By Dave Sebastian Verizon Communications Inc. said it has struck a deal with Associated British Ports to deploy private 5G at the Port of Southampton in partnership with Nokia Corp. The private 5G deal is Verizon s first in Europe, the company said Thursday. Southampton will be the first U.K. mainland port with access to a private 5G network, Verizon said. The port handles goods flowing through supply chains, as well as cars and cruise. The private 5G platform will provide wireless data network across certain areas within the east and west docks of the port, Verizon said. Write to Dave Sebastian at dave.sebastian@wsj.com
By Nina Trentmann Verizon Communications Inc. is raising $25 billion in new debt to help it settle a bill for spectrum licenses coming due this month. The cellphone carrier in February won more than half of the wireless airwaves offered in a U.S. government auction and pledged $45.5 billion for them, plus roughly $8 billion in additional clearing payments to help existing license users move to other bands. The new spectrum rights could help Verizon expand the reach and bandwidth of its fifth-generation wireless offering. Verizon paid a first installment of $8.2 billion to the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday, and will use the proceeds of the bond sale launched Thursday to pay the roughly $36.4 billion owed to the FCC by March 24, Chief Financial Officer Matthew Ellis said.