NTIA released its first notice of funding opportunity for its $1.5 billion Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund Wednesday (see 2303240054). The notice, funded by the Chips and Science Act, "aims to expand and improve testing to demonstrate the viability" of open radio access networks, said a news release. The agency anticipates awarding up to $140.5 million in its initial round of grants. Applications are due by June 2. "We look forward to bringing the best of industry, academia, and the public together to deliver on this initiative," said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

The U.S.’ citizens broadband radio service approach has been at forefront of a global movement for private 5G, said Dave Wright, Hewlett-Packard head of global wireless policy, said at an FCBA spectrum CLE seminar Wednesday. CBRS commercial service has been available since 2020 in the U.S., and the FCC has authorized more than 500 devices in CBRS, and more than 4,300 professional installers are CBRS certified, he said. Beyond traditional spectrum access via licensing or unlicensed use, CBRS in the 3.5 GHz frequency range is a new approach in spectrum management by introducing a three-tiered sharing model, he said. Incumbents get protection from interference from priority access licenses and general authorized access, and PAL has priority over GAA, he said. One key difference in the U.S. approach is that no other country has used a dynamic framework like the U.S., and in most cases they're using local licenses instead, he said. Unlicensed spectrum is increasingly a linchpin for communications networks, with more devices using more data, said Alex Roytblat, Wi-Fi Alliance vice president-worldwide regulatory affairs. Telehealth, virtual reality and industrial IoT will require connectivity magnitudes faster than what's provided today by 5G, and opening up the 6 GHz band will help enable them, he said. That will require more use of local-area short-range communications and spectral reuse, he said. “The wide area network model is not going to be there to support our connectivity,” he said. The U.S. is unique in spectrum management with two agencies having authority -- the FCC regulating non-federal commercial use and NTIA regulating federal use such as by DOD, said Becky Tangren, NCTA associate general counsel. With spectrum increasingly crowded, the FCC is no longer as focused on exclusive access and is getting more creative in allowing access, such as via unlicensed bands, or shared use, she said. Some 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference agenda items will look at harmonizing frequencies for 5G, and WRC-2027 will likely look at what bands are to be used for 6G, she said.

An FCC order requiring mobile providers to block texts on the do not originate list and maintain a point of contact for texters to report erroneously blocked texts is effective May 11, said a notice in Tuesday's Federal Register (see 2303170056). Commissioners adopted the order in March.

The FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics want comments by April 26, replies May 8, in docket 16-271 on a proposal to continue collecting mobile participants of the Alaska Plan's deployment data through Form 477 filings until March 1, 2028, said a notice in Tuesday's Federal Register. The Wireline Bureau also waived its requirement that Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund and Connect USVI Fund Stage 2 mobile providers resubmit interim milestone reports demonstrating 66% mobile network coverage area.

Continental Automotive Systems representatives met with aides to FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geffrey Starks on concerns over patents for cellular vehicle-to-everything technology in the 5.9 GHz band, said a filing posted Friday in docket 19-138. That follows a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Nathan Simington (see 2304030043). Potentials problems can be “rectified by Commission action to provide corrective measures to promote fairness in the C-V2X marketplace,” the company said: “As the Commission is requiring the use of C-V2X technologies in the U.S., it should require that C-V2X-related patent licenses be available to all who seek them for the purpose of complying with the Commission’s regulation. By mandating licensing, the Commission will in turn allow diverse companies of all sizes and national origins, and from across industries, to participate in the C-V2X market.”

The Spectrum Act limits the FCC’s authority over state and local infrastructure approvals to modifications of existing facilities that don’t substantially change their physical dimensions, said both the city and county of San Francisco in a reply brief (docket 20-71765) filed Friday with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the League of California Cities challenge of the 2020 FCC wireless infrastructure declaratory ruling (see 2304030059. The law doesn’t allow the FCC to “interfere with State and local authority beyond this specific limitation” and doesn’t give the FCC authority “to impose a federal preference for certain siting conditions or impose retroactive procedural requirements on local governments,” said the filing. The declaratory ruling’s limitations on what can be treated as “concealment elements” under the rules are too narrow, and its relaxation of limits on equipment cabinets conflicts with the statute, the brief said. The ruling’s conclusion that a change in antenna height doesn’t constitute a substantial change to an existing facility is contrary to the law, the brief said: The FCC “fails to explain how ignoring the height of a new antenna can be squared with the statute.” In a separate filing, Marin County California and the National Association of Telecommunication Officers and Advisors endorsed the briefs from San Francisco and the League of California Cities.

Representatives of the Open Technology Institute at New America and Public Knowledge urged FCC action on pending 6 GHz issues, in a video call with an aide to Commissioner Brendan Carr. “We reiterated our strong support for rapidly making the full benefits of expanded unlicensed spectrum capacity for next generation Wi-Fi 6E/7 available to consumers,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 18-295: The groups also asked about the status of the 12 GHz proceeding “and, in particular, whether the Commission will continue to consider alternatives to mobile 5G sharing in the band if coexistence is not possible.”

The FCC’s World Radiocommunication Conference Advisory Committee posted Thursday the agenda and other documents for its meeting Tuesday in-person at the FCC. The agenda includes remarks by Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and is forecast to last four hours, with numerous recommendations pending. The meeting starts at 11 a.m. EDT. The WRC starts Nov. 20 at the Dubai World Trade Centre in the United Arab Emirates.

The ATIS Hearing Aid Compatibility Task Force urged approval of its request for a waiver “so that wireless phones introduced this year with new features for people with hearing loss can continue to be HAC-rated,” in a filing posted Thursday in docket 20-3. Granting interim relief “will serve the public interest and benefit consumers by helping enable consumers with hearing loss to identify the wireless handsets that best work for them while the record develops in response to the Petition for Limited, Interim Waiver filed on behalf of the covered entities of the HAC Task Force,” ATIS said: “While interim relief is in effect, the covered entities of the HAC Task Force will continue to offer innovative coupling and volume control capabilities.” While the FCC is taking comment (see 2303310060) ATIS urged action before a June 5 compliance date “to enable new wireless phones to continue to receive a HAC rating.”

Praesidium asked permission to operate fixed-field disturbance sensors in short-range devices in the 60 GHz band, at higher power levels than allowed by FCC rules. The company sought the waiver for its RemWave Sleep sensor, which “can be used to enable contactless detection of heartrate, respiratory rate, and occupancy and presence detection.” The FCC “allows operation of ‘fixed field disturbance sensors in short-range devices for vital sign detection’ within the 60 GHz band, but at power levels too restrictive for optimum use of the sensors,” Praesidium said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-70.