Groundwave Weekly — Jul 23, 2026

This week brought practical, unglamorous progress: more mid-band spectrum, faster satellite licensing, stronger uplinks and backup timing that does not trust GPS. Then Crimea supplied the counterpoint, where electronic warfare has made the payphone relevant again. Resilient communications often means pairing tomorrow’s network with something stubbornly old.

• VIAVI altGNSS GEO SecureTime (VIAVI Solutions): Launched July 21 as a commercial UTC timing service delivered over L- and Ku-band satellites without relying on GPS or another navigation constellation.
• SEA-H2X (China Mobile International): Entered commercial service July 22 after system acceptance, according to China Mobile International; the 5,746-kilometer cable links Hainan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore.
• Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (DARPA and SpaceLogistics): Launched July 21 to demonstrate inspection and servicing of geosynchronous satellites that were not originally designed for docking.

Washington has opened the lane that could carry American 6G. Via Satellite reports that the Federal Communications Commission approved rules on July 22 to auction 160 megahertz of upper C-band spectrum, from 3.98 to 4.14 gigahertz, by July 2027. Combined with spectrum cleared earlier, the decision could give terrestrial wireless networks a contiguous 440-megahertz block—prime territory for wide-area 5G and, eventually, 6G.

Now comes the difficult work. The FCC must move satellite operations out of the auctioned frequencies while protecting aircraft radio altimeters in neighboring bands. The transition-cost formula matters almost as much as the spectrum itself: relocation expenses will shape mobile-carrier bids and determine how quickly satellite operators can clear the band.

The agency also replaced its Part 25 satellite-licensing framework with Part 100, which Via Satellite describes as an “assembly line” for spacecraft and ground-station applications. Representatives Brian Babin and Zoe Lofgren had asked the FCC to delay the vote over its statutory authority, raising the prospect that faster licensing begins with a slower legal fight.

A political shadow hangs over this technocratic machinery. The Guardian reported in March that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr threatened broadcast licenses over what he called “hoaxes” in Iran-war coverage. The episode is not new, but it matters: the institution assigning valuable spectrum also holds leverage over local broadcasters.

Aggressive carrier expressions of interest before the auction would keep mid-band at the practical foundation of American 6G. Weak interest, litigation or expensive relocation disputes would turn the 440-megahertz highway into a very wide planning document.

Mobile networks were built for people watching video. AI glasses, factory cameras and autonomous machines flip the traffic pattern, generating torrents of data that must travel back through the network. (China’s 5G Network Is Learning to Send, Not Just Receive)

China Unicom Beijing and Huawei say they have deployed a commercial 5G-Advanced “GigaUplink” network across key areas of Beijing using more than 10,000 base stations. The system coordinates spectrum at 3.5 and 2.1 gigahertz to create a wider upload path—the radio equivalent of opening extra outbound lanes during rush hour. (China’s 5G Network Is Learning to Send, Not Just Receive)

In a company-arranged 34-kilometer drive test, China Unicom and Huawei reported an average upstream speed of 397 megabits per second and a peak of 1 gigabit per second. The measurements were not independently audited, and Huawei’s description of the system as the world’s largest is a vendor claim. What matters is the deployment scale: this is operating infrastructure, not a shielded laboratory record. (China’s 5G Network Is Learning to Send, Not Just Receive)

If the architecture performs reliably, China gains a live testbed for machine-heavy traffic patterns likely to shape 6G standards. Huawei also gets a reference deployment for markets where industrial video, robotics and edge AI matter more than another increment of download speed. (China’s 5G Network Is Learning to Send, Not Just Receive)

Failure will look less dramatic: high power consumption, inconsistent uplink performance or no replication by China Mobile and China Telecom. Those signals would separate a new network pattern from an impressive Beijing showcase. (China Mobile’s SEA-H2X cable begins carrying commercial traffic)

GPS does more than place the blue dot on a map. Its timing signals synchronize cellular base stations, power grids, financial systems, data centers and military networks. Jamming or spoofing can therefore make infrastructure fail in ways that look unrelated to navigation.

