T-Mobile said Wednesday it's working with the 5G Open Innovation Lab at the University of Washington to allow hardware startups to develop, test and deploy new devices and services using T-Mobile 5G. “Lack of 5G access and connectivity is a bottleneck for many innovators,” the carrier said: The lab “allows entrepreneurs, researchers, and student teams to build, innovate, and integrate additional capabilities into their companies and products using next-generation connectivity.” T-Mobile said use cases may include biotech/medical devices, remote sensors, edge computing and “anything requiring low latency and high capacity where vast volumes of data must move almost instantly.”

Qorvo thinks 5G is still “in the very early innings,” CEO Bob Bruggeworth told a virtual Barclays investor conference Wednesday. “As we start to see the second- and third-generation devices being rolled out in 5G, they continue to add more bands,” and “complexity” in the antenna area “goes up,” he said. The addition of “more complex Wi-Fi” is also more prevalent in new generations of 5G devices, he said. “We've talked a lot about Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E. We've also started to expand in the Wi-Fi 7. So we expect those trends to continue.” Increased complexity is reminiscent of the “same discussions” for LTE, he said. Ultra-wideband technology is already built into the iOS ecosystem, and “we expect that to now start to proliferate through the Android ecosystem,” he said.

Public safety agencies are likely to have much broader use of smart algorithms and other evolving technologies, many relying on 5G and better networks, said Mehmet Ulema, business professor at Manhattan College. “The current use … is just the tip of the iceberg,” the academic told an IEEE webinar Wednesday. Telecom systems are “massive,” with multiple vendors involved in building networks, said Susan Ronning, principal at Adcomm Engineering: “It’s not just a radio system. It’s not just a network.” Communication inside 911 call centers is “difficult,” with dispatchers talking to callers and first responders while also talking to each other, she said. New technologies are “great,” but operators have complicated jobs and new systems must be maintained, she said. “It’s not necessarily simple when you get too many technologies involved,” she said. “It’s great to have all these technologies, but there has to be a support team” and “it’s very difficult to find people to do this kind of work,” Ronning said. Growing complexity of emergencies in urban settings will require more use of technologies that let first responders collaborate, said Dean Skidmore, IoT+LTE Consulting Group principal consultant. Land-mobile radio, 5G and push-to-talk technologies are deployed and have to work together, he said. Sharing sensitive data across jurisdictions and agencies is difficult in urban areas, he said. Size, weight, ruggedness and battery life are important factors for devices used by first responders, said Narendra Mangra, consultant at GlobeNet. Devices have to be easy to use “to be able to get information very quickly,” he said. Coverage, capacity and service performance of networks are important to public safety, as is interoperability, he said.

Gogo's 5G network construction "is officially under way," with its first 5G site of ground antennas, radios and servers installed, it tweeted Monday. With the partnership of Airspan Networks, everything at the site "is up and running," it said. "Let the testing begin!"

Dish Network “is a factor now” in the competitive wireless space “with millions of customers,” T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert told a UBS investors conference Monday. Dish has a “fantastic” arrangement with mobile virtual network operators, he said. “At some point, they'll start releasing their own network” for 5G, said Sievert, “and we take them at face value on that. We've always assumed that in our forecast.” Dish didn’t comment Tuesday. Chairman Charlie Ergen said last month that “we’ll get our fair share” as the “fourth player” in the wireless market (see 2111040048). The T-Mobile CEO thinks “it's really neat to see how people are responding” to 5G, he said. About 30% of T-Mobile customers own 5G smartphones, he said. Those who subscribe to T-Mobile’s Magenta Max premium unlimited 5G data plan are doing “8X more gaming than people on LTE,” plus “many more times of video consumption,” he said.

