively flat.

And that left other industries, such as automotive, unable to secure needed chips when their business rebounded.

Catch up quick: U.S. efforts to limit Huawei's business began years ago, but accelerated during the Trump Administration. Before then, efforts against the firm — whose close relationship to China's government, U.S. policymakers believe, makes it a security threat — largely centered on keeping Huawei out of major American telecom networks.

Under Trump, there was a massive effort to keep other countries, especially European allies, from using Huawei gear to build their 5G networks.

Huawei's cellphone business was further decimated by a ban that kept it from getting key components, such as software and chips, from U.S. companies. 

The big picture: The result of the moves was a collapse of Huawei's market share in phones, even in China.

The company, which had been selling 50 million phones per quarter and was a leader in China and Europe, saw its sales drop to 7 million per quarter globally by the third quarter of this year, according to Counterpoint Research. 

Huawei’s global market share plunged from a peak of 17% in March 2020 to just 2% in Sep 2021, per Counterpoint.

Between the lines: The resulting shake-up benefitted nearly everyone else in the market to some degree, but had an outsized benefit for some of the biggest players in tech.

In phones, Chinese device maker Xiaomi was a big winner, gaining not just in China, but also scooping up a large chunk of Huawei's business in Europe, where Huawei had been a key premium brand.

Huawei's phones were powered to a large degree by its homegrown processors. Its rapid decline in the high end of the phone market largely benefitted Qualcomm, while Taiwanese chipmaker MediaTek scooped up even more of the low-end phone market, where it has already been growing.

In networking gear, arguably Huawei's most important business, the company remains a significant player — especially in the developing world, where its low prices are especially important. But its losses in Europe and other advanced markets helped bolster rivals Ericsson and Nokia.

The other side: Huawei remains a giant company. Even with sales down by nearly a third, the company still posted revenue of 455.8 billion yuan ($71.5 billion) for the first nine months of 2021.

In a statement to Axios, Huawei VP Glenn Schloss acknowledged that the company's business has been "significantly disrupted" by U.S. sanctions. 

"We know also from other Chinese purchasers that the semiconductor market experienced distortions from the Trump Administration's sanctions which contributed to the overall difficulties and eventual shortages in supply chains involving chipsets," Schloss said.

Huawei sanctions snarled chip supply chains

The U.S.'s success at hobbling the Chinese firm's phone business left winners and losers.

Illustration of a warning sign featuring the Huawei logo

Huawei

The Federal Communications Commission on Monday said it had approved Verizon's $6 billion purchase of wireless company TracFone, after the companies agreed to conditions meant to protect consumers.

Why it matters: The FCC was the last regulatory hurdle for Verizon, which expects to close the transaction in the coming days.

Catch up quick: Public interest groups had opposed the deal over concerns it could reduce access to affordable phone service. They withdrew their objections this summer after Verizon committed to continuing to offer TracFone's current services to low-income customers via the government's Lifeline program.

The Lifeline program, administered by the FCC, provides a $9.25 monthly subsidy to companies that provide phone or broadband service to low-income consumers, generally at no out-of-pocket cost to the customer.

Driving the news: The FCC said Verizon made several commitments to secure agency approval, including:

Offering TracFone's Lifeline services for at least seven years.

Offering a 5G plan and cost-effective 5G devices to existing and new Lifeline customers.

Submitting publicly available reports with information on Lifeline and non-Lifeline customers for seven years.

Between the lines: TracFone has a large Lifeline customer base, but Verizon has not been a major player in the program.

Verizon's move into the prepaid market with TracFone will position it to compete against AT&T's Cricket and T-Mobile's MetroPCS.

What they're saying: "The deal will provide customers with the best of both worlds: more choices, better services and new features thanks to Verizon’s investment and innovation," Kathy Grillo, Verizon senior vice president of public policy and government affairs, said in a statement.

FCC approves Verizon's $6B purchase of TracFone

Groups had initially opposed the deal over concerns it could reduce access to affordable phone service.

A photo illustration of a smartphone with the Verizon logo on the screen.

Photo illustration: Mateusz Slodkowski via Getty Images

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Coronavirus-related economic disruption and uncertainty could yet slow the pace of 5G deployment in the U.S. — but for now, the major carriers say they're moving full speed ahead.

Why it matters: The pandemic has highlighted the importance of connectivity as businesses shift to remote work and schools move classes online, making network performance more vital than ever.

What's happening: The major wireless carriers say the coronavirus has not altered the pace of their 5G rollouts, but industry observers and federal officials question how long that will remain true. 

"As a logical matter, I would expect a slowdown," said former Federal Communications Commission official Blair Levin, now a policy adviser for New Street Research.

Levin cited concerns about construction crew members working close to each other; disruptions to supply chains; and consumers' ability and willingness to pay for pricey 5G plans and new phones amid staggering unemployment rates.

Companies may say they're moving ahead, Levin said, "but we’re really early into it, and the notion that consumers are going to pay a premium in an economic downturn is counterintuitive to me."

There may also be fewer 5G-ready devices as a result of the pandemic.

Only a tiny fraction of the phones bought last year supported 5G networks. This year, most new high-end phones were (and still are) expected to support 5G. But with fewer people buying new phones amid the pandemic, that could still mean fewer 5G-ready devices this year.

The big wild card is Apple. The company had been gearing up to launch a 5G phone this year, but things could yet change, says industry consultant Chetan Sharma. The largely Chinese-based supply chain should be ready for the usual fall launch, but Sharma said Apple might decide to delay things if it doesn't see a big enough market for a 5G-capable iPhone.

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said she's pleased that U.S. carriers are moving forward with their 5G plans right now.

"But we need to keep in mind that a mix of factors — delayed standards, deferred [airwaves] auctions, and supply chain issues — could slow this in the future," Rosenworcel said in a statement. "Still, for the long haul I’m optimistic because this crisis is accelerating the digitization of everything and we are counting on connectivity for so much more in modern life."

The FCC pushed back the start of an upcoming wireless spectrum auction to July due to the pandemic.

What they're saying: The carriers insist it's business as usual for their 5G plans.

AT&T noted that federal guidelines have identified telecom workers as essential, and the company is on track with its plans to launch 5G nationwide before July.  "We’re still marching down the path we’ve been talking about," AT&T's Scott Mair, president of technology & operations, told Axios.

5G rollout advances despite pandemic, but hazards loom

Supply chain disruptions and a broader downturn hitting wireless sales are among several potential pitfalls.

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5G

The big picture

5G rollout advances despite pandemic, but hazards loom

The next decade of smart city growth

Team Trump's 5G misfires

The battle over 5G deployment in America's cities

Deep Dive: The next tech wave rides on 5G

How to sound smart about 5G

All 5G stories