Garmin representatives met with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and others from the FCC to answer questions on the interference risks 5G poses for radio altimeters (see 2111150071), said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-122. “The discussion included how radar altimeters used during Aerospace Vehicle Systems Institute (AVSI) testing failed when subjected to simulated 5G interference sources,” it said: “While some radar altimeters were observed to fail by outputting a No Computed Data (NCD) status, many failed in a manner where a misleading height above ground was output without a simultaneous NCD status.” The Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics defended its now-updated report. The multistakeholder group report was “informed by detailed information made available by the commercial wireless and aviation industries regarding their respective systems and was therefore able to more thoroughly examine issues of compatibility between existing radar altimeters and prospective flexible use licensees than were the earlier preliminary analyses,” the group said: “The analysis found serious threats of harmful interference to today’s installed radar altimeters from anticipated flexible use licensed deployments, including from spurious emissions into the radar altimeter band.” Calls that the report be dismissed “have not been validated by hard science or engineering analysis,” RTCA said.

T-Mobile reached its 2021 goal of covering 200 million people in the U.S. with Ultra Capacity 5G, said the carrier Monday. The offering uses T-Mobile’s extensive 2.5 GHz spectrum holdings.

The Open Technology Institute urged quick FCC action approving automated frequency control (AFC) systems in the 6 GHz band, said a filing posted Monday in docket 19-138. “It would be a costly and unnecessary opportunity loss for consumers and the economy if the Commission takes several years to certify AFCs, as it [did] to certify the then-novel TV Bands Databases and Spectrum Access Systems,” OTI said in a call with an aide to Commissioner Nathan Simington: “AFC coordination with entirely fixed point-to-point links in 6 GHz is technically easier and [the Office of Engineering and Technology] has far more experience with geolocation databases.” On 12 GHz, OTI said “commissioners should encourage band incumbents to submit technical data in the record to better clarify claims that more intensive sharing with terrestrial fixed or mobile uses is not feasible” and urged a public notice “that clarifies what additional data it needs to make a decision on the nature and scope of additional sharing and coexistence that is feasible.”

The Brattle Group study on possible economic benefits of opening the 12 GHz band to 5G (see 2105100028) reasonably used the C band as the most comparable spectrum band, especially because the two bands are particularly similar in some areas of propagation, RS Access said in docket 20-443 Monday. The Brattle study's assumptions and methodologies line up with those of the RKF Engineering Solutions study of 5G sharing the band with non-geostationary orbit satellite operations, RSA said. The RKF study "emphatically" doesn't conclude that there will be harmful interference but instead says any interference "will prove inconsequential once the system resources and performance characteristics of satellite and terrestrial systems are taken into account," RSA said.

American Tower agreed to buy data center manager CoreSite for $10.1 billion, the tower company said Monday. It's expected to “create a differentiated, comprehensive and interconnected communications real estate platform optimally positioned to benefit from the convergence of wireline and wireless networks amid accelerating global 5G deployments,” the company said. CoreSite has 25 data centers and more than 32,000 interconnections in eight major U.S. markets, American Tower said. “We are in the early stages of a cloud-based, connected and globally distributed digital transformation that will evolve over the next decade and beyond,” said American Tower CEO Tom Bartlett. The deal is expected to close this year "or shortly thereafter."

Continental Automotive Systems urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to overturn an FCC order dividing the 5.9 GHz band. The company said auto safety technologies require the full 75 MHz allocation. “Neither collective perception messages nor maneuver coordination messages applications … will have sufficient spectrum to be deployed in the 5.9 GHz band if only 30 MHz remains for vehicle-to-everything; and these applications are critical safety-of-life applications that can prevent numerous non-line-of-sight crashes that cannot otherwise be prevented,” said Friday's brief. "The FCC shunned [the Department of Transportation’s] expertise” in the order, “essentially believing DOT lacked credibility,” Continental said. ITS America, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and the Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network appealed the order (see 2111100083).

The extra cost to ensure access to ubiquitous 5G for all in the U.S., “and not just those who will be covered by currently planned private investment,” would be $36 billion, said a CostQuest Associates study, commissioned by the Competitive Carriers Association and released Friday. The FCC 2020 5G Fund order (see 2010270034) dedicates up to $9 billion to deploy in rural and hard-to-reach areas, the paper said. “While an important step and a welcomed increase in resources allocated specifically for mobile service, this figure was not supported with evidence that this amount would be enough to provide truly comparable wireless services to rural areas as those enjoyed in urban locations,” it said: “The Commission did not point to any data to support the budget amount, and indeed the 5G Fund Order was adopted before mobile coverage maps were updated, so reliable data to identify the total needed budget was unavailable.” Closing the digital divide isn’t “complete without access to mobile connectivity,” said CCA President Steve Berry: “I encourage policymakers to build on lessons learned from previous generations of wireless deployment and take immediate steps to allocate a sufficient budget for 5G support.”

Dish Network representatives told FCC staff that open radio access networks offer vendor flexibility, will enhance spectrum utilization and network slicing, and mean a more secure network. “DISH is well underway in its construction of a first-of-its-kind, cloud native, virtualized O-RAN 5G network,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 21-63: “Because DISH is building a greenfield network, we have the flexibility to choose the best technology to enter the market.”

The global fixed wireless access market is expanding quickly “to fulfill the need of high-speed broadband connectivity” for business and consumer segments, and 5G’s “fiber-like broadband service” capabilities are expected to speed FWA adoption, reported ABI Research Wednesday. It forecasts the FWA market will exceed 180 million subscriptions globally and generate $70 billion in revenue by 2026, when 5G FWA will have 40% of the total FWA market. “5G FWA services can be deployed faster and at lower cost” than fiber to the home, said ABI. Faster time-to-market at a lower rate of capital expenditures are the key advantages of FWA deployments “to expand the service coverage and boost adoption,” it said.

Nokia representatives said all open radio access network deployments aren’t equally open, in a call with staff from the FCC Office of Economics and Analytics and Wireless Bureau. “Simply declaring a deployment ‘open’ does not make it so, if, for example, it is achieved through a private agreement in which vendors have disclosed their specifications to each other but are not building to the type of open, common specifications envisioned by the O-RAN Alliance work,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 21-63: “Lack of conformity to common specifications would make it very difficult for another supplier to step into such a deployment later, effectively limiting the carrier’s options for partners. That is hardly the end-state ‘mix and match’ environment that would reflect an open ecosystem.” ORAN company Rakuten also spoke with staff from the OEA, Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology. “Rakuten discussed and answered staff questions on how American wireless carriers can deploy an OpenRAN, cloud-native network,” the company said.