The 4.9 GHz band appears to be one of the wireless items likely to get further FCC action relatively soon, industry and FCC officials told us. Comments have been in since January on rewriting the rules, and 4.9 has long been a focus of Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. There's also general agreement that the band has been underutilized for a long time.
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
Implementing zero-trust architecture (ZTA) in the federal government, per executive order 14028 by President Joe Biden last year (see 2204080039), won’t be easy and will require a different approach in different agencies, said a Center for Strategic and International Studies report released Thursday. “Shifting from perimeter defense to ZTA is not as easy as flipping a switch; it is a complex undertaking,” the paper argues: “It involves more than procuring new hardware and software. Making such a shift requires adopting new policies, processes, and structures.” CSIS said a top barrier is what it calls “tech debt.” The federal government spends about $90 billion each year on IT, with most of the money dedicated to maintaining “legacy, often antiquated systems,” the report said: “Departments and agencies often find it challenging to secure funding and authorization for new large-scale IT modernization efforts and relatively easier to obtain funding for existing systems. This dynamic often motivates agencies to focus on operating and maintaining existing systems rather than pursuing new capital investments.” Another concern is a lack of urgency by government leaders, CSIS said. “The federal government, as a whole, really needs to understand the why and commit to the how,” said Emily Harding, CSIS deputy director, during a webcast. “ZTA can create friction for the user, but that’s OK,” she said. “U.S. government employees need to understand why they should make the effort, why the friction is worth it,” she said. The federal government needs to become “as efficient as a Google or an Amazon” but “we’re a ways from there,” said James Lewis, CSIS senior vice president. New infrastructure relies more on AI, the cloud and other new technologies, he said. “The old approach to cybersecurity isn’t going to work,” he said. Getting the federal government to change won’t be easy, Lewis said. “It’s a huge entity,” he said: “It has thousands, sometimes millions of parts. The parts don’t always want to cooperate.” The attitude can be “I can just wait 18 months and these political appointees will go away, and I can go back to what I've been doing,” he said. Legislative mandates, budget directions and standards can help move the government, he said.
The FCC got a mixed response to a Competitive Carriers Association petition seeking FCC clarification that broadband data collection (BDC) filings can be certified by a qualified engineer who isn't a licensed professional engineer (PE) accredited by a state licensure board (see 2205170073). Replies were posted Thursday in docket 19-195. Many commenters support CCA but “they fail to show that a declaratory ruling is warranted or provide support for the argument that the public interest is served by relaxing the certification requirement,” the Rural Wireless Association said. CCA asked the FCC “to adopt a brand new definition” and “such a request must be made via a petition for rulemaking, which is subject to its own requirements and governed by the Administrative Procedure Act,” RWA said. Leave the requirement in place, said the Nebraska National Society of Professional Engineers. Similar government programs have similar requirements, the group said: “This is done to ensure that … projects are constructed in a manner that meets all local, state, federal and in some cases international, regulations and requirements. It also ensures that the networks are designed in such a way as to meet the speed and data rate performance requirements that the service provide[r]s are advertising.” NCTA supported CCA. NCTA said it “appreciates the need to ensure the accuracy of the mapping data submitted to the Commission [but] the individual most familiar with the preparation and development of that data and thus in the best position to certify to its accuracy may not have the requisite professional designation.” Most groups representing providers support CCA, the Wireless ISP Association said. Opponents “ignore the realities of the marketplace and conflate the requirements of building infrastructure with the more routine task of certifying network coverage based on parameters established by the Commission,” WISPA said. The current PE shortage “will result in many providers being unable to get the required engineering certification, and, consequently, being unable to make their BDC filings timely, if at all; or, incurring unduly burdensome costs to enlist a PE,” ACA Connects said. “The response to CCA’s petition by trade associations, broadband service providers, and individual commenters reflects widespread support for the Commission’s policy objectives, and a shared commitment to accurate and granular data collection as a crucial component of broadband deployment,” CCA said.
