CTIA and members urged the FCC to focus on “the timely collection” of 4G and 5G outdoor stationary maps and “a targeted, user-friendly challenge process” to collect data required by the Broadband Data Act. The request came in a call with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Requiring in-vehicle coverage maps, “particularly in the absence of parameters such as speed of the vehicle and penetration or signal-strength loss … has the potential to undermine the Commission’s careful efforts to develop accurate and reliable maps,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 11-10: “Outdoor stationary maps fully comply with the Congressional mandates in the DATA Act and provide a granular and accurate depiction of where mobile coverage is available.” Reconsidering "collection of in-vehicle maps will also reduce consumer confusion over how to evaluate multiple maps and avoid disputes among Federal agencies and states about which map should be used for funding decisions," CTIA said. AT&T, T-Mobile, UScellular and Verizon representatives were on the call.

Private wireless revenue last year was “slightly weaker” than projected, leading to a downward outlook revision, Dell’Oro Group said Friday. “The markdown is more driven by the challenges of converting these initial trials to commercial deployments than a sign that demand is subsiding,” said Vice President Stefan Pongratz. “Indicators suggest private wireless activity is firming up.” Private wireless radio access network revenue, including macro and small cells, is still likely to double 2021-26, with LTE dominating the market and 5G gaining share, Dell’Oro said. “The successful launch of private 5G services by suppliers with strong enterprise channels could accelerate the private 5G market at a faster pace than expected,” the firm said: “5G awareness is improving but it will take some time for enterprises to fully understand the value of private LTE/5G.” Dell’Oro said in a second report that Wi-Fi 6E, which uses 6 GHz, is growing more slowly than expected. “Although manufacturers launched Wi-Fi 6E products in mid-2021, products are either not available, or they are in very limited supply,” Dell’Oro said: “Supply constraints have prompted manufacturers to focus on enabling the availability of popular models by re-designing these models with components that are more readily available.”

FAA issued its millionth airspace authorization for drone pilots to use public airspace, the agency said Friday. It was issued under the low altitude authorization and notification capability program, which allows automated approvals. “This system has allowed drone pilots to gain timely access to busy airspace without sacrificing safety,” said Teri Bristol, chief operating officer of FAA’s Air Traffic Organization.

The FCC Wireless Bureau OK’d nine 900 MHz broadband segment license applications sought by PDV Spectrum, said a notice listed in Thursday’s Daily Digest. A 2020 order reallocated a 6 MHz swath for broadband (see 2005130057).

T-Mobile likely won’t use its 3.45 GHz licenses until next year and plans to deploy them the same time as it does the C-band spectrum bought last year, using a single radio, said Neville Ray, T-Mobile president-technology, on a call with analysts Wednesday (see 2202020072). Ray said 3.45 GHz is “a new band … and it does have some complexity with coordination with the DOD to navigate.” Working through problems will take time, he said. “The radio infrastructure is new” and radios still aren't available, which could be complicated by supply chain issues, he said. Ray expects consumer devices to be available at year's end, or early in 2023. CEO Mike Sievert said the C-band fight (see 2202030081) seems mostly settled.“The studies have been completed,” he said: “We think the wireless industry, AT&T, Verizon, the FCC positions, will be validated. And we think they're right.” A “properly functioning radio altimeter” won’t be compromised by C-band interference, he said.

Wireless ISP Association representatives urged an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to act on the 2.5 GHz auction “as soon as possible.” WISPA members like the county-sized licenses expected to be auctioned and favor a single-round, sealed-bid auction format, said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 20-429.

T-Mobile got the licenses it needed in the 3.45 GHz auction, CEO Mike Sievert said on a call with analysts Wednesday as the company reported Q4 results. “We continue to add to our mid-band portfolio,” he said. “We concentrated on supplementing our mid-band spectrum holdings in major urban and suburban areas, mostly aligned with our C-band purchases, and … in places where these frequencies are well suited to the density of our network grid,” he said. T-Mobile will have limited capital expenditures to deploy the new bands and will mostly use existing towers, he said. T-Mobile bid $2.9 billion in the 3.45 GHz auction, which was below expectations (see 2201140065). The carrier reported service revenue of $15 billion in Q4 and net income of $422 million. It earlier reported 844,000 postpaid phone net adds and 244,000 adds to its new home internet service in Q4 (see 2201060063). “AT&T and Verizon have finally started rolling out mid-band 5G and hope to soon be where we were almost two years ago,” Sievert said: “Two years from now, we’ll still be two years ahead.”

Aura and FAA launched a four-year research project to develop performance standards for air traffic control voice communications supporting drones, Aura said Tuesday. “The project is essential to eventual regulations empowering applications ranging from cargo flights to infrastructure inspections and first-responder operations.” It will look at “latency and evaluate voice quality/speech intelligibility of air-to-ground radio-path transmissions between [drone] pilots and FAA voice-switch air traffic controller positions,” Aura said.

Increasing network efficiency is critical to keeping up with 5G, with a need for more sensitive receivers in base stations and user equipment, said Rob Maunder, chief technology officer of semiconductor company AccelerComm, during a Mobile World Live webinar Tuesday. Installing more-efficient equipment is often cheaper than buying spectrum licenses or installing towers or small cells, he said. “By building better receivers, more sensitive receivers, we can get more bang for our buck in the wireless network … and this creates more capacity.” Maunder predicted “exponential growth” of 5G traffic worldwide, to 178 billion GB monthly by 2027, at which point 5G will be 62% of mobile traffic. “No longer is a one size-fits-all solution suitable,” he said: “What’s needed in the industry is an ecosystem around available [technology] that addresses these challenges so that the whole industry can build solutions.” With 5G, the biggest efficiency gains compared with 4G will come through more use of multiple-input, multiple-output technologies, he said. Anastasios Karousos, Real Wireless managing consultant, said the savings will vary by carrier, but even a slight increase in spectrum efficiency means lower cell utilization and reduced capital costs.

The FirstNet board and committees will meet Feb. 9, starting at 10:30 a.m. MST at the Marriott Albuquerque Hotel, 2101 Louisiana Blvd. NE, says a Tuesday Federal Register notice. The meeting is available to the public online only because of COVID-19 restrictions.