The FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Native Affairs and Policy asked for comment, due Nov. 30, on “ways in which the Commission can improve its understanding of how and the extent to which Tribal Nations and the Native Hawaiian Community are able to access wireless spectrum today.” The FCC noted Friday that the agency created the 2.5 GHz rural tribal priority window in 2019 (see 2001140059), which resulted in awarding 336 licenses covering tribal lands of more than 350 tribal nations based in 30 states. “The number of Tribes and Tribal entities now holding spectrum licenses has significantly increased as a result of this opportunity alone,” the notice said. “While this represents progress, we nonetheless recognize the long-standing connectivity challenges facing Tribal Nations and the Native Hawaiian Community and remain committed to addressing this digital divide,” the FCC said: “In order to assess current and future policy efforts relating to spectrum designed to achieve this goal, we seek additional information about how Tribal Nations and the Native Hawaiian Community are accessing spectrum, whether it be through direct licensing or other means.” The notice asks about the potential addition of “legal entity categories or demographic questions” to wireless licensing forms to more readily identify Tribal or Native Hawaiian applicants. “We seek comment on whether collection of this information should be mandatory or optional,” the FCC said. “We also seek comment on what the resulting impacts on applicants or our licensing records would be depending on which approach we choose.” Comments are due in docket 23-265.

Comments will be due Oct. 3, replies Nov. 2, in docket 23-232, on a notice of inquiry on nonfederal use of spectrum approved by FCC commissioners 4-0 Thursday (see 2308030075). The NOI was posted Friday and had few changes from the draft. “In the spirit of our recent efforts, this NOI represents a technical inquiry on how to better obtain more sophisticated knowledge of non-Federal spectrum usage -- and how we could take advantage of modern capabilities for doing so in a cost-effective, accurate, scalable, and actionable manner,” the NOI says. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks appended written statements.

The Utilities Technology Council told the FCC it's asking to see the “underlying data and algorithms” from studies of 6 GHz interference done at the universities of Michigan and Notre Dame, said a filing posted Friday in docket 18-195. The tests showed minimal interference risks for incumbents (see 2307240025) in comparison to tests by FirstEnergy and others (see 2308010063). UTC called for a comparison of the academic findings with the results from multiple real-world interference tests done by several incumbent licensees and engineering firms and submitted in the FCC’s proceeding on unlicensed use of the 6 GHz band. The National Science Foundation funded the academic tests.

The potential that a very-low-power device would interfere with a fixed-service receiver in the 6 GHz band is “incredibly remote and requires a chain of improbable coincidences,” said a lawyer for Apple, Broadcom, Google and Meta Platforms in a filing posted Thursday in FCC docket 18-295. HWG’s Paul Caritj said he met with Ira Keltz, deputy chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology. “Given that the typical user is indoors more than 90% of the time, this already reduces the risk significantly,” the filing said: “The device must be in an unusual location where harmful interference is even theoretically possible. Due to the off-axis discrimination of FS antennas and the fact that FS links are designed to operate high off the ground to avoid buildings, terrain, and clutter, this requires either VLP operation very close to an FS receiver, or an anomalous FS link whose beam intersects the ground.” The FS link must also be operating on the same channel as the VLP device, the filing said.

Nineteen groups, led by the Open Technology Institute at New America, sent a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel Thursday urging the agency to wrap up work on two long-standing issues raised in a 2020 Further NPRM on the 6 GHz band (see 2004230059). The letter cites digital inclusion concerns. “The authorization of Very Low Power (VLP) devices and higher power for indoor-only use (LPI) are particularly crucial for digital equity and inclusion, for continued U.S. leadership in next generation Wi-Fi, and for virtually all consumers, businesses and community anchor institutions that increasingly rely on Wi-Fi for connectivity,” the letter said: “Above all, we need to ensure that final rules for the 6 GHz band do not create a new Wi-Fi Digital Divide.” The letter warns, “Weak indoor signals and any unnecessary reliance on costly and complex database control over Wi-Fi and other unlicensed technologies will disproportionately deprive low-income households, students and others of affordable access to this advanced connectivity.” Some expect FCC action soon (see 2306230046). Groups signing the letter include Public Knowledge, Consumer Reports, Next Century Cities, the American Library Association, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, the Schools Health Libraries Broadband Coalition, the Tribal Digital Village Network, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, the Wireless ISP Association, the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry, Access Humboldt, X-Lab and the Institute for Local Self Reliance.

