CTIA - The Wireless Association
05/10/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 05/10/2024 12:44
2024 CTIA 5G Summit: America’s Economic Competitiveness Relies on More Full-Power, Licensed Spectrum
Nick Ludlum
Senior Vice President & Chief Communications Officer
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On Monday, we hosted our annual 5G Summit. Once again, we were pleased to host industry executives alongside key government leaders-including Alan Davidson, Assistant Secretary of Commerce & NTIA Administrator; Lt. Gen. David T. Issacson, Chief Information Officer, J-6, Join Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Department of Defense; Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH-05); and Representative Doris Matsui (D-CA-07)- to discuss the latest issues facing the wireless industry.
With the U.S. leading the world in 5G availability, many of the speakers highlighted the tremendous role 5G is playing in our economy and how it's changing industries and fueling U.S. competitiveness on the global stage. But, as CTIA President & CEO, Meredith Attwell Baker, reminded the audience, our leadership is at risk due to the continued lack of a spectrum pipeline. Leaders from government and industry echoed her words, noting the urgent need for policymakers to act now and take the steps necessary to secure our 5G leadership.
Here are my key takeaways from the 2024 CTIA 5G Summit:
Policymakers Expressed the Need for Action on Spectrum
Samsung's Mark Louisan, EVP & GM, Networks Business, warned that "traffic is exploding, and spectrum allocations are dwindling." Reflecting this ongoing challenge, policymakers used their platform to underscore the need for action now to secure America's economic competitiveness.
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"And the United States should be identifying more spectrum with a spectrum pipeline. We should also be fast-tracking the spectrum that we know is out there, such as in the lower 3 GHz… And I'm confident we're going to get it done because we have to get it done." - Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH-05), Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology
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"The Biden Administration has implemented an ambitious long-term agenda . . . to make sure there are sufficient spectrum resources to fuel American innovation and global competitiveness in order to meet the needs of both the private and public sector. It is essential to our economic and national security." - Alan Davidson, Assistant Secretary of Commerce & NTIA Administrator, U.S. Department of Commerce
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"…Of course, with a hamstrung FCC, we're going to be limited in what we can achieve. I don't think we can afford to wait any longer..." - Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA-07), Ranking Member on the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology
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"…[W]e hope to be able to innovate with all of you to meet the demand of the spectrum needs for the national security, but also for our industry partners and for our nation in a larger sense." Lt. Gen. David T. Isaacson, Chief Information Officer, J-6, Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Department of Defense
Industry Leaders Call for More Spectrum to Meet Demand
Wireless industry leaders echoed the need for action on spectrum, with CTIA President and CEO, Meredith Attwell Baker, highlighting the challenges posted by growing demand.
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"Last year we saw nearly 40% growth on mobile networks… But the hard truth is that this year's growth will have to be met without the benefit of new spectrum. That is unsustainable. Spectrum is the lifeblood. But we have no blueprint for when we will get more in the United States. By 2027, we know we will need at least 400 more megahertz, hundreds more before the end of the decade." - Meredith Attwell Baker, President & CEO, CTIA
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"The simple mantra that I want to share on spectrum is, spectrum is good. Licensed spectrum is better. Contiguous licensed spectrum is the best, and that's what you want to do in collaboration." - Nishant Batra, Chief Strategy & Technology Officer, Nokia
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"Spectrum, at the end of the day, it's the life of what we actually do. That's what you need to offer more services…I think it's important to focus on spectrum that is indeed usable and very fast to deploy as we move forwards with that so that we don't have a lot of issues associated with, how much do we need to work around things…" - Durga Malladi, SVP & GM, Technology Planning & Edge Solutions, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
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"We need to secure spectrum. It is extremely important. It is strategic. It is not something you do very shortly. You actually need to think about it for many, many years in advance. So let's do that and it needs to be in full power." - Yossi Cohen, President & CEO, Ericsson North America
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"…[W]e could do a lot better as a country if we can get a 10-, 15-year plan in place that has deterministic ways of when spectrum will be available…I think it's going to really take full-power … spectrum to really move the needle." - Kyle Malady, CEO, Verizon Business
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"Spectrum auction authority can be fixed by Congress and needs to do so. And we need a much bigger spectrum pipeline coming in. [By] 2027, China [will have] four times more spectrum [than the] U.S... And we have a growth of traffic… The highest penetration with new services is squeezing, squeezing operators in this country for spectrum. We really need it to be able to continue to fuel the increasingly wireless economy. - Ulf Ewaldsson, President of Technology, T-Mobile
Gallaudet University Headlines a Focus on How 5G and Licensed Spectrum are Driving Innovation
Throughout the Summit, industry leaders spoke about the role 5G is playing for companies and innovators across the economy. One example jumped out in the interview Jenifer Robertson, AT&T EVP & GM of Mass Markets, hosted with Gallaudet University's Football Head Coach and Quarterback to discuss a new, 5G-powered helmet that allows these deaf and hard of hearing student-athletes to receive play calls from the sidelines. It's a literal game changer and a powerful reminder of 5G and licensed spectrum's ability to remove barriers and enhance people's lives.
