A quieter week on the surface, but one with real signals underneath. Charter's Spectrum Mobile launched a $10 per month Second Line that lets customers run a separate work number on the phone they already carry, the latest proof that cable is competing in wireless on product creativity, not just price. On the regulatory side, the FCC extended and expanded waivers that keep already-authorized foreign-made drones and routers eligible for software and firmware updates, a pragmatic move that acknowledges cutting off security patches would do more harm than the ban itself. And in a sign of the summer ahead, the FCC designated a broadcast auxiliary spectrum coordinator for the FIFA World Cup, kicking off one of the largest special-event spectrum operations the US has ever staged.
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.
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.