Verizon Leads 5G Airwave Bidding With Record $45 Billion Splurge (bloomberg.com) 25
Verizon Communications committed $45 billion for 5G wireless airwaves in a government auction that attracted record bidding as the largest U.S. mobile carriers race to build faster networks. From a report: At $23 billion, AT&T was the second-highest bidder, according to the Federal Communications Commission, which ran the auction. Participants also included T-Mobile US Inc. and pay-TV providers such as Dish Network, Comcast and Charter Communications. Some have already tapped the debt market to help pay the tab. The auction started in December, and within days the tally exceeded analysts' estimates of $47 billion before settling at $81.2 billion. The budget-stretching bidding underscores how crucial these so-called midband frequencies are to companies trying to seize global leadership in emerging 5G technology. The airwaves are prized for their combined ability to travel far and carry lots of data. They are expected to drive years of growth when deployed for next-generation mobile devices, autonomous vehicles, health-care equipment and manufacturing facilities.
$45 billion isn't a lot of money (Score:2)
In completely unrelated news (Score:3)
Verizon will be announcing sweeping increases in charges for their services, which will amount to increased income of about $100 Billion a year. /s?
Re:In completely unrelated news (Score:4, Insightful)
Verizon will be announcing sweeping increases in charges for their services, which will amount to increased income of about $100 Billion a year. /s?
I am not sure why you used the "/s" sarcasm tag. Verizon is obviously spending this money to reap future profits. That's how capitalism works.
Do you have a better economic system to suggest?
Re: (Score:1)
Do you have a better economic system to suggest?
Social Corporatism. [wikipedia.org]
Re:In completely unrelated news (Score:5, Informative)
Social Corporatism. [wikipedia.org]
Your link lists the Nordic countries as social corporatists.
So, how do the Nordic countries allocate spectrum?
Answer: They auction it.
The customers will end up paying more (Score:2, Interesting)
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This is idiocy, and amounts to a stealth tax. The customers will just get ripped off to pay this $45 billion cost ASAP.
Sounds like the only idiocy, is being a Verizon customer.
Everything else, is expected.
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Re:The customers will end up paying more (Score:5, Funny)
This is idiocy, and amounts to a stealth tax.
What do you suggest instead?
Should the government just give away the spectrum? Who should they give it to?
The customers will just get ripped off to pay this $45 billion cost ASAP.
If the people using 5G don't pay for 5G, who should pay for it? Mexico? They haven't even paid for the wall.
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It seems to me that the plan is to convert existing cells to 5G at a rate exceeding the transition. 4G will suffer as more squeeze onto the remaining cells. The telcos will say, hey, we developed 5G because we projected 4G to become too crowded. See? That is what's happening. Just switch to 5G and all will be good again.
So, yeah, the people using 5G will pay for 5G. Regrettably, that will be most of us despite the fact that we don't need it (now,,, but they'll make sure we will).
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What do you suggest instead?
Should the government just give away the spectrum? Who should they give it to?
I would prefer for spectrum access to be dynamically shared similar to CBRS. There is no (good) reason in 2021 for frequencies to be permanently glued to carriers.
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This is idiocy, and amounts to a stealth tax. The customers will just get ripped off to pay this $45 billion cost ASAP.
Are you saying that all resources should be free? That's a great way of wasting the limited ones we have.
There's nothing tax or stealth about this. There was a resource pool, companies bid for it what they thought it was worth. The fact that a bidding war drove up the price has nothing to do with customers. Verizon can try to magically get customers to pay 4x more for their mobile service, to which they will be greeted with a middle finger.
The mobile space is not your crappy monopolistic internet connection
Kiss 3.5 GHz band good-bye (Score:5, Insightful)
They're coming for the upper bands which were available to Ham Radio enthusiasts. FCC doesn't care about us anymore.
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Amateur radio is dying. Most hams are over 60, and few young people take up the hobby.
With modern software-defined radio and packet protocols, fewer hams should need less spectrum.
At some point, as the hobby continues to fade away, it will be time to pull the plug entirely.
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
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The concept of Privacy, is dying. Most people who still appreciate the value of it are older and wiser, and few young people actually give a shit anymore.
Between greedy capitalism selling the surveillance state and government, no citizen should need privacy anyway.
At some point, as privacy continues to fade away, it will be time to pull the plug entirely on the concept.
The needs of the greedy, outweigh the needs of the few.
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FCC doesn't care about us anymore.
People don't ride horses on motorways anymore either.
up up and away (cellular prices that is) (Score:2)
I can't imagine anyway for this 5G bandwidth craziness to end except in higher prices for cellular in America where we already have higher prices for worse service than most of the developed world. And those who believe they'll just be able to continue using the 4G and escape the increase will be in for a rude awakening as they force us out and up. It will be the only move they can make for survival.
We could make very similar improvements with just the protocol updates and wider WiFi deployment. I use less
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And those who believe they'll just be able to continue using the 4G and escape the increase will be in for a rude awakening as they force us out and up. It will be the only move they can make for survival.
I went through that the last year of 2G, when they stopped maintaining the cells that were failing and also erected new 4G cells that made dead spots in 2G coverage by overloading the front end of 2G phones with adjacent-band energy if you were too close to a 4G cell - which you often were when stopped at
$150 (Score:3)
That means they need about $150 from every person who lives in the US just to pay that off without interest.
Should we be "selling" spectrum? (Score:3, Interesting)
I realize that it seems like the capitalism model is to sell the spectrum and then presumably put the money to good use, but I feel that it is tying our wireless infrastructure to a very costly model. The wireless companies must recoup their expenditures and the subscribers will pay for essentially a pass-through tax. In addition, the concept of a national spectrum auction specifically encourages monopolistic organizations rather than regional or local providers. I'm sure it is a lot less work for the FCC to make one giant sale though.
I really wish there was a way to support smaller local organizations without giving up the convenience of roaming with the same handset through large areas. It's too bad that the tower equipment is so expensive, and the necessary high speed links to connect the towers are also incredibly expensive -- which is why the telcos are the players in this business.
I suppose this is how we pay for national infrastructure in a country where "I don't want to pay for your service" means that those who want the 5g high-speed data will pay the extra cost to access it through Verizon's network.
Get ready... (Score:1)
Get ready to be paying $45B more on your Verizon bills.
spectrum (Score:1)