NTIA released a new manual of regulations and procedures for federal radio frequency management, effective immediately, says Wednesday Federal Register. The manual provides the rules federal agencies “must comply” with “when requesting use of radio frequency spectrum,” the notice says.

DOJ will address a question posed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (see 2201130046) during oral argument next week of the 5.9 GHz appeal, DOJ said in a Friday brief. The court asked: “What significance should be accorded to the fact that the United States through the Justice Department is representing the FCC not the Department of Transportation?” DOJ said: The U.S joined the FCC’s brief “after assessing the merits of these cases and considering all relevant federal interests, including the Commission’s policy judgments and the views of executive-branch agencies that participated before the Commission.”

Microsoft representatives asked the FCC to scale back the notification requirements for white spaces devices, in a draft item scheduled for a commissioner vote next week (see 2201060057). Microsoft spoke with aides to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Brendan Carr. “As currently constructed, the application of the draft requirements to narrowband fixed white space devices (WSDs) used for IoT applications would negatively impact the battery life, limit potential form factors, and increase the costs of those devices,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 04-186. Microsoft urged the FCC to “maintain its existing requirement that narrowband fixed WSDs be required to check the white space database once a day to ensure capturing wireless microphone reservations rather than the proposed 24 times a day.”

The Wi-Fi Alliance asked the FCC to quickly act on a limited remand by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit of one part of the agency’s 6 GHz order (see 2112280047), in calls with FCC Office of General Counsel and Office of Engineering and Technology staff. The court instructed the FCC to address NAB concerns about interference in the 2.4 GHz band. Despite the court’s “strong affirmation of the 6 GHz Report and Order, the limited remand creates regulatory uncertainty in the market for unlicensed deployments in the 6 GHz spectrum,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-295: “That uncertainty may impede introduction of low-cost wireless connectivity solutions, frustrating the Commission’s intentions and harming American consumers.” The remand can be easily addressed by noting “that the use of a contention-based protocol is not required in the 2.4 GHz band, unlike the rules adopted in the 6 GHz” order, the group said.

Discussions about opening the 12 GHz band to 5G need to start focusing on technical issues such as the right interference criteria, the acceptable probability of interference and the means for determining how much of a terrestrial signal has been attenuated before it reaches a satellite receiver, Dish Network said in an FCC docket 20-443 filing Friday. It said differences are minimal between the interference thresholds being proposed by satellite and terrestrial 5G interests. It said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's 6 GHz decision last month (2112280047) eviscerates two key arguments of 5G opponents -- that satellite and terrestrial spectrum sharing needs to be rejected unless there's zero interference, and that a "Monte Carlo"-style statistical analysis is inferior to a worst-case-scenario one. It said SpaceX hasn't supplied any evidence of its own to back its contention that 5G/non-geostationary orbit fixed satellite service sharing is impossible and studies it cites "were based on extremely conservative assumptions ... and a worst-case analysis." It said SpaceX also is mischaracterizing those studies. SpaceX didn't comment.

Google urged the FCC to adopt an incumbent-informing capability framework for the 3.45 GHz band and extend it into the adjacent citizens broadband radio service band, in a conversation with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “We also urged expeditious, evidentiary-based action by the Commission to make 60 GHz regulations more flexible for innovative, unlicensed, low-power radar applications,” said a filing, posted Friday in docket 15-319.

The FCC shouldn’t rethink whether to authorize automated frequency coordination system operations in the 6 GHz band, Wi-Fi advocates said in calls with aides to all four FCC commissioners, said a filing posted Friday in docket 21-352. Some 6 GHz incumbents “have attempted to use the [Office of Engineering and Technology] Public Notice process to relitigate issues already resolved by the 6 GHz Report and Order and advocate for additional requirements on AFC operations that do not appear in the Order and are beyond OET’s delegated authority in this process,” they said. Broadcom, CableLabs, Cisco, Meta Platforms, the Wi-Fi Alliance and Wireless Broadband Alliance were among those represented.

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau let Inland Cellular withdraw a pending waiver request of the FCC 2020 deadline to offer real-time text (RTT) instead of traditional text technology. Inland says its plan to launch voice over LTE service was delayed “and it does not intend to begin providing voice service over an IP network until it is ready to launch its RTT capability,” said an order Thursday: So Inland has no need for a waiver.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit gave the Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network three minutes to discuss concerns with an order dividing the 5.9 GHz band, when judges hear argument Jan. 25. Thursday's order (in Pacer) gives ITS America 12 minutes and respondents 15 minutes. In an order last week, the court said both sides should be prepared to address the question: “What significance should be accorded to the fact that the United States through the Justice Department is representing the FCC not the Department of Transportation?”

The Alarm Industry Communications Committee warned the FCC that 2 million alarm customers must be retrofitted before AT&T shutters its 3G network in six weeks (see 2109150041). AICC representatives recently spoke with aides to Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 21-304. AICC said every one of the comments filed last year on the need for delay other than AT&T's "supports an extension.” AICC said the COVID-19 pandemic is a new challenge: “The country is experiencing numerous shut downs due to Omicron. None of this messaging gives alarm customers the ‘all clear’ to let outsiders like alarm installers … into their homes.”