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"Everything was just the way it was supposed to be. It was just open communication, fast, real-time communication, something we've not had… This guy right here stepped up to the table, third play of the game, all the nerves were finished after he runs 70 yards for a touchdown, so it was a pretty cool experience." - Chuck Goldstein, Head Football Coach, Gallaudet University
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"I would say that the helmet gave me the ability and confidence where I didn't have to look at Coach Chuck …. I didn't have to run to the hash and look at him to get the play. It was better and easier to communicate with my team in a huddle." - Brandon Washington, Quarterback, Gallaudet University.
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"Innovation has limitless possibilities when you have the spectrum to put the connectivity on it… And getting that mid-band, fully-powered, licensed spectrum-access to it allows us to create these uses cases." - Jenifer Robertson, EVP & GM, Mass Markets, AT&T
5G's First Killer App: Home Broadband
Speakers took the occasion to reflect on how 5G is already making a huge impact in the consumer home broadband space, reflecting two years in which 5G dominated the competition to capture virtually all market growth. In fact, during that time 95% of net new subscribers chose 5G home above cable and other options. Importantly, one-in-five of those were entirely new home broadband subscribers, underscoring 5G's role in helping to close the digital divide.
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"People ask me about the killer app for 5G, I think we have one going right now. Fixed wireless access in the industry has given consumers a lot of choice… in places where they might've only had one cable provider, now they have choice with a wireless service. And then we're seeing good traction as an industry. As a matter of fact, I think it's the last three or four quarters, wireless has taken 100% of market share of broadband. And that just shows there's a need." - Kyle Malady, CEO, Verizon Business
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"We are able to create a completely new [5G fixed wireless access] service based on disrupting what is in many countries, and no exception here, almost oligopolies among fixed players that are supplying this type of access to homes… Fixed wireless access in the U.S. is now up to 60% coverage… We were at the end of the last year able to reach eight million subscribers on fixed wireless access and it keeps growing." - Ulf Ewaldsson, President of Technology, T-Mobile
The wireless industry is a force multiplier for U.S. economic competitiveness.
Gallaudet and 5G Home Broadband are just the start. All throughout the Summit, speakers explored the ways that 5G is driving advances in productivity, fostering innovation across the wireless industry and beyond, driving down costs for consumers, growing jobs, and creating a stronger and more competitive American economy.
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"Competitive[ness] to me and to Carolina West is providing fixed and mobile broadband to families so that they can stay connected to school and to work… Competitive[ness] is also about supporting business and supporting government, how they attract employees, how they leverage technology, how they compete locally and sometimes even globally." - Slayton Stewart, CEO, Carolina West Wireless
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"I do a lot of work on private networks of 5G enterprises. There's almost never a time they don't talk about, 'Well, you need to enable the AI workload on the edge.' So what we rapidly see is that the connectivity piece, a reliable, resilient, and high broadband with connectivity, actually accelerates the AI, especially AI on the edge." - Caroline Chan, VP, Network and Edge Group & GM, Network Business Incubator Division, Intel Corporation
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"We actually recently sold a product to a customer in Monona County. It's a storage facility, and they were [accumulating a] pretty significant amount of cost in terms of managing access in and out and managing video access to their storage facility. We've put in 5G cameras. They now can track automatically monitor license plates coming in and out of the facility. Brings their security cost way down." - LT Therivel, President & CEO, UScellular
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"We've built the first national Open RAN network in the cloud by using predominantly U.S. technology. And this allows us the ability to also help drive the standards using perspectives from the U.S., which is absolutely crucial… We've put in place a network that gives our customers the ability to control what they want to be able to do. It puts flexibility at their fingertips." - Eben Albertyn, EVP & Chief Technology Officer, DISH Wireless
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"One thing I'm really excited about is some of the private network work we're doing and then how we can enable our customers to run their operations, whether it be in a warehouse or a port …or a tulip farm." - Kyle Malady, CEO, Verizon Business
The Summit is a great snapshot of where we stand as an industry and a unique opportunity to bring key business leaders to D.C. to share the huge opportunities ahead if we can address the spectrum challenges that were highlighted throughout the day.