The FCC Public Safety Bureau sought comment Thursday on a waiver request by New Bedford, Massachusetts, which wants to add two T-band base stations to its public safety radio system. Comments are due Jan. 17, replies Feb. 1. “The City states that it ‘is in dire need of improved coverage and building penetration in its historical downtown business district,’” the bureau said: It contends that “in order to accomplish the required service dependability, it is necessary to construct two sites in that area.”

The FCC Public Safety Bureau approved a waiver Thursday for Illinois American Water (ILAW), a division of American Water Works, to share 800 MHz frequencies with the state Starcom21 network, but it denied a request to share 700 MHz frequencies. “We disagree with ILAW that its proposed operation is consistent with the Bureau’s previous waiver grants in these cases, and we are not persuaded by the comments of the Enterprise Wireless Alliance to the contrary,” the order said: “ILAW has not presented the requisite detailed showing that its use of the 700 MHz frequencies will be ‘solely for transmission of communication essential to providing services the sole or principal purpose of which is to protect the safety of life, health or property.’ Accordingly, we find that ILAW fails to demonstrate that it meets the conditional eligibility criteria to operate on STARCOM21’s 700 MHZ network, consistent with Section 337 of the [Communications] Act, section 90.523(b) of the Commission rules, and our prior precedent.”

Motorola Solutions announced Wednesday the acquisition of Rave Mobile Safety, which provides mass notifications and incident management tools. Terms weren’t disclosed. “State and local governments and enterprises, including hospitals, rely on Rave's cloud-native, customizable platform to support emergency coordination,” said a news release: “Users can effectively communicate operational updates and alerts, such as health emergencies, lockdowns and evacuations, so people are better informed to take appropriate action. The platform is also used by thousands of K-12 schools and higher education institutions across the U.S.”

Among other comments on the 12.7 GHz band (see 2212130047), Qualcomm characterized the band as a “good contender for clearing” for exclusive-use licenses. “The 12.7 GHz Band is ideal for the deployment of the latest 6G technological advances and can offer ubiquitous coverage, low latency and high capacity,” Qualcomm said in docket 22-352: “Even though the RF propagation characteristics of the band result in greater signal losses when compared to lower mid-band spectrum, technology advances for 6G, including the Giga [multiple-input and multiple-output] antenna design, will overcome the greater signal losses at 12.7 GHz Band and allow for mobile coverage areas akin to those available today in the lower mid-band spectrum range, by taking advantage of the higher directionality of beams and advanced Giga MIMO antennas.” Ericsson supported exclusive-use licensing and said the notice of inquiry starts to position the FCC to look at other bands for 6G. “Although the 12.7 GHz band is beyond the mid-band range and poses challenges for deploying coverage with deep in-building penetration in comparison with spectrum at lower bands, it can serve an important role for 6G,” Ericsson said: “Capacity-driven 6G use cases require large spectrum bandwidth which typically is easier to find the higher the frequency. On the other hand, the higher the frequency, the lower the coverage will be. As a result, we will need a mix of bands, including more spectrum that supports today’s 5G networks in the lower ranges.” Nokia also stressed the continuing need for exclusive-use spectrum. “It is imperative that the U.S. makes a significant part of the 7-16 GHz spectrum available for licensed mobile broadband use,” Nokia said. Nokia suggested the FCC relocate fixed point-to-point links and mobile users in the band, while satellite users should be able to coexist with 6G. The company proposed a protection zone around NASA’s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex. CTA said “the 12.7 GHz band may be an ideal candidate for high-speed, low-latency, bandwidth-intensive applications, including augmented reality, virtual reality, telesurgery, and robotics.” The Rural Wireless Association said it's critical the band be licensed at the county level rather than through much larger partial economic area licenses. “Using PEAs would effectively prevent [the band] from being used to serve rural areas as only large carriers will have the resources to serve PEAs and such carriers do not have the economic incentive to build out in a timely manner to the most rural portions of these areas,” RWA said: “Using county-sized license areas would promote an equitable distribution of mid-band licenses and promote the rapid deployment of 5G products and services to rural areas.”

Former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler warned Tuesday there's “little formal oversight” of how U.S. providers implement the 5G standard and its open radio access network protocols. “Not only is there no comprehensive identification and assignment of the risk responsibilities inherent in 5G, but also the networks are free to pick and choose which of the security components they intend to implement,” Wheeler said in a Strand Consult blog post: “Securing the network essential for the ‘smart’ era but built using hackable software from a diverse collection of suppliers should not be a voluntary proposition.” Wheeler backs a national policy establishing “expectations for the security and behavior of all 5G networks.” 5G “can usher in a new era of wondrous capabilities that will help consumers, companies, and communities,” he said: “It can help grow the economy with new exportable products and increased productivity. But failure to assure its security will slow deployment, suppress use case demand signals, impair the ability to protect intellectual property, chill 5G investment, and expose critical infrastructure to increased risk of catastrophic failures.”

University of Utah and Federated Wireless representatives spoke with FCC Wireless Bureau staff on the school’s pursuit of an FCC waiver of citizens broadband radio service rules for its POWDER (Platform for Open Wireless Data-driven Experimental Research) platform, used for wireless research. The proposal has been controversial (see 2207190047). “The meeting participants discussed the application of Commission rules and equipment certification to the University’s POWDER platform,” said a filing Tuesday in docket 22-257. “The University provided additional information regarding the architecture of its platform, the platform’s security protocols, and its monitoring capability,” the filing said: “Commission staff raised questions regarding the platform’s software-defined radios and whether their dynamic nature would necessitate waiver of Section 96.39(g) of the Commission’s rules.”

Sennheiser demonstrated an “advanced working prototype” of its wireless multichannel audio system (WMAS) and explained how the prototype works, in a meeting with FCC Office of Engineering and Technology and Wireless Bureau staff, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 21-115. The wireless mic company urged FCC action on proposed WMAS rules, teed up in an April NPRM (see 2104220056). “WMAS is designed for stage- or arena-based performances, and ... the complexity of the system and software interface does not lend itself to unsophisticated consumer operation,” the company said: “Sennheiser demonstrated that the design of its WMAS means that it actually poses less risk of interference to conventional narrowband systems than conventional narrowband systems do in a co-channel situation.”

The National Spectrum Consortium welcomed NTIA’s Federal Register notice on the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund (see 2212120019). "This Request for Comment is an important step toward strengthening, protecting and expanding our networks,” said a Tuesday statement: “Open Radio Access Networks offer great opportunities for collaboration and innovation in the field that will help the United States remain competitive.” The consortium said it plans to file comments.

T-Mobile hit its mid-band 5G year-end goal of covering 260 million POPs with “Ultra Capacity 5G” weeks early, the company said Monday. T-Mobile is also adding a new nationwide layer of mid-band spectrum at 1900 MHz. T-Mobile said its extended-range product covers 323 million POPs.

Representatives of the Edison Electric Institute, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the American Public Power Association and the Utilities Technology Council urged the FCC to focus on real-world tests of potential 6 GHz interference, in a call with an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The advocacy is consistent with the long-term focus of utilities on the need for testing (see 2211030066). “The Commission has a critical role to play in supporting such testing, which must be conducted in a collaborative, transparent and inclusive manner,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-295. “Although simulations do play an important part in assessing the interference potential of unlicensed 6 GHz operations, the Commission should also recognize the accuracy of real-world interference testing in developing measurements from actual deployments,” the groups said. “Underlying inputs and the algorithms” used in simulations also “need to be disclosed so that they are repeatable and transparent,” they said.