Samsung Electronics America representatives said they met with FCC staff to press for action on the company’s request for waiver for a 5G base station radio that works across citizens broadband radio service and C-band spectrum (see 2303100019). “The waiver request has been pending for more than a year” and is “ripe for grant,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 23-93. “As carriers prepare to deploy wireless infrastructure to utilize both their 3.7 GHz and 3.5 GHz licenses, the proposed multiband radio is critical to support 5G buildout in the United States,” Samsung said: Grant of the waiver “will serve the public interest by affording 5G network operators with access to an innovative, efficient, and cost-effective base station that is smaller, is more energy efficient, and has more functionality than separate CBRS and 3.7 GHz band radios.” The representatives met with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and staff for the Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology.
Wireless ISP Association representatives raised concerns on Samsung Electronics America’s request for waiver for a 5G base station radio that works across citizens broadband radio service and C-band spectrum (see 2303100019). WISPA questioned whether the waiver could be construed to allow the CBRS side of the radio to use higher C-band out-of-band emissions limits. “We indicated that the difference between -13 dBm/MHz and -25 dBm/MHz is significant,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 23-93: “Any increase in noise within the CBRS band could have severe consequences for the tens of thousands of [CBRS devices] currently registered for General Authorized Access and Priority Access License use, many of which have been deployed by WISPA members to serve … consumers and businesses.”
Wireless carriers don't have much apparent interest in the 42 GHz band, to judge from comments posted Thursday in response to a June NPRM. New America’s Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge were enthusiastic about the possibilities. Comments were due Wednesday in docket 23-158.
Hurricane Idalia’s eye left Florida around mid-day Wednesday, but the state is still having effects from the storm, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said at a 12:30 p.m. news conference livestreamed from Tallahassee. The FCC’s disaster information reporting system shows initial communications outages in Florida -- including for 58,941 cable and wireline subscribers -- from the storm, and the agency expanded the system’s coverage to include 16 counties in South Carolina, according to a number of public notices released Tuesday and Wednesday.
The FCC ordered spectrum access system administrators in the citizens broadband radio service band to start using the DOD’s Telecommunications Advanced Research and Dynamic Spectrum Sharing System (TARDyS3) scheduling portal to protect designated DOD facilities. “The TARDyS3 is a DOD managed calendar-based tool that will support the expeditious and autonomous communication of scheduled spectrum use information for designated facilities in the 3.5 GHz band that was developed to replace the manual scheduling portal currently used,” said a Monday order by the Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering Technology. The FCC said it acted on a request last week by NTIA.
The current iteration of the FCC’s Technology Advisory Council, with its focus on 6G, held its final meeting Thursday, its first meeting in 2023. TAC members approved two white papers and reports by its working groups. Andrew Clegg, co-chair of the Advanced Spectrum Sharing Working Group, told TAC the group faced roadblocks getting data from the government. TAC approved recommendations and a white paper from the WG, which the FCC hasn't posted.
The FCC Wireless Bureau granted the NFL a two-year extension of rules for the citizens broadband radio service Wednesday, allowing the league to continue operating a coach-to-coach communications system in the event of a localized internet outage in stadiums during games. The FCC sought comment in July (see 2307050028) and NCTA raised concerns but didn’t oppose the waiver (see 2307180042). The NFL “reiterates many of its claims about its coach-to-coach communications system, but also states that it has spent the past several months conducting due diligence into implementing a technological solution beyond its current ISP redundancy in each NFL stadium,” the bureau said. “We find that a limited extension of the conditional waiver to allow the NFL to complete due diligence on a rules-compliant technical solution … is in the public interest.” The bureau ordered the league to submit a report in March explaining what it's doing “at each NFL stadium to avoid interruptions” in spectrum access system connectivity and “details regarding any remaining impediments to achieving compliance with the Commission’s rules.”
Charter Communications has fully rolled out use of citizens broadband radio service band spectrum in one market for offloading mobile traffic from its mobile virtual network operator agreement with Verizon, with plans for a broader CBRS rollout next year, CEO Chris Winfrey said Friday as the company announced Q2 earnings. Charter ended the quarter with 6.6 million residential and small-business mobile lines. Winfrey said more than 11% of its internet customers have its mobile service, and the mobile penetration should sizably grow over the next several years. It ended Q2 2022 with 4.3 million total mobile lines. Charter hopes to land "significant" broadband equity, access and deployment program funding, Winfrey said. BEAD rules are notably different from broadband programs in states where Charter operates, and the company will work with governments on rules "still conducive to private investment," he said. Charter is doing trials of its Xumo video platform, offering unified search across linear and direct-to-consumer offerings, with deployment later this year, Winfrey said. Chief Financial Officer Jessica Fischer said Charter remains on track for 300,000 additional state-subsidized rural passings this year. She said Charter expects to spend $4 billion this year on line extension work, with similar spending likely in 2024 and 2025. Charter had Q2 revenue of $13.7 billion, essentially flat year over year, with internet and mobile service revenue growth offset by declines in video and voice service revenue. It ended the quarter with 28.5 million residential internet customers, up about 300,000 from the same quarter a year earlier; 14.1 million residential video subs, down 780,000; and 7.2 million residential voice subs, down 1 million.
The wireless industry would likely welcome a sale of returned and unsold spectrum licenses, especially Dish Network’s surrendered AWS-3 licenses if the agency holds a remnants auction, as proposed by FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel last week, industry experts told us.
The FCC remains focused on the lower 3 GHz band for commercial use and will consider an auction of spectrum remaining, or returned, from past auctions when its auction authority is restored, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Tuesday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The U.S. must lead the world on 5G, which is critical to the U.S. economy and to export democratic values “to the rest of the world,” she said. Rosenworcel spoke with Clete Johnson, CSIS senior fellow.