VIAVI Solutions launched altGNSS GEO SecureTime on July 21. The service distributes Coordinated Universal Time through L- and Ku-band geostationary satellite signals without depending on GPS or another global navigation satellite system. VIAVI says it provides nanosecond-level timing and authenticated messages that help receivers detect spoofing; independent operational results have not yet been published. (A Backup Clock for the Day GPS Starts Lying)

The larger idea follows the resilient-navigation model outlined by War on the Rocks: systems should compare several independent sources, spot contradictions and degrade gracefully rather than trusting one satellite signal completely. Reliable communications begin with reliable time. (A Backup Clock for the Day GPS Starts Lying)

If telecommunications carriers, grids or financial networks adopt the service, alternative timing moves from a defense specialty into critical infrastructure. If deployments remain confined to demonstrations, economics or integration complexity—not a shortage of GPS-jamming scenarios—will probably explain why. (A Backup Clock for the Day GPS Starts Lying)

Open RAN promises operators a way out of the tightly integrated stacks sold by Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia. Rakuten Mobile has now offered another piece of evidence that the model can work outside an interoperability lab. (Open RAN Finally Has a Deployment Story That Isn’t a PowerPoint)

Light Reading reports that Rakuten completed deployment of 1Finity compact 5G radio units in its virtualized 3.7-gigahertz network. Rakuten also plans to install 32-transmitter massive-MIMO radios, which use many antennas and focused beams to serve more devices, although that phase has not begun. Neither company disclosed how many compact radios were installed. (Open RAN Finally Has a Deployment Story That Isn’t a PowerPoint)

The wider footprint tells a more useful story. According to Light Reading, 1Finity says it has supplied a five-figure number of Open RAN base stations to NTT Docomo; AT&T is installing its small cells in Dallas, New York and Phoenix; and Deutsche Telekom is pairing its radios with Nokia baseband equipment while replacing Huawei sites in Germany.

That does not make Open RAN a revolution. It makes it a credible procurement option—and gives operators more leverage when negotiating with incumbent vendors. (Open RAN Finally Has a Deployment Story That Isn’t a PowerPoint)

Rakuten’s massive-MIMO phase is the real test. If it delivers stable performance in dense, high-capacity areas, Open RAN advances into the hardest part of the network. If that phase slips or retreats to single-vendor integration, the technology remains strongest at the edges. (Open RAN Finally Has a Deployment Story That Isn’t a PowerPoint)

In Crimea, the backup network has a handset and a cord. Russian-controlled Crimea has begun installing public telephones in Dzhankoi and Yevpatoriya so residents can reach police, ambulances and other emergency services when mobile networks go down, Reuters reported. It is a grimly efficient picture of contested communications: modern electronic warfare, meet the street-corner handset.

Reuters says mobile service is frequently disrupted amid Ukrainian attacks on military facilities, energy infrastructure and supply routes across the peninsula. The Moscow Times’ Russian service reported that Russian-installed authorities planned to restrict mobile availability in northern Crimea to two four-hour windows daily. Operators Volna, Miranda, Win Mobile and +7Telecom have also introduced emergency roaming so devices can use whichever network remains reachable. (reuters.com)

Moscow says the restrictions can frustrate drones that rely on cellular connections for telemetry or navigation updates. The same controls isolate civilians, businesses and emergency responders. Connectivity becomes a rationed public utility rather than a continuously available service.

If the payphones gather dust after mobile service stabilizes, they were a temporary workaround. If scheduled restrictions and fixed emergency phones spread across Crimea or other Russian regions, communications denial is becoming permanent counter-drone architecture—with civilians built into the trade-off. (Crimea’s Communications Backup Plan Is a Payphone)

A regulator is widening a wireless highway while shortening the satellite queue. Beijing is giving base stations bigger outbound lanes. Crimea is bolting payphones back onto the street.

Apparently the endpoint of multi-orbit, all-photonic, AI-native communications is still someone asking whether the emergency handset takes coins.

Keep your clocks honest.

Forward this to the person who keeps insisting the network is “basically just pipes.” (Crimea’s Communications Backup Plan Is a Payphone)

The Strait’s renewed violence shows how quickly communications failures become casualties, disrupted shipping and higher energy costs. Read → The Strait Is a Shooting Gallery Again — and This Time Americans Are Dying (Crimea’s Communications Backup Plan Is a Payphone)

TSMC’s record quarter reveals the concentrated chip supply chain beneath every radio, router, fiber terminal and satellite payload. Read → TSMC’s Best Quarter Ever — and Then It Raised the Ceiling (Crimea’s Communications Backup Plan Is a Payphone)