The Supreme Court appeared to raise questions about the future of the Chevron doctrine Wednesday, under which agencies like the FCC and FTC are afforded deference by the courts in their decisions as expert agencies. The unanimous court ruled in American Hospital Assn. v. Becerra that the Department of Health and Human Service’s decision to reduce yearly Medicare payments to hospitals as part of the 340B program was unlawful. The government raised Chevron deference, but the decision by Justice Brett Kavanaugh never addresses the doctrine. The case had been decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals weighed in on the use of automatic telephone dialing systems (ATDS), upholding the dismissal of a Telephone Consumer Protection Act lawsuit against debt collector Navient, though on different grounds than those cited by a lower court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Elizabeth and Joshua Panzarella sued Navient, claiming the company called their cellphones without prior express consent using an ATDS, in an attempt to collect a student loan held by a family member. The district court granted summary judgment for Navient, concluding “Navient’s dialing technology did not qualify as an ATDS under section 227(a)(1) of the TCPA because it viewed a particular component of Navient’s dialing technology as separate from its dialing system,” said the Tuesday decision by Judge Marjorie Rendell. The lower court “erred by failing to consider whether Navient’s dialing ‘equipment’ as a whole qualified as an ATDS,” she wrote: “Even though we do not decide whether Navient’s dialing equipment qualified as an ATDS, we find that Navient did not use an ATDS in violation of the TCPA when it called the Panzarellas. Thus, we will affirm the District Court’s order on this alternative ground.” In Facebook v. Duguid decided last year the Supreme Court sided with Facebook (see 2104010063), favoring a narrow definition of what constitutes an ATDS.
The FCC Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council met for less than an hour Wednesday, getting brief updates from each of its working groups.. The council's next action will come in September when it's expected to vote on the first of a series of reports. The FCC headquarters has reopened for visitors, but groups like CSRIC continue to meet online. Suzon Cameron, FCC designated federal officer, said the next meeting is also expected to be virtual. “Our specific objectives are to identify the challenges facing ORAN for security and interoperability and so on and how do we deploy and secure the open RAN,” said Mike Barnes, Mavenir chief product security officer and co-chair of the Promoting Security, Reliability and Interoperability on Open Radio Access Network Equipment WG. The Managing Software & Cloud Services Supply Chain Security WG is on target to submit a report on best practices in September, said T-Mobile’s Todd Gibson, interim co-chair. “The goal here for us is to really present something novel,” he said: “We don’t want to regurgitate what’s already been produced from the various sources, but try to layer in and contribute to the community providing some novel recommendations.” Some are already using Wi-Fi to make an emergency call, said Mark Reddish, APCO government relations manager and co-chair of the 911 Service Over Wi-Fi WG. “Our group’s focus is really on how to expand current capabilities,” he said: “For example, there could be enhancements in the number of situations in which a 911 call could be completed over Wi-Fi, enhancements to the location information that’s used for routing the call and describing the location of the caller, call prioritization, security issues.”
Dish Network said Wednesday it’s now offering 5G broadband service to more than 20% of U.S. POPs. Dish faced a Tuesday deadline to satisfy an FCC requirement tied to the company’s AWS-4, PCS H-block and 700 MHz-E block licenses. Chairman Charlie Ergen said last month Dish would hit the target and wouldn’t need an extension from the FCC (see 2205060036). “This marks a major milestone in building the world's most advanced cloud-native 5G Open [radio access] network,” said a news release. Dish said the Samsung Galaxy S22 and NetGear 5G hot spots are being offered to early subscribers. The network launched in Las Vegas in May (see 2205040057). “DISH already offers the Motorola Edge+ for purchase in Las Vegas and will expand the sale of this device to more markets in the coming months,” the company said. “Additional compatible devices will become available throughout the year." New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin told investors Tuesday the only market where Dish has formally launched is Las Vegas. “They announced 26 other major metro markets and another 110 smaller cities and towns that they would cover ahead of the 20% deadline,” he said: “Assuming they cover the urban and suburban region of each [partial economic area], the 27 metro markets capture about 17% of national POPs and the remaining 110 markets should easily cover the 3% required to get to the 20% target.”
