CTIA filed a new report at the FCC, “Building the 5G Economy -- The Wireless Industry’s Plan to Invest and Innovate in the U.S.,” posted Thursday in 19-348 and other dockets. “5G will drive the new jobs and economic growth that the United States needs to recover from the impacts of COVID-19 and lead the world,” the association said.

MediaTek gained “meaningful share” globally last year in 5G and Wi-Fi 6 “in the first year of the end-market takeoff” of those technologies, said CEO Rick Tsai on a Q4 call Wednesday. “We are seeing increasing Wi-Fi 6 demand in high-end routers, broadband and TV.” Laptop and Chromebook brands are adopting “MediaTek Wi-Fi 6 solutions,” he said. The first high-end Wi-Fi 6 gaming laptop “will hit the market in the first quarter with more to come,” he said. MediaTek is “on the test bed” for Wi-Fi 6E development and already has “started Wi-Fi 7 investments,” he said. For 2021, MediaTek forecasts global 5G smartphone shipments will exceed 500 million, a 250% increase over 2019, said Tsai. He estimates “at least” 60% of that growth will come from China. MediaTek launched a complete 5G “product portfolio” last year and “engaged with all global major Android smartphone brands,” he said. “Our 5G market share has already exceeded 40% in markets we serve.”

A lawyer for the Environmental Health Trust and other plaintiffs in the lawsuit asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to force the FCC to update 25-year-old exposure rules complained the agency went beyond the scope of what the court asked in answering questions on work by the Radiofrequency Interagency Work Group and Technical Electronic Product Radiation Safety Standards Committee (TEPRSSC). A letter (in Pacer) from the commission doesn’t limit itself to “purely factual matters” and introduces new arguments on why neither the FCC nor the Food and Drug Administration “sought input from the TEPRSSC,” said Wednesday's filing (in Pacer) by Edward Myers in docket 20-1025. “This goes well beyond the scope of the Court’s request and is generally improper since the time for submitting briefs in these cases is long past.” Judges heard the case Monday (see 2101250051).

NCTA urged aides to FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr, Geoffrey Starks and Nathan Simington to adopt parts of the citizens broadband radio service rules in the framework for the 3.45-3.55 GHz band. There's “concern expressed by many commenters in the record regarding the coexistence of deployments in the CBRS band with new adjacent 3.45 GHz operations,” said Tuesday's posting in docket 19-348.

Aviation industry representatives raised concerns with FCC staff about the coexistence between 5G in the C band and incumbent radio altimeters in 4200-4400 MHz. The Aerospace Vehicle Systems Institute met with officials from the Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology about a recent report by RTCA, formerly the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics, on interference risks (see 2010280048), said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-122. Industry representatives “stressed their continued support of the Commission’s goals of providing the benefits of 5G to the U.S. public, while also keeping the flying public safe by avoiding harmful interference to existing radio altimeters,” the filing said.

Pause additional equipment certifications for 6 GHz unlicensed low-power indoor (LPI) devices “until rigorous testing is conducted to demonstrate that unlicensed devices can coexist with incumbent fixed-microwave licensees in the 6 GHz band,” 6 GHz incumbents said in a letter to FCC commissioners. “Such action is necessary to satisfy Congress’s recent directive to the FCC to provide a report on progress towards ‘ensuring rigorous testing related to unlicensed use of the 6 gigahertz band’ and is the only prudent course given recent showings in the record that LPI devices pose a significant interference risk,” said a Wednesday posting in docket 18-295. The Utilities Technology Council, Edison Electric Institute, American Public Power Association, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, American Petroleum Institute, American Water Works Association, American Gas Association, National Public Safety Telecommunications Council, International Association of Fire Chiefs and APCO signed. “The FCC reviewed an extensive and detailed technical record over multiple years and correctly decided that the risk of harmful interference from indoor Wi-Fi devices to fixed link operations in 6 GHz is insignificant,” an NCTA spokesperson responded: “The recent call by fixed link incumbents to stop the 6 GHz equipment certification process does not change the facts and is another attempt to relitigate settled issues and unnecessarily delay the substantial benefits of Wi-Fi 6E and more for American consumers at a time when they rely on Wi-Fi more than ever before.”

The assignment phase of the C-band auction starts Feb. 8, the FCC said Tuesday. Bidders that won at least one generic block of spectrum in a single partial economic area in the clock phase are eligible, not required, to bid in the assignment phase for frequency-specific licensing blocks. Rules prohibiting communications by each party that filed a short-form application apply until the end of the auction, said the Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics. A mock auction is Feb. 4.

Communications Workers of America wants the FCC to ask for more information on Verizon’s proposed buy of Tracfone from America Movil but hasn’t called for rejection (see 2101220062).

Consultant Michael Marcus urged FCC Chief Technology Officer Monisha Ghosh to approve a waiver request by GuRu Wireless for its wireless power transfer technology, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 19-83. GuRu said its lensing technology, “coupled with operations in the [millimeter-wave] bands can fulfill a wide-range of use cases for WPT.”

Communications Workers of America said the FCC should closely review Verizon buying Tracfone from America Movil (see 2009140052). “Verizon and TracFone continue to avoid providing detailed plans for TracFone -- and its millions of Lifeline customers -- post-merger,” said a filing posted Thursday. “They argue that greater concentration in this industry … would somehow benefit consumers.”