Telecom Intelligence: Week of April 13, 2026
A week that ended with a jolt. On Sunday morning, Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket delivered its reusable booster back to a landing ship but left AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird 7 satellite in an orbit too low to save, a costly setback for the company racing to build a direct-to-device constellation. Earlier in the week, Ericsson opened the network equipment earnings season with results that showed currency headwinds masking real underlying growth, and the FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau refreshed the Covered List, the government's roster of communications equipment deemed a national security risk. Space ambition, vendor economics, and security policy all in one week, which is roughly the modern telecom industry in miniature.
Telecom Intelligence: Week of February 24, 2025
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.
Telecom Intelligence: Week of September 9, 2024
Device week doubled as a preview of the industry's two next battlegrounds. Apple introduced the iPhone 16 line as its first hardware 'built for Apple Intelligence' — betting the upgrade cycle on AI features that would arrive in stages — while Huawei answered within hours, unveiling a $2,800 tri-fold phone that sold out its pre-order list in China and flaunted how far the sanctioned giant has clawed back. And far above the phones, AST SpaceMobile put its first five commercial BlueBird satellites into orbit — the largest commercial communications arrays ever flown, and the first pieces of a carrier-partnered answer to Starlink's direct-to-cell push.