CTIA representatives urged the FCC to take a cautious approach on a March robotext Further NPRM (see 2303160061), in a meeting with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The representatives repeated many of the arguments made in a recent meeting with Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff (see 2307260034). “CTIA explained that the most effective way to enhance consumer protection is through collaborative work” by the FCC and carriers “to identify and bring enforcement actions against bad actors,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 02-278.

AT&T said Thursday it hit a first for U.S. industry, completing a 5G reduced capability (RedCap) data call on a 5G stand-alone network. AT&T said the development is “critical” for the continued growth of the IoT. Many IoT and wearable devices “are space constrained, leaving little room for complex antenna designs,” AT&T said: “A 5G RedCap core design has a maximum bandwidth of 20 MHz with a single carrier, without the requirement to aggregate multiple carriers together. This allows for simpler and smaller antenna designs with one transmitter and one or two receivers unlike the more complex [multiple-input and multiple-output] MIMO antenna designs required for full feature 5G NR devices like smartphones.” AT&T said it worked with Nokia and MediaTek, using MediaTek’s RedCap platform connected to a stand-alone network built using Nokia AirScale.

ARRL opposed an April petition by the Shortwave Modernization Coalition (SMC) asking the FCC to launch a rulemaking to amend its eligibility and technical rules for industrial/business pool licensees to authorize licensed use of frequencies above 2 MHz and below 25 MHz for fixed, long-distance, non-voice communications. Hundreds of amateur operators also expressed concerns (see [2307270035). “Many of the subject Part 90 bands are immediately adjacent or very near to spectrum bands that are allocated to the Amateur Radio Service on a primary basis,” said a filing Wednesday in RM-11953. “These bands are very heavily used for worldwide communication by Amateur Radio licensees employing significantly less power than that proposed by SMC for purposes that include vital support during disaster recovery and mitigation, technical and scientific experiments, and propagation studies,” ARRL said.

UScellular now has more than 100,000 fixed-wireless internet customers and expects additional growth in the program, the carrier said. “The advancement of fixed wireless technology has helped enable the growth of UScellular's Home Internet product and its ability to provide the speed and reliability that a typical household needs,” said a Tuesday news release. “Three or four years ago, few people predicted the popularity of fixed wireless for in-building internet, but we knew rural areas in particular would see great benefit from having this type of connectivity solution," said Eric Jagher, chief marketing officer. UScellular launched FWA using its 4G network, and now uses low-, mid- and high-band 5G spectrum in select markets, the carrier said. About one million households are already covered with 5G mid-band, with a goal of reaching 3 million by the end of next year, UScellular said: “This network can deliver speeds up to 10x faster than [with the] 4G LTE network and low-band 5G.”

T-Mobile announced launch of a 5G network slicing beta on its stand-alone (SA) network, targeting developers working on video calling applications. “With a customized network slice, developers can sign up to test video calling applications that require consistent uplink and downlink speeds along with lower latency (near-real-time responsiveness) and increased reliability,” T-Mobile said Wednesday. T-Mobile plans to expand the beta to other application types. “The wireless industry has talked about 5G network slicing for years,” said Ulf Ewaldsson, president-technology. “Thanks to our nationwide 5G SA network, T-Mobile is the only operator in the country capable of unlocking this technology, so developers can immediately begin creating applications that can one day provide tangible benefits to wireless users everywhere.”