U.S. carriers are falling behind much of the world on open radio access networks, said John Baker, Mavenir senior vice president-business development, in an interview. “The train has left the station,” he said: “Pretty much all of Europe,” parts of Africa and the Middle East are embracing ORAN. “The sad part of it is the U.S. has still made no more progress.” Dish Network is the only major U.S. carrier deploying ORAN, he said. “We’re waiting for the rip-and-replace monies issue to get sorted out because ORAN can save the U.S. taxpayer a lot of money,” he said. The FCC plans to announce cuts on a $1.9 billion program for removing Huawei and ZTE from carrier network in June, including proposals using ORAN (see 2202090031). Mavenir announced last year it’s working with Montana’s Triangle Communications to upgrade its network. Mavenir last week unveiled OpenBeam, a new suite of ORAN compliant radios. The company invested in “high performance areas” for radios and is working with others on radio designs, Baker said. “At the end of the day, Mavenir is a software company,” he said. “We’ve invested some of our dollars to seed the open RAN ecosystem to get this radio design, development and manufacturing going,” he said. “Hopefully this is the start of a bring-back-to-America approach of radios that can then be sold in the open-RAN community to operators on a global basis,” he said: “The U.S. has the skill set to do this, and we’ve demonstrated that.” One of the greatest needs for ORAN is radios with open interfaces that are 3rd Generation Partnership Project approved, Baker said. “The global market potentially needs tens to hundreds” of radio models, he said. Nokia and Ericsson offer an alternative to the Chinese providers, but their radios “aren’t open RAN, and they’re not willing to share, at this point, their radios with others in terms of ensuring a diverse supply chain,” Baker said.

Sennheiser urged FCC action on wireless multichannel audio systems rules, teed up in an April NPRM (see 2104220056), in a call with staff from the FCC Wireless and Media bureaus and the Office of Engineering and Technology. The company has a “unique WMAS design” using “only 50 mW of power, the same amount of power that a single conventional narrowband microphone utilizes, even when a large number of audio channels are connected to the base,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 21-115: “Since the power is spread over 6 MHz of bandwidth, as opposed to conventional narrowband microphones, which concentrate that power in 200 kHz, there is much lower power spectral density, resulting in less opportunity for interference and greater spectrum reuse.” The company stressed “these benefits … significantly decrease” if operated using less than 6 MHz. Sennheiser also urged the FCC to set aside a vacant UHF TV channel for wireless microphone use across the U.S. “Microphones operating on low-band UHF TV band spectrum are the only ones that can deliver the fault intolerant reliability, compact size and battery life that film, TV and theater producers demand,” the company said.

NCTA told the FCC a CableLabs analysis of a June Southern Co. report, which warned of the threat from low-power indoor unlicensed devices to electric utility operations in the 6 GHz band (see 2106240075), found numerous problems with the study. The report “(1) mistakenly equates interference-to-noise power to a measurement of harmful interference, (2) uses inaccurate Wi-Fi data, (3) appears designed to achieve a harmful interference result, (4) is based on methodologies that the Commission has already properly rejected in the 6 GHz Order, and (5) reports measurements that suggest significant flaws and inaccuracies in Southern’s testing methodology and execution,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 18-295. Southern didn’t comment.

The FCC accepted for filing applications for licenses to use the 3.45 GHz band from the biggest bidders in the auction, including AT&T, Dish Network, T-Mobile, Columbia Capital and UScellular. The announcement moves the providers a step closer to being able to deploy the licenses for 5G. Petitions to deny the applications are due March 7, oppositions March 14 and replies to oppositions March 21. The 23 long-form applications listed, “which reflects all long-form applications for Auction 110, have been found, upon initial review, to be acceptable for filing,” said a Wednesday notice: “The Commission may return or dismiss the applications, however, if upon further examination, they are found to be defective or not in compliance with the Commission’s rules.”

NTCA raised concerns with aides to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel after the FCC reported that providers requested $5.6 billion from an FCC program to cover the cost of ripping and replacing Huawei and ZTE gear from their networks, nearly three times the $1.9 billion allocated by Congress (see 2202040066). “As it stands currently, participating carriers will receive approximately one-third of the funding they have requested to remove equipment deemed unsecure,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-89: “The Commission could not have anticipated the number of applicants to be quadruple of what was estimated and the amount of necessary funding to be triple.” The amount Congress allocated was based on “out of date and incomplete information,” the group said. The Rosenworcel aides said during the call they "believe the Commission has no flexibility regarding funding due to Congressional directives” and the commission is “obligated to announce the applicants’ individual qualifying funding amounts mid-June,” NTCA said.

More than 90% of retailers surveyed expect an increase in in-store use of consumer mobile devices by 2025, and 83% anticipate more technology will be deployed in stores, said a Tuesday Incisiv study, sponsored by Verizon. Real-time inventory tracking and employees' access to Wi-Fi were ranked as the highest priority deployments for store personnel in the next two years. “As more mobile and IoT technology is deployed in stores, it will drive the need for more robust network connectivity,” said Jerri Traflet, Verizon managing partner-global solutions.

The National Association of Tower Erectors said Tuesday it hit a record of 1,100 member companies. The group is meeting this week in Las Vegas.

AT&T is the first U.S.-based carrier to join Ericsson’s global “Startup 5G” program, aimed at speeding the commercialization and monetization of future 5G innovations by leveraging “years of research on consumer behavior and trends,” said Ericsson Monday. Ericsson estimates there’s a global $3.7 trillion business opportunity “within the 5G consumer market by 2030,” it said. Communications service providers that collaborate with Startup 5G are “bolstered” by Ericsson's consumer research and analytical data, plus “exclusive access” to a global network of 5G startups, numbering more than 40 companies, it said.

T-Mobile supports the FCC's proposal for an ascending-clock auction in the 2.5 GHz band, representatives told staff from the Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-120. “T-Mobile supports the use of the proposed clock auction … including the proposed use of intra-round bids and proxy bidding,” the carrier said: “Those bidding procedures are familiar tools that address the concerns raised by commenters about the potential for a lengthy auction, and the associated costs and burdens on bidders, especially smaller entities, while also providing the price discovery necessary for rational bidding.” Comments are due Tuesday on a recent FCC public notice (see 2202090068).

The FCC approved Key Bridge to be an environmental sensing capability (ESC) operator in various markets, for the citizens broadband radio service, said a notice in Tuesday’s Daily Digest. The Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology gave preliminary clearance earlier but told the company to submit its sensing software to NTIA for retesting (see 2007140055). “Based on these results, we find that Key Bridge has satisfied the retesting condition and is approved for full commercial operation of their ESC,” the FCC said in docket 15-319.