The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology extended through Sept. 30 a waiver of the push notification requirement for fixed and mode II personal/portable TV white space devices, set to expire March 31. The original waiver was approved in a 2015 order on Part 15 rules.
Ericsson executives briefed FCC staff on the complexity of offering real-time text (RTT) instead of traditional text technology (TTY), as required by the regulator. “To transfer information from IP-based networks using RTT to legacy circuit-switched networks using TTY, operators must incorporate multiple gateways (depending on which systems require interconnection),” said Thursday's posting in docket 16-145. Activating RTT requires several steps, starting with the introduction of voice over LTE “and then adding hardware and/or software conversion for enabling RTT to TTY conversations,” the company said.
GeoLinks is buying 208 Verizon local multipoint distribution service (LMDS) licenses, making it the biggest holder of LMDS licenses in 29/31 GHz, the company said. Licenses cover markets including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Atlanta, Houston, Washington, D.C., Boston, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Detroit and Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, GeoLinks said. “We will control our own airwaves and have the ability to provide gigabit and multi-gigabit speeds at lower prices and with fiber-like latency and jitter statistics to our customer base across these markets,” said CEO Skyler Ditchfield. The spectrum will be used for fixed point-to-point and point-to-multi-point wireless and 5G backhaul, the company said.
Making more spectrum available for such ISPs is as important as subsidies for increasing broadband, Wireless ISP Association President Claude Aiken said on a webinar Wednesday. “We need to have a multifaceted solution to getting incredibly high speed broadband … to 100% of Americans.” WISPA called for localizing spectrum policy, with more licenses for WISPs and other players “to supercharge competition” and get to 1 Gbps. Subsidies should focus on current providers, “resulting in significant savings today while still delivering evolutionary capabilities of the future,” the plan said. Aiken urged the FCC to offer smaller geographic licenses than proposed in the 3.45 GHz auction (see 2103170061). The partial economic area licensing model “forecloses participation by some of these smaller providers that serve rural communities today,” he said. WISPA wants use-it-or-share-it rules in future auctions, he said. Aiken said some WISPs need utilize unlicensed spectrum, though thousands of megahertz of licensed spectrum goes unused. Federal subsidies aren’t reaching the least populated, hardest-to-reach areas, he said: “We’re wary of programs that would subsidize connectivity in suburbia before it really gets out to rural America.” Infrastructure rules, especially on pole access, are important, he said. "All the money in the world isn’t going to do much good if you can’t get into a right of way or onto a pole or onto a tower.”
The FCC should stand firm on rules opening the 5.9 GHz band to Wi-Fi, Citizens Against Government Waste officials urged Commissioner Nathan Simington. CAGW warned of “efforts to thwart the progress the FCC has made on opening up portions of the 5.9 GHz band for unlicensed use,” said a Tuesday posting in docket 19-138. Remain vigilant on 911 fee diversion, the group said.
T-Mobile filed to participate in the FCC emergency broadband benefit program, a spokesperson emailed Tuesday. “T-Mobile's nationwide 5G network and our deep experience addressing the critical needs of low-income and underserved consumers positions us uniquely to support this program's goal.”
NTIA’s Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee will meet virtually April 8, 1-3 p.m. EDT, says Tuesday's Federal Register. CSMAC last met in January (see 2101140048). This will be the first meeting under the Joe Biden administration.
NextNav is working with AT&T and Verizon on finding the vertical location of wireless 911 calls, CEO Ganesh Pattabiraman and Executive Chairman Gary Parsons told an aide to acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, per a filing posted Monday in docket 07-114. Major carriers face an April 3 deadline for providing Z-axis data in the largest 25 cellular market areas.
The Coalition of Rural Wireless Carriers urged the FCC to reserve judgment on which areas are eligible for the 5G Fund until after better broadband maps are available, counsel David LaFuria said in a call with an aide to acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. With more accurate maps, “the Commission will be better positioned to decide where 5G Fund support should be invested,” said a Monday posting in docket 20-32.
Comments are due April 12, replies April 2 in docket 18-89 on an FCC NPRM proposing revised rules for a program to pay to replace equipment from Huawei and ZTE in U.S. networks (see 2102170049), says Monday's Federal Register.