The Competitive Carriers Association urged the FCC to “act expeditiously” to grant the remaining licenses from last year’s 2.5 GHz auction, said a Thursday letter to Wireless Bureau Chief Joel Taubenblatt, posted in docket 18-120. “Doing so would be consistent with significant legal analysis, facilitate deployment of needed services to consumers in rural and underserved areas, and help avoid a harmful precedent that may chill future participation in spectrum auctions,” CCA said: “Between the challenges deploying C-Band and now 2.5 GHz, wireless carriers are struggling to realize the full value of spectrum won at significant expense. The wireless industry must be able to rely on timely access to spectrum resources won at auction.” Acting now will “help restore wireless industry faith in FCC auctions and promote future participation,” the group said. T-Mobile, a CCA member, has been pressing the FCC for access to the licenses it won in the auction (see 2305180057).

Verizon told the FCC it “continued to take significant steps to enhance its compliance program and internal controls” in the 18 months since it finalized its buy of Tracfone (see 2111220069). Though “certain FCC Conditions have not yet become ripe, Verizon has continued to improve its preventative measures to proactively detect potential issues it might face,” said the required semi-annual report, parts of which were redacted. Verizon noted it created the Verizon Value organization in December 2022, bringing Tracfone, Visible and Verizon Prepaid together under the same business unit: “As of the date of this filing, the leadership team for the Verizon Value organization has been implemented, with a majority of senior leaders in the TracFone organization remaining with the Verizon Value organization in similar roles. These leaders are very familiar with the Merger Order Conditions, having held prior roles with Conditions responsibilities.” In compliance with the merger order, Tracfone offers Lifeline services in 43 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, primarily through its SafeLink brand, the report said. The company “does not intend to withdraw from any jurisdictions in which it provides Lifeline service.” The report was posted Wednesday in docket 22-210.

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology approved Schlage's waiver request for an ultra-wideband locking device that it plans to sell for security use to be mounted on building entryways (see 2207050065). “Schlage’s access control devices would be limited to deployment in residential units,” said a Wednesday order. “We also recognize that Schlage has taken further steps that provide us with added confidence that its system will not cause harmful interference in actual use,” OET said: “The reader uses directional type antennas with beam patterns primarily in the azimuthal plane, directed horizontally towards the ground, therefore reducing any potential interference to satellite receivers operating within the UWB frequency range under evaluation here. Schlage claims that because of the type of antenna being used and its positioning, there would be no ‘bleed over’ effects to signals outside of the area between the access credential and the device.”

5G has been “very hyped for a long time,” but the reality is less dramatic, former tower company executive James Eisenstein said Wednesday during a Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy webcast. Eisenstein is former CEO and chairman of Grupo TorreSur, a Latin America-focused tower company, and a founder of American Tower, the largest U.S. player. The U.S. tower market is “very mature” and “you’re not seeing significant growth,” he said. At this point 80% of growth is coming from existing carriers adding equipment to towers, he said. In each previous generation of wireless “the carriers had something new, conceptually, to sell” and “something that people really wanted,” Eisenstein said: “That doesn’t exist for 5G -- there is no silver bullet. We can talk about smart cities and things like that, and AI, but the reality is the carriers aren’t making any more money.” The carriers have also “painted themselves into a corner” by hyping 5G since 2019, he said. A lot of people still don’t have 5G phones and customers who do “really don’t notice a difference” over 4G, he said. Carriers in reality “are building out 5G more slowly than they hype, or than they talk about,” he said. That means the top-line growth for major tower companies also isn’t as high as expected, he said: “Then you’ve got Dish [Wireless] not building out as quickly as people had thought.” Eisenstein blames in part rising interest rates, which mean less capital available, and adjusted free cash flow and other indicators “have dropped significantly." Carriers worldwide are seeing the same issues and aren’t building out 5G as quickly as expected, he said. The only significant growth is coming in developing nations like India, Eisenstein said. “It all depends on where the tower industry has gotten off the ground,” he said. Despite industry complaints, U.S. carriers have all the spectrum they need for 5G, he said: “It’s not as if they can’t build out”; they’re just choosing not to deploy that quickly.

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.”