Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry and others from the group raised concerns about a shortfall in funding to cover the cost of ripping and replacing Huawei and ZTE gear in wireless networks. The FCC reported applicants requested $5.6 billion, nearly three times the $1.9 billion allocated (see 2202040066). CCA “cautioned” that a “proration approach contemplated” by the FCC “would not accomplish the goals of removing untrusted equipment and services while maintaining service in rural areas,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 18-89. Some CCA members have “proactively replaced covered equipment, investing significant funds into securing their networks," the group said: “For many small carriers in particular, the financial burden to cover the remaining two-thirds of completing the program could prove financially ruinous, resulting in reduced provision of service or shuttering a business entirely. Many carriers may simply opt out of participating, leaving a great deal of insecure equipment left in the nation’s communications networks.” CCA and other groups last week urged the House and Senate Appropriations committees to give the FCC additional funding for the program, created under the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act (see 2203030074).

Members of the ATIS Hearing Aid Compatibility Task Force updated FCC staff on the group’s work toward a goal of making all handsets hearing-aid compatible, said a filing posted Friday in docket 15-285. The group is “hard at work considering the questions posed by the Commission … and is preparing its report and recommendations for the FCC due at the end of 2022,” the filing said. A recent consumer survey found more than half of respondents “use direct Bluetooth audio streaming between their hearing device and their wireless phone,” the filing said: “Consumers generally use more than one way to connect the hearing device to a wireless phone, including Bluetooth, speakerphone, holding the wireless device to the microphone in the hearing device, removing the hearing device. … Some consumers experienced barriers to satisfactory wireless phone communication, such as noisy environments.” The task force is made of representatives of the wireless industry, device makers and consumer groups.

The FCC needs to stand strong as its decisions reallocating spectrum bands remain “under attack” from other federal agencies, Commissioner Brendan Carr said at an event Thursday, sponsored by CTA and WifiForward. The challenge isn’t new in the Joe Biden administration, he said. The Communications Act makes clear that the FCC should decide how spectrum is allocated, he said. “As spectrum becomes more important, as connectivity becomes more important” other agencies are “effectively trying to challenge that 1930s congressional decision that experts at the FCC should call the balls and strikes here,” he said. Carr sees artificial and virtual reality, and the need for spectrum to connect AR/VR goggles to the internet, as key drivers of continuing demand for Wi-Fi. “At the FCC, we’ve tried to do our part to make sure there is plenty of” unlicensed “spectrum out there,” he said: “We’ve got to continue to stay strong” and “push back against efforts to encroach on the FCC’s expertise.” Reps. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., and Bob Latta, R-Ohio, chairs of the Congressional Wi-Fi Caucus, said the FCC has done a good job making more spectrum available for Wi-Fi and that push needs to continue. “The value of unlicensed spectrum is absolutely undeniable,” McNerney said. Opening the 5.9 and 6 GHz bands for unlicensed was critical, he said. “We can’t rest there,” he said. We have to continue to push the commission to open up more portions of the spectrum for unlicensed use, and that will continue to push innovation,” he said. “What would have happened” without unlicensed spectrum during the COVID-19 pandemic, Latta asked. “Tele-education, telework, just people staying in touch with their loved ones, those are the things that we came to rely on,” he said. “Think where we were 10 years ago, and then five years ago” and where we are today, he said: “We have a great reliance on unlicensed technology. … It’s a necessity now.” The U.S. doesn’t want to follow other countries, “we want to be the leaders,” he said. “Unlicensed spectrum supports a wide range of innovations, from drones and [VR] headsets, to mobile payments and wearables,” said David Grossman, CTA vice president-regulatory affairs.

More than 175 million people are expected to have Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband coverage by year-end, said the carrier Thursday. “This new fast tracked timeline is made possible by the incredible pace of deployment achieved by Verizon’s network engineering team,” said Verizon.

UScellular CEO Laurent Therivel urged the FCC to adopt a clock-auction format in the 2.5 GHz band, in a call with Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. Therivel “stressed that the information advantage enjoyed by certain potential bidders in particular cautions against a single round sealed bid format,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 20-429. UScellular previously reported (see 2202160037) a similar call with Commissioner Brendan Carr.

Counsel for Liberty Mobile Puerto Rico and Liberty Mobile USVI spoke with FCC Wireline Bureau staff on their request for a ruling that AT&T should port to Liberty 24,000 wireless numbers assigned to 16,000 customers acquired as part of Liberty’s buy of AT&T’s wireless business in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. “Counsel emphasized the narrow and limited nature of the requested ruling,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 22-68. “Liberty believes that its situation is unique and unprecedented,” the company said: “It has found no other situation in which a transferee carrier was acquiring a large number of customers with telephone numbers whose [area codes] were associated with areas outside the service area of the transferee carrier.”

The Enterprise Wireless Alliance urged revisions to a Land Mobile Communications Council petition asking the FCC to modify its Part 90 rules on sharing of TV channels 14-20 with the T-band to reflect the changes that have occurred due to the DTV transition (see 2202100041), in reply comments. EWA supports “proposals to provide incentives for licensees to partition, disaggregate, and/or lease unused spectrum to small carriers, rural carriers, and Tribal Nations,” the group said in a Wednesday news release. “Incentives could include license term and construction extensions as well as alternate benchmarks for rural-focused transactions,” the group said: “EWA also urged the FCC to adopt a different standard for private enterprise entities as these companies are responsible for most of the economic activity in the nation. They rely on private wireless networks that may be in areas or have restrictions that make commercial service not a viable option.”

Former FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein is leaving the Wireless Infrastructure Association after the Connect (X) conference in May, the group said Wednesday. Adelstein joined WIA as president in 2012, and will join DigitalBridge Group as managing director and head-global policy and public investment June 1. “A candidate search is being launched to identify his replacement,” WIA said. “WIA tripled in size and expanded its reach to all corners of the wireless industry” under Adelstein, said WIA Chairman Jeffrey Stoops, CEO of SBA Communications: “Under his leadership, WIA has become an advocacy juggernaut, racking up federal policy victories and establishing a state program that guided legislation in over 30 states to a successful conclusion.”

Harman’s Digital Transformation Solutions (DTS) business will collaborate with Microsoft Azure private multi-access edge compute to combine network functions, applications and edge-optimized services for enterprise customers, the companies said Monday. Advances in 5G can accelerate innovation across industries, said David Owens, DTS general manager. Transportation hubs are adopting emerging edge compute capabilities and private 5G connectivity, said Tad Brockway, corporate vice president-Azure for Operators. The companies' collaboration is being used at a large U.S. airport to manage cargo handling, they said, without giving details.

Ericsson North America CEO Niklas Heuveldop answered questions from FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks on supply chain and other issues in a recent call, said a filing posted Monday in docket 21-63. Starks asked “how Ericsson has been managing supply chain issues such as silicon chip shortages brought about by the COVID pandemic,” the company said: Heuveldop responded “that global component shortages are still a challenge," but Ericsson "continues to effectively mitigate the impact in close collaboration with our U.S. customers and component suppliers. Ericsson also benefits from the new USA 5G Smart Factory in Lewisville, Texas.” Starks also asked about the FCC’s rip-and-replace program for insecure network equipment and the future of open radio access network standards and products, the filing said.