A CTIA report released Wednesday argues U.S. spectrum policy should “attach more weight” to a user’s incentive and ability to defend against cyberattacks, which means policymakers should emphasize the allocation of more spectrum under exclusive-use, licensed frameworks. “The licensed spectrum model drives high standards, accountability, and a high degree of commonality and predictability in the way wireless carriers protect and curate spectrum assets against cyber threats,” the report said: Licensees “have mature operating models for protecting the network as well as for reporting cyber incidents.” Licensed spectrum also ensures “the cybersecurity posture of users aligns with national cybersecurity and broader national security goals.” The paper notes Accenture says the commercial wireless industry has access to only 270 MHz or about 5% of lower mid-band spectrum, 3-8.5 GHz, while 36% is dedicated to unlicensed use. CTIA President Meredith Baker said the findings point to the importance of Congress restoring the FCC’s auction authority (see 2305230067). The paper was written by HardenStance.

With its comments opposing the SpaceX/T-Mobile plan for supplemental coverage from space having been delivered to SpaceX two days after they were filed with the FCC (see 2305190057), the Rural Wireless Association is seeking a waiver of FCC rules on send dates. Section 25.154(a)(5) of agency rules say oppositions to applications contain a certificate of service showing it was mailed to the applicant no later than the date the pleading is filed with the agency. In docket 23-135 Tuesday, RWA said SpaceX got its comments sooner than if it had mailed them and that they were in docket 23-135 the day after they were filed.

IEEE Sensing asked to withdraw a December petition seeking clarification on how it can use a waiver it received for the agency's 60 GHz rules (see 2212200059). Clarification is no longer needed in light of last week’s approval of revised 60 GHz rules (see 2305180036), said an undocketed filing posted Tuesday.

Fixed wireless access (FWA) is emerging as the killer app for 5G, Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg said Tuesday at a J.P. Morgan financial conference. The company added almost 400,000 FWA subscribers in its last quarter (see 2304250073), he noted: “That's definitely the key application that's not only for consumers, it's also for businesses.” 4G is in the maturity stage now in the U.S., Vestberg said. “5G is coming into the second phase where you actually start doing 5G-advanced and actually start taking advantage of all the 5G out there,” he said. With 5G, Verizon can connect millions of devices per square kilometer, “which was never the case with 4G,” he said. Verizon is working to build momentum among low-end consumers, Vestberg said: “We still do phenomenally well in the high end. We did not do so well in the low end on the postpaid last year.” T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert said at the same conference his company remains focused on being “the insurgent.” T-Mobile “has a culture that is hard to replicate, where every single one of us wakes up every morning hungry, unsatisfied,” he said. Sievert said halfway through Q2, T-Mobile continues to add postpaid subscribers at or above the pace it set last year. “We continue to have a methodical march to build market share” focused on markets where the carrier is “underpenetrated,” he said: “We have years of room to run on this …. We're not trying to grab it all this year. We're trying to methodically get after it.”

The 6 GHz networks that critical infrastructure operations have relied on for years will now start facing interference from unlicensed use in the band, said Viasat Global Enterprise and Mobility Chief Commercial Officer Brendan Sullivan in a Utilities Technology Council webinar Tuesday. "This has been a good frequency for people to use" for point-to-point microwave links, but even relatively low-powered unlicensed use can create substantial interference, he said. UTC was among utility groups that unsuccessfully challenged the FCC's 6 GHz order before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (see 2007270067).

Wi-Fi Alliance President Kevin Robinson urged the FCC to act on the 6 GHz and other proceedings on unlicensed spectrum, in a meeting with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. In 6 GHz, the FCC should “promptly resolve the remand from the Court of Appeals and adopt its proposals in the Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking,” the alliance said, posted Friday in docket 18-295. The commission should authorize automated frequency coordination systems “once test plans and test factors are finalized,” the alliance said: It's also important for the FCC to “advocate in international fora, including the World Radiocommunication Conference, for the ability of individual administrations to designate the use of the 6425-7125 GHz band consistent with their national priorities.”

FCC orders adopted last month on the TV white spaces are effective June 21 (see 2304140056), said a notice in Monday’s Federal Register. In an order on reconsideration, “the Commission dismisses in part and, on alternative and independent grounds, denies a petition for reconsideration of two rule changes for white space devices operating in the broadcast television bands,” the notice said: In a memorandum opinion and order, “the Commission declines to modify the rules to permit white space databases to use more complex terrain-based models to determine the available frequencies for white space devices and will instead continue to rely on the simpler established model that has worked reliably to prevent interference to TV and other protected services.”

Various groups urged the FCC to act on the licenses won by T-Mobile in the 2.5 GHz auction (see 2304060062). “We are concerned that as these licenses have still not been deployed and put to use, many of our communities are continuing to be left behind; having to live without the critical network coverage -- and access to resources -- that this valuable spectrum provides,” said a Monday filing in the FCC’s universal licensing system. Among those signing were the Coalition of Large Tribes, the National Rural Education Association, National Grange, Silicon Harlem, the National Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce, the Conference of National Black Churches and the Hispanic Heritage Foundation. “We recognize that the Commission’s congressional authority to conduct spectrum auctions has now lapsed,” the groups said: “By issuing licenses to T-Mobile, however, the Commission would not be holding any new spectrum auctions. Rather, it would be issuing licenses T-Mobile has already purchased for an auction that ended last summer.”

T-Mobile emphasized in a new filing at the FCC that giving the company special temporary authority to use licenses bought in the 2.5 GHz band (see 2304060062) would help veterans, after the Department of Veterans Affairs selected the company as its primary wireless provider. The FCC declined to award the licenses, won last year, after its auction authority expired earlier this year. Six hundred Mobile wireless facilities in 47 states near VA facilities “could be immediately enhanced with additional spectrum, at sites covered by the STA request,” said a filing in the FCC’s universal licensing system. “Since T-Mobile submitted the STA request, it has become increasingly evident that Congress does not appear to be prepared to restore the Commission’s authority in the near-term,” the carrier said: “Some at the Commission have asserted that the Commission no longer has authority to process its Auction 108 application. Those circumstances have made it even more important for the Commission to grant T-Mobile’s STA request.”

T-Mobile notified the FCC it decided to receive transitional support under a USF fund supporting mobile and fixed carriers in Puerto Rico (see 2304190063). “T-Mobile is an eligible telecommunications carrier in Puerto Rico and has been receiving Stage 2 mobile support in Puerto Rico,” said a filing Wednesday in docket 18-143: “T-Mobile commits to satisfy the transitional mobile support service obligations and requirements established by the Commission.”