Representatives from the ATIS Hearing Aid Compatibility Task Force asked FCC staff to act on a waiver sought by the group (see 2304060053). The representatives “highlighted the unanimous record support for the Waiver Request and discussed various technical details related to the consensus interim testing standard,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 15-285. The representatives said they remain committed to “achieving 100% hearing aid compatibility for wireless handsets.” They had a videoconference with staff from the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs and Wireless bureaus and Office of Engineering and Technology.

ARRL representatives asked an aide to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr to address limits on the symbol, or baud, rate for amateur communications (see 1907160016). “ARRL and most stakeholders favor both deleting the symbol rate and replacing it with a 2.8 kHz individual signal bandwidth limit,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 16-239. “This would maintain the status quo with regard to the signal bandwidth commonly employed by radio amateurs on these frequencies while removing the limitation on baud rate that impairs spectrum efficiency and innovation by capping the amount of data transmitted within each signal,” ARRL said. The net effect would be to “increase spectrum efficiency by allowing higher baud rates, which would lessen the time needed to transmit a given message,” the group said.

The FCC released a "Small Entity Compliance Guide" Wednesday on changes to TV white spaces rules. The guide incorporates changes to the rules approved by the Office of Engineering and Technology in April (see 2304140056). “The steps taken by the Commission … further its goals of providing clarity to white space device users and manufacturers, while also optimizing the use of white space devices,” the guide said.

T-Mobile achieved the highest overall 5G score nationwide, independent research firm umlaut reported Tuesday. T-Mobile had the highest 5G coverage and stability scores, followed by AT&T, umlaut said. T-Mobile also led on active download and upload speeds, followed by Verizon, while AT&T was third. Verizon scored the highest on 5G latency. T-Mobile also took the top honors on 5G reliability.

NCTA raised questions on an NFL request for a two-year waiver extension of rules for the citizens broadband radio service, 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 Wireless Bureau sought comments, due Monday in docket 21-111 (see 2307050028). NCTA was the only commenter as of Tuesday. “NCTA does not oppose the 2023 Waiver Extension Request, but questions the need for a further extension of the waiver, particularly a long-term extension, when the NFL concedes that it has not ever had to utilize the waiver over the last two years,” NCTA said. Any relief should be “narrowly tailored to the NFL’s specific and unique circumstances,” the group said.

Alaska’s GCI became the latest carrier to raise timing concerns on an FCC proposal that carriers more precisely route wireless 911 calls and texts to public safety answering points through location-based routing (LBR) (see 2212210047). “A longer timeline than proposed in the NPRM would likely be required for non-nationwide and regional carriers such as GCI to both deploy and use LBR in their networks,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-64. GCI also said implementing LBR for SMS- and MMS-based texts-to-911 “would be much more difficult than for IP-originated wireless calls, and that significant additional standards development and industry agreement should occur prior to any FCC requirement.” GCI representatives met with FCC Public Safety Bureau staff.

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology said it will no longer require ex parte filings on presentations on a June 2021 notice of inquiry on FCC equipment authorization rules (see 2106170063). “In the time since the Commission issued the NOI significant developments have taken place to advance initiatives for IoT cybersecurity labeling,” said a notice posted Tuesday in docket 21-232. Making the NOI an “exempt proceeding” will “facilitate the free exchange of exploratory ideas among the staff of Federal agencies and interested stakeholders working toward the important goal of promoting security of IoT devices,” OET said.

Cablers discussed the importance of unlicensed spectrum and called for a shared spectrum “pipeline,” in a meeting with an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. They also discussed the importance of the citizens broadband radio service band and a CBRS-like approach to sharing. The wireless industry has stressed the importance of “pipeline” of licensed spectrum as 5G takes off (see 2209260048). “To keep pace with … ever-growing consumer and industry demand, it is essential to continually build a robust pipeline of unlicensed and shared-licensed spectrum resources, and ensure that each band’s operating requirements allow consumers to experience its maximum benefits,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-295. “The largest national wireless carriers, manufacturers, utilities, schools, hospitals, energy companies, neutral host networks, like stadiums and convention centers, municipalities, and small and rural wireless” are “actively using CBRS for a variety of wireless services,” the cable interests said: “Many new, non-traditional providers, like manufacturers, hospitals, and schools, were able to access commercial spectrum for the first time because of CBRS’ innovative sharing regime and licensing rules, which allowed them to compete at auction and tailor smaller license sizes to their specialized network needs.” Among those at the meeting were NCTA, Comcast, Charter Communications, Cox Enterprises and CableLabs.

T-Mobile was the fastest among the three major carriers in the U.S. in Q2, Ookla said Monday. T-Mobile had a median download speed of 164.76 Mbps on modern chipsets, a slight decline from 165.22 Mbps in Q1, based on speed tests. Verizon Wireless (72.61 Mbps) and AT&T (66.16) “were distant runners up and both saw minor declines in download speed,” Ookla said. T-Mobile’s media upload speed was 12.16 Mbps, versus 9.11 for Verizon and 7.32 for AT&T. The speeds from T-Mobile were also the most consistent among the big three, Ookla said.

The National Security Agency’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Monday issued guidance on 5G network slicing, under which carriers are able to divide their network into several virtual networks to meet different 5G use cases. “It is not the goal of this document to provide an exhaustive how-to list for the design and operation of a network slice; rather, to introduce best practices that can help mitigate threats,” the document says: “The threat landscape in 5G is dynamic; due to this, advanced monitoring, auditing, and other analytical capabilities are required to meet certain levels of network slicing service level requirements over time.” The report discusses “identified threats” to network slicing and “industry recognized practices for the design, deployment, operation, and maintenance of a hardened 5G standalone network slice.”