Inflation is running “at a faster clip” than AT&T expected, and is the biggest concern for the immediate future, AT&T Chief Financial Officer Pascal Desroches warned at a Credit Suisse financial conference Tuesday. Desroches said AT&T may have to consider raising prices for its service plans for a second time this year (see 2205030066). “We built in a fairly healthy level of inflationary expectations into our budget,” Desroches said: “With that said, it's running harder than we thought, and you saw one of the things that we did recently was to raise prices in response. … We're seeing inflation in labor, supplies, energy, transport.” The AT&T executive expressed optimism about the C-band, with the next phase of deployment looming. “Our network is reliable, consistent, and it's better than it's ever been and getting better every day,” he said. He noted the nearly $40 billion of mid-band spectrum the company bought in the 3.45 GHz and C-band auctions: “We expect to deploy that over the next 18 to 24 months and as we deploy, the network will only get better.” Churn was low during the COVID-19 pandemic, as many consumers benefited from stimulus payments, Desroches said. Churn could rise due to inflation, he said. “As I look at the inflationary expectation over the next several quarters, it's hard for me to envision that that's not going to impact the consumers negatively and that we and others will see some pressure,” he said. Wireless competition isn’t increasing, Desroches said. The market has “been competitive for some time” and “remains competitive,” he said. AT&T has been targeting segments of the population that are underserved, he said, citing FirstNet and outreach to Hispanics. “We are being very surgical,” he said. “We have stepped up our investment [in wireless] to match the competitors and that has helped enormously,” he said. Other markets are also growing, Desroches said: “You're seeing kids getting phones at an earlier age. You have older people getting phones that never had them. You're seeing all of a sudden a separation of your work life from your home life, so people [are] getting multiple devices.” New business formation has also been “really strong” since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said. AT&T recently eliminated HBO Max from its premium unlimited wireless plan as a free perk for new customers. Desroches said the carrier is trying out other included features, such as hot spot data, to bring in more customers. “It’s really not anything against HBO Max,” he said: “It’s us trying to drive deeper penetration to different portions of our customer base.”
As the focus on 6G intensifies, Henning Schulzrinne, former FCC chief technology officer, warned an IEEE summit Tuesday that 5G hasn’t turned out as expected, at least not yet. We’re at “an inflection point” in the discussion of next-generation networks, said Schulzrinne, now a Columbia University professor.
Executives from Helium and cryptocurrency company Emrit predicted a bright future for decentralized wireless networks, during a webinar Monday. Helium’s centrally managed IoT network offers more than 800,000 IoT gateways in some 52,000 cities around the world. Speakers said PlanetWatch, Dimo and Pollen are offering similar networks. “It’s commercial hardware,” said Alvaro Gracia, partner, Helium Funds at Borderless Capital. “There’s no real estate costs because people are placing them on their premises,” he said: “The blockchain automation makes the whole backend model very efficient -- you don’t need accounting departments, you don’t need a lot of processes.” Helium and similar companies are addressing “a problem that the IoT industry has tried to solve for a very long time,” said Pradhyum Ramkumar, Emrit head-IoT and 5G. Sensor data usage on the Helium network is growing 70% every month, he said: “The proof is in the pudding.” People are "finally realizing that there is a great, very low cost [long range] network available,” he said. “Very little capital was deployed by Helium to do this” with the costs paid by hosts, who are reimbursed by users, he said. Helium “laid the groundwork,” being followed by competitors, said Ryan Derouin, Emrit head-commercial. One example of the kind of network being built is a local coffee shop using citizens broadband radio spectrum, he said. “People need data, they’re in there streaming data … and they need the access,” he said. “The coffee shops want to drive traffic.” Carriers “can’t put a tower every 50 feet” as the demand for data grows, he said.