Comments are due July 21, replies Aug. 21, on a Further NPRM proposing to require participating wireless providers to ensure mobile devices can translate alerts into the 13 most commonly spoken languages in the U.S. aside from English to send as thumbnail-sized images in WEA messages and other changes, said a notice for Wednesday’s Federal Register. Commissioners in April approved FNPRM 4-0 (see 2304200040). “These requirements would assist the millions of people who do not speak English or Spanish, as well as those with disabilities, understand and respond to WEA messages, and result in a more precise and tailored use of WEA through increased flexibility and options for consumers and alerting authorities,” the notice said.

Samsung Electronics America representatives met with FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology staff to present data supporting the company’s request for a 5G base station radio that works across citizens broadband radio service and C-band spectrum (see 2303100019). Samsung redacted the data from the filing, posted Friday in docket 23-93, and asked that the information be treated as confidential.

The FCC Wireless Bureau proposed to modify two 218-219 MHz stations operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) of New York, providing the authority with spectrum to improve the reliability of its positive train control system in four counties. The bureau proposed modifying Station KIVD0002 by authorizing the use of an additional 250 KHz of spectrum from the commission’s inventory “where additional spectrum is required to enhance the reliability” of the system. MTA must return “a like amount of spectrum from Station KIVD0001,” the bureau said Friday: “That spectrum would become unassigned and available for future disposition as determined by the Commission, and would result in a net gain of spectrum to the Commission.” MTA has 30 days to protest the proposed order.

The FirstNet Authority announced Thursday that Renee Gordon was named vice chair of the authority board, effective immediately, replacing Richard Carrizzo, who was earlier promoted to chair (see 2304270020). Gordon is director of the Alexandria, Virginia, Department of Emergency and Customer Communications and a board member since November.

Making more full-power mid-band licensed spectrum available would stimulate the launch of fixed wireless access, increase home broadband competition and mean savings for consumers, said a CTIA study by Econ One, released Thursday. “FWA is particularly data-intensive compared to typical mobile use, so additional spectrum is the key policy mechanism to enhance the competition FWA is already bringing to the broadband market,” the study said. FWA has been a wireless industry focused worldwide (see 2306140062). AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have unveiled FWA offerings. T-Mobile led the pack with 3.2 million home internet customers at the end of last quarter. If 5G FWA expanded into all cable-only markets, at current FWA price points, consumers would get a 37% drop in the cost of service and “at least $5.7 billion in annual consumer savings alone,” the study said. “Evidence shows FWA is already having a strong competitive impact,” but carriers need more mid-band spectrum, the report argues: “FWA is a particularly data-intensive offering, having to supply high-resolution video for large living room screens rather than just mobile phones.”

Electric utility representatives, led by the Edison Electric Institute, discussed a recent Pacific Gas & Electric study on the interference threat to band incumbents from unlicensed operations in the 6 GHz band (see 2304260037), meeting with an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The study said 47 of the PG&E links studied would have to be moved within five years, four links “showed such severe risk for interference that PG&E is already moving them to 11 GHz channels at significant cost to the company” and only five “will be able to operate effectively in five years," the utilities said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 18-295.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau asked for oppositions June 26, replies July 5, on a March petition by the Competitive Carriers Association seeking tweaks to revised outage reporting rules (see 2211170051), said a Wednesday notice in docket 15-80. Among changes sought, CCA said the FCC should “reconsider its refusal to apply its new ‘30-minute notification deadline flexibly.’”

Cable provider Astound Broadband will begin offering mobile wireless service this month, using the T-Mobile network, starting with markets in Massachusetts and Texas, Astound said Wednesday. The company plans to launch Astound Mobile in its remaining markets by the end of the year. The Texas markets are Corpus Christi, Midland-Odessa, Temple and Waco. “Astound’s entrance into the wireless market comes at a time when the need for fast, reliable, high-value broadband and mobile services is at an all-time high and more critical than ever,” said CEO Jim Holanda.

Starry Chief Operating Officer Alex Moulle-Berteaux is replacing Chet Kanojia as CEO of the fixed-wireless provider, effective immediately, the company announced Tuesday. Starry said the company expects to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy “later this summer.” Starry filed for bankruptcy in February (see 2302220053) and previously slashed staff and refocused on dense urban markets with multi-tenant buildings (see 2301190047). The company “continues to serve customers in Boston, New York City, Los Angeles, Denver and Washington, DC metro areas and will continue to do so before and after completion of the Reorganization,” Starry said. “Over the last five years, as COO, I’ve had the opportunity to guide the business direction and growth of Starry, while also getting into the weeds on the technical and operational elements that drive our business,” Moulle-Berteaux said.

Use of the 6 GHz band will make Wi-Fi more efficient and means Wi-Fi devices won’t have to also work in legacy bands, said Rolf De Vegt, Qualcomm Technologies vice president-technical standards, on a Qualcomm webinar Tuesday. De Vegt said 6 GHz is the right band to meet today's needs. Wi-Fi started out with only about 90 MHz of spectrum in the 4.2 GHz band before the 5 GHz and then 6 GHz bands were added, he said. The addition of 6 GHz in 2020 (see 2004240011) more than doubled the amount of spectrum available for unlicensed, he said. “When devices operate in 6 GHz there is no need to support all the legacy modes,” which are “slower modes and less efficient,” De Vegt said. “What we can really focus on when we deploy networks in the 6 GHz band” is using “the most modern and the latest techniques for those particular Wi-Fi networks,” he said. The opening of 6 GHz is “extremely timely” as fiber is built out worldwide, he said. Without the 6 GHz band, Wi-Fi would become “the bottleneck” in the network, he said. The amount of the band opened for Wi-Fi varies around the world, but “leading tech nations” like the U.S., South Korea, Canada and Brazil are making the full band available, and not just the lower 500 MHz, recognizing “this is going to spur a lot of growth and innovation in all kinds of industries,” De Vegt said. “Wi-Fi connects the world” and now carries most wireless data network traffic, he said. Currently, an estimated 19 billion Wi-Fi devices are in use worldwide, he said. Wi-Fi networks are growing in every home, “it’s not just about your laptop or phone,” said Alap Modi, principal solutions architect at Wi-Fi equipment company Eero. The types of use cases that are growing require fast speed and low latency and that’s what 6 GHz offers, he said. ISPs are offering faster and faster connections to the home, but “inside your home you are still relying on Wi-Fi,” he said. Eero offers devices that use 160 MHz channels, and that offer multi-GB speeds in the home, he said.