NTIA asked for comments by Jan. 27 on implementing the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund, which is part of the Chips and Science Act signed into law in August (see 2208090062), said a notice for Tuesday’s Federal Register. NTIA also announced a virtual listening session on the program set for 10 a.m. EST Jan. 24. “This historic $1.5 billion investment aims to support U.S. leadership in the global telecommunications ecosystem, foster competition, lower costs for consumers and network operators, and strengthen our supply chain,” NTIA said: The 5G infrastructure market “is highly consolidated, with a small group of vendors making up the majority of the marketplace. This lack of competition can reduce supply chain resilience and security, contribute to higher prices, make it challenging for new, innovative U.S. companies to break into the market, and ultimately will exacerbate the digital divide.”
A coalition of 242 ISPs backed a proposal to make 500 MHz of the 10 GHz band available "for point-to-point commercial nationwide licensed use" on a shared basis. The Coalition for Coordinated Sharing petitioned the FCC in October to adopt a rulemaking (see 2210040062). The petition "presents a tremendous opportunity" and "demonstrates how the interests of federal and amateur users can be protected from harmful interference through nationwide licensing," the ISPs said in Friday's letter.
The U.S. wireless industry contributed $825 billion to the GDP and about 4.5 million jobs in 2020, said a new report by CTIA Wednesday. The report, written by Compass Lexecon, said the wireless industry contributed nearly $5.4 trillion in GDP over the past decade. “The wireless industry is driving the U.S. economy, and this report highlights its massive contributions to our GDP and support of American jobs,” said CTIA CEO Meredith Baker. "For the wireless industry to continue to provide these considerable, widespread positive effects to the American economy, it is necessary to provide mobile network operators access to dedicated, licensed spectrum," the report said.
Most broadband subscriber additions in 2022 have come via fixed wireless access, and that trend should continue with T-Mobile and Verizon likely having 11 million to 13 million FWA customers by 2025, T-Mobile said Wednesday in its "State of Fixed Wireless Access" report. T-Mobile said more than half of its 2-plus million FWA subscribers jumped from being cable broadband subs, lured by such advantages as lack of annual contracts or installation issues. It said T-Mobile FWA averages speeds of 145 Mbps.
The FCC's move to mandate the use of cellular vehicle-to-everything in the 5.9 GHz proceeding unintentionally put Continental Automotive and other auto industry suppliers "in a precarious situation" for licensing C-V2X standard essential patents (SEPs), company representatives told an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and various agency bureau and office staff, said a docket 19-138 filing Tuesday. Continental repeated its request for the FCC to mandate that C-V2X U.S. SEPs be licensed on fair terms to anyone wanting to be licensed (see 2204060038).
Verizon's 5G Ultra Wideband service now covers more than 175 million people and will go nationwide in Q1 2023, it said Monday. Verizon said it will add capacity by activating 100 MHz of C-band spectrum in multiple markets -- up from the 60 MHz available when deployment started -- and improve coverage particularly in suburban and rural areas,.
Oppositions to the CTIA/Competitive Carriers Association petition for partial reconsideration and additional clarity of the FCC’s mandatory disaster response initiative order (see 2211010056) are due Dec. 19, with replies to the oppositions due Dec. 27, according to Friday's Federal Register. The petition seeks a list of potential facilities-based providers to which the MDRI may apply and asks for time to comply.
UScellular's talks with the FAA show the carrier's C-band deployment can proceed as planned, without any mitigation for its sites near the 188 airports the FAA listed as requiring C-band licensee coordination, the company said in docket 18-122 Friday. It said only a small number of the 188 fall within its footprint. Citing its deployment time frame and the location of its sites in the coordination zones, the company said the FAA confirmed its sites near those airports would be approved for full-power operation in a post-retrofit aircraft environment. It said the FCC's changing its C-band rules now would only delay deployment.
Citing feedback from the FCC, tech company Robert Bosch modified its suggestion for more flexible use of the 60 GHz band (see 2210030051). In a docket 21-264 post Thursday on a talk with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, Bosch representatives said the company is open to low-power regulation for all the channels. It said channel 3 might not be a suitable home for high-bandwidth augmented and ritual reality applications, so the FCC might want to consider a "look back" sometime after it adopts 60 GHz sharing rules to determine if AR and VR have been substantially deployed on channel 3.
Fifty-one long-form applications were accepted and 650 licenses issued for 2.5 GHz flexible-use, county-based overlay wireless licenses, the FCC Wireless Bureau said in a public notice Thursday. It said staff review is ongoing of another 17 auction long-form applications. Of the 51 grants,15 received small business bidding credits and 23 received rural service provider bidding credits, the notice said.