A week where the future of wireless distribution and the future of spectrum policy both moved. US Mobile, the multi-network MVNO, teased and then launched a bundle with Starlink that pairs satellite home internet with unlimited mobile service for under $50 a month, a pairing no national carrier currently offers. At the FCC, the agency opened public comment on Qualcomm's petition to create a new device-to-device service called Sidelink, and the clock ran out on upfront payments for Auction 113, the AWS-3 auction that will put fresh mid-band spectrum on the block in June. Quiet on the surface, but each story points at where the industry's center of gravity is shifting.
The FCC owned this week. On Monday it added foreign-produced consumer routers to the Covered List, effective immediately, citing a national security determination that linked foreign router supply chains to the Volt Typhoon and Salt Typhoon intrusion campaigns. On Thursday the commission unanimously adopted its Network and Services Modernization Order, sweeping away the federal approval process for retiring copper networks, granting blanket authority to grandfather legacy services, and preempting conflicting state requirements. Between those two actions, the agency also kept the AWS-3 auction on schedule, releasing the application status for Auction 113 ahead of June bidding. One week, three moves, and each one redraws a boundary: what equipment can be sold, what networks must be maintained, and who gets new spectrum.
A short holiday week with long-term consequences. On September 2 a federal judge issued the remedies ruling in the Google search antitrust case, stopping short of a breakup and, crucially for the mobile industry, allowing Google to keep paying device makers and carriers for search placement. On September 3 the FCC's competitive bidding rules for the AWS-3 auction took effect, clearing the path for the first US spectrum auction in four years. And T-Mobile spent the week showcasing early satellite data access on Google's new Pixel 10, giving off-grid users app connectivity through Starlink ahead of a broader launch in October.
The satellite race answered back, and the spectrum pipeline formally opened. Verizon completed its first satellite-to-cellular video call using AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird satellites on February 24, a direct riposte to T-Mobile's Starlink Super Bowl moment and proof the AST camp can do more than text. At its February 27 meeting the FCC adopted the upper C-band Notice of Inquiry and AWS-3 auction procedures, converting agenda promises into live proceedings and starting the clock on the next mid-band supply wave. And EchoStar closed the books on a difficult 2024, reporting Boost Mobile subscriber progress amid shrinking revenue and the debt overhang that would define its dramatic year ahead.
The spectrum machine restarted and the AI checkbook opened wider. The FCC circulated its February meeting agenda, teeing up the AWS-3 re-auction and an inquiry into the upper C-band, the first concrete moves toward putting new mid-band spectrum into carrier hands since auction authority lapsed in 2023. Analysts immediately began handicapping the bidder field for what could be the decade's most consequential spectrum sales. Meanwhile earnings season revealed the scale of the AI infrastructure arms race: the tech megacaps collectively guided to more than 320 billion dollars of 2025 capital spending, a number that dwarfs the entire US wireless industry's annual investment and is already reshaping demand for fiber, power, and connectivity.