NAB raised concerns and the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council supported a Land Mobile Communications Council petition asking the FCC to modify its Part 90 rules on sharing of TV channels 14-20 with the T-band to reflect the changes that have occurred due to the DTV transition. Comments were posted Thursday in RM-11915. The T-band is shared with public safety and gets the most use in major cities, including Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Miami and Washington, D.C. “The changes LMCC proposes could have the practical effect of increasing instances of harmful interference between television stations and land mobile operations in the T-band by allowing television stations and land mobile operations to operate in closer proximity to one another,” NAB said. It noted “occasional complaints concerning interference issues between television stations and T-band land mobile operators under the existing rules, including from LMCC itself.” NPSTC said “time is ripe” to update the rules. “The Commission is fortunate that the LMCC has done so much of the work required to initiate the rulemaking proceeding it has requested,” NPSTC said: “The LMCC petition is comprehensive and includes the background leading to the request, specific recommended changes to the rules, and the rationale for the recommendations provided. The petition even provides a succinct summary on the history of the T-Band spectrum sharing that began in the 1970s. This summary should be helpful as well in crafting the NPRM.” Los Angeles County noted the rules were last updated in the 1990s. “Experience gained from (1) combating interference from DTV operations (new since original rules were adopted), (2) the transition of some [land-mobile radio] systems from analog to digital (which is a continuing process), and (3) the lack of vacant channel options due to channel repacking -- all mandate that the Commission revisit equipment performance assumptions made over two decades ago,” the county said. Issue an NPRM “at the earliest opportunity,” urged the Enterprise Wireless Alliance: T-Band applicants “must comply with a rule that protects television station contours as though they still were operating in NTSC [National Television System Committee] format even though they are required to operate in ATSC [Advanced Television Systems Committee] format. In the interim, television stations are receiving greater than necessary protection while, conversely, affected land mobile systems are not able to derive maximum use of T-Band spectrum.”
Howard Buskirk
Howard Buskirk, Executive Senior Editor, joined Warren Communications News in 2004, after covering Capitol Hill for Telecommunications Reports. He has covered Washington since 1993 and was formerly executive editor at Energy Business Watch, editor at Gas Daily and managing editor at Natural Gas Week. Previous to that, he was a staff reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Greenville News. Follow Buskirk on Twitter: @hbuskirk
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has moved more slowly on wireless issues than expected since being confirmed to another term as a commissioner and designated last year as permanent chairwoman. On Wednesday, the FCC acted on the next steps on a 2.5 GHz auction. But other wireless items haven’t advanced as quickly as some hoped.
FirstNet is committed to expanding the number of first responders in Indian country who are using the network, CEO Edward Parkinson said at a FirstNet board meeting Wednesday, streamed from Albuquerque. FirstNet staff and board members visited the Laguna Pueblo Reservation in New Mexico Tuesday as part of outreach to the tribes, officials said, meeting with leaders from the Pueblo and the Navaho Nation.
The FCC took the next step on the next 5G auction Wednesday, seeking further comment on competitive bidding rules for a 2.5 GHz auction. The FCC imposed a tight deadline, with comments due Feb. 23. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has been under pressure to announce a start date for the auction, which many see as the lowest of low-hanging fruit ready for FCC action (see 2112100045). The notice asks whether use of “an ascending clock auction format -- a multiple-round auction with bidding for frequency-specific blocks -- would address certain concerns and suggestions raised by commenters with respect to both the single-round and simultaneous multiple-round (SMR) auction formats.” In a notice approved in January 2021, the agency sought comment on both a single-round and traditional SMR format (see 2101130067). Carriers disagreed sharply. T-Mobile and Verizon urged an SMR auction, while AT&T wanted one finished in a single round (see 2105040077). “To date, the Commission has used an ascending clock auction format in situations in which multiple frequency blocks of similar spectrum were offered, where a clock auction could be conducted more efficiently than could an SMR auction with license-by-license bidding,” the FCC said. A footnote cites the 28 GHz and 24 GHz auctions. The notice asks whether upfront payments and bidding eligibility proposed for the auction “remain reasonable and appropriate” under a clock auction format. The FCC said it doesn’t want “further comment on other procedures proposed” last year. Under the proposed approach “the clock price for a license would increase from round to round if more than one bidder indicates demand for that license,” the notice said: “The bidding rounds would continue until, for all licenses -- that is, all categories in all counties -- the number of bidders demanding each license does not exceed one. Once bidding rounds stop, the bidder with demand for a license becomes the winning bidder.” Commissioners approved the initial notice 5-0 during former Chairman Ajit Pai’s last meeting. The Office of Economics and Analytics and Wireless Bureau released the notice without a commissioner vote.