Opening the E band to high altitude platform systems (HAPS) generated clashing viewpoints in docket 20-133 comments Friday. HAPS, point-to-point links in motion and fixed satellite service gateway access to the 70/80/90 GHz bands help in the broader goal of allowing more innovative wireless internet services, Public Knowledge and Open Technology Institute at New America said. They said existing database coordination in the band means the benefits of accommodating the services outweigh any downsides, and database-coordinated sharing is feasible. HAPS startup Sceye said it needs E-band backhaul connectivity to a limited number of ground stations, with that small number meaning the odds of interference with other terrestrial E-band operators are quite low. HAPS and similar services have "little documented interest ... and, unlike 5G, no deployment," T-Mobile said, arguing there's no reason to change FCC rules to accommodate HAPS. Given the importance of the 70/80/90 GHz bands to wireless backhaul and site connectivity, the FCC's chief priority should be to modify its technical rules governing them to better support wireless backhaul, T-Mobile said. Nokia said the band's fixed service rules need "modest changes" to allow deployment of smaller backhaul antennas for 5G deployments in areas without fiber to potential base stations. Such an update could be done separately from HAPS-related decisions, it said. Microwave communications company Geneva Communications said an update of E-band rules such as a required filing of a construction certification with the millimeter wave database manager when a link is placed in operation is a higher priority than opening the band to new potential uses like HAPS. That registration requirement, along with a penalty, would deter false certifications, Geneva said. SpaceX urged a single licensing and link registration process for fixed links, ground-to-air links, fixed satellite service gateways and other directional "pencil beam" antennas in the 70/80 GHz bands. Qualcomm said there also should be E-band access for 5G-based private networks, industrial IoT and smart manufacturing applications indoors, and 5G backhaul and mobile services outdoors. All those uses could operate on a co-primary licensed basis without causing harmful interference, it said. If the FCC doesn't authorize outdoor terrestrial mobile operations in the band in its upcoming order, it should put out a Further NPRM proposing flexible use operations with a concurrent order allowing better backhaul operations, indoor operations licensed-by-rule and air-to-ground operations in the band.

Wi-Fi 6 orders went “through the roof” in Q3, but supply constraints hampered wireless LAN sales in the quarter, reported the Dell'Oro Group Thursday. “The appetite for the shiny new technology clearly has shifted en masse to Wi-Fi 6,” said the company. It estimates supply chain woes impeded the ability of U.S.-based manufacturers to ship product for three to six months.

PSSI Global Services' July docket 20-205 request for a change to the C-band clearing relocation cost catalog came nearly 10 months after the proper deadline, the FCC Wireless Bureau said Wednesday, ordering the petition for reconsideration dismissed as untimely. It noted the processes by which PSSI can still submit a claim for equipment it believes is reasonable and necessary for the transition. PSSI didn't comment.

Fourteen companies or organizations are seeking FCC certification to be an automated frequency coordination (AFC) system operator in the 6 GHz band, per docket 21-352 filings this week. Applications were due Tuesday (see 2109290040). Some applicants touted what they said was pertinent experience. Key Bridge Wireless said it has provided flexible dynamic spectrum access services in the VHF and UHF television bands and worked as a TV band white space administrator. Amdocs cited its 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service spectrum access system, and Plume Design referenced its software-as-a-service experience platform for communications service providers. Citing its work as a spectrum access system administrator for the 3.5 Ghz band, Sony said it has "a comprehensive understanding of the technical and operational requirements for managing wireless spectrum access" and it has sufficient funds and access to capital to develop and operate the proposed AFC system for the anticipated five years. Federated Wireless said its work since 2018 in developing an AFC system to allow Wi-Fi and 5G New Radio Unlicensed deployments in the 6 Ghz band means becoming an AFC system operator would be "a natural extension." Other applicants are Nokia, Qualcomm, the Wi-FI Alliance, CableLabs subsidiary Kyrio, the Wireless Broadband Alliance, Red Technologies, Google, Comsearch and Broadcom.

Energous’ 10W WattUp PowerHub received FCC Part 18 equipment authorization for 10W of conducted wireless power transfer, said the wireless charging company Wednesday. The approval nearly doubles the amount of power that can be transmitted wirelessly in the U.S. and “opens potential new opportunities for the wireless charging of billions of IoT devices across emerging consumer, retail and industrial markets,” said acting CEO Cesar Johnston.