The COVID-19 pandemic put more pressure on Wi-Fi to grow quickly, but expanding home and business networks raised complications for all users, speakers said at the Fierce Wi-Fi Summit Tuesday. “The pandemic has just put pressure points on areas that we didn’t even realize we would have pressure points,” said Patricia Kellaghan, senior director-products at Breezeline, which offers a managed Wi-Fi service. “We’ve had these massive lifestyle shifts, and they’re not temporary, they’re going to be permanent, and they’re going to continue to evolve,” she said. Customers are demanding better in-home connectivity, she said. “We really need key, strategic, forward-leaning partners who are pushing on the product road map so we can continue to keep up with demand and stay relevant,” she said. Breezeline had to move to more self-installation by customers, she said. Its products “have to be easy to use, they have to be easy to install, they have to put control in the customers’ hands,” she said. “The pandemic certainly has accelerated our deployment,” said Richard Squire, Liberty Global director-connectivity strategy. The company had a 30%-40% jump in connected devices when the pandemic started two years ago, he said. Wi-Fi needs to be simple for customers, he said: “This is really complex stuff, and ... we want to make it as simple as possible for our customers to use.” Because of regulatory and technical limits, no single access point (AP), “no matter how strong,” can cover the whole of many homes, said Bill McFarland, chief technology officer at gear-maker Plume. That means most need Wi-Fi extenders, but that “greatly complicates the problem of Wi-Fi management,” he said. “We need to make decisions about the frequency channels and channel bandwidths that will be used, how the APs will be connected to each other, which is effectively the routes and topologies, and to which AP and which on frequency band each client device in the home should connect,” he said: The Wi-Fi system needs to consider traffic loads, signal strengths, data rates, interference and the effect of Wi-Fi congestion.
Speakers at the Incompas Policy Summit expressed hope Tuesday that the FCC will act soon to allow use of the 12 GHz band for 5G. Incompas has been a leading member of the 5G for 12 GHz Coalition, which seeks new rules for the band (see 2107080055).
Public Knowledge urged the FCC to consider delaying AT&T’s Feb. 22 3G shutdown because alarm companies faced delays replacing equipment due to the COVID-19 pandemic and chip shortages that were beyond anyone's control (see 2202030042), in a call with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The FCC should be prepared to issue an order halting the sunset, unless “AT&T can demonstrate either: (a) that it has made arrangements with the alarm industry to prevent disruption of critical services identified in the record, such as home medical alert systems, DUI monitoring systems, home confinement alarms, and other systems necessary to protect life and safety; or, (b) AT&T is capable of immediately restoring service in the event of a significant disruption to these systems critical to protecting safety of life and property,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 21-304. Unlike flight safety concerns that led to the C-band delay “here, the alarm industry has been delayed by circumstances genuinely beyond their control,” PK said. PK Senior Vice President Harold Feld emailed that he’s not sure whether the FCC will act. “It is clear the Republican offices do not feel the need to act, which makes it more difficult for the Chair in a 2-2 Commission,” he said. A delay would “force us to devote scarce spectrum resources to support relatively few, obsolete 3G-only devices rather than repurposing the spectrum to enhance 5G capacity,” an AT&T spokesperson emailed: “Forcing a delay would needlessly waste valuable spectrum resources and degrade network performance for millions of our customers.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s December decision upholding the FCC’s 6 GHz order firms up the agency’s authority as “the expert agency” on spectrum, said FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks during the Fierce Wireless virtual Wi-Fi summit Monday. Other speakers said use of 6 GHz is growing and will be critical to better Wi-Fi.
The Wireless Infrastructure Association expanded its state outreach program "dramatically" for 2022 “because we think it’s going to be a big year,” WIA President Jonathan Adelstein told the Colorado Wireless Association’s Annual Education Conference Thursday. “You need to get people hired early and in the room to make sure that you’re there when the big discussions are had,” he said. With all the discussion on infrastructure funding, this isn’t a year “to let your guard down,” he said. WIA will be in “probably over 25 states this year,” he said: “Not every state is going to be active, not every state is really kind of critical. … It’s very state specific.” Adelstein said Colorado is one of the states WIA's targeting, but “it’s pretty costly to do this.” WIA is watching whether states follow the directions of Congress as it approved infrastructure legislation and how the Commerce Department “ensures some level of uniformity,” he said. “States have enormous power” under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and “we need to be vigilant.” The level of wireless buildout could depend on strict rules by Commerce requiring technological neutrality, he said.
AARP warned members of the risk of AT&T’s pending shuttering of its 3G network, and the later shutdown of Verizon’s and T-Mobile’s, in a Thursday webinar. Carmen Group’s Bill Signer, lobbyist for the Alarm Industry Communications Committee (AICC), asked viewers to contact the White House and ask the administration to pressure AT&T to delay the sunset. The California Public Utilities Commission would pass the buck to DOJ on Dish Network’s dispute with T-Mobile over its March 31 3G shutdown, under a proposed decision released Wednesday in docket A.18-07-11.