The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment on AT&T’s latest request (see 1512020031) to use power spectral density (PSD) measurements to comply with effective radiated power limits for 800 MHz cellular operations, in this case in eight cellular market areas in Kentucky and Tennessee. The bureau earlier approved similar requests for markets in Florida, Missouri and Vermont (see 1510050044). “AT&T specifically proposes a PSD limit of 250 watts/MHz in non-rural areas and 500 watts/MHz in rural areas, and includes two studies that purport to show that implementing PSD-based power limits in the Cellular Service would not cause harmful interference to public safety deployments,” the bureau said Friday. Comments are due Dec. 31, replies Jan. 11.

HP asked the FCC to extend the June 2 deadline for when all U-NII-3 equipment imported to or marketed in the U.S. must be compliant with rules on power levels and emission limits for the 5.725-5.85 GHz U-NII-3 band. HP said it supports arguments by Intel last month that the FCC shouldn't require compliance with the rules until six months after it acts on petitions for reconsideration on out-of-band emission limits in the band. “HP Inc. must have time to receive and test compliant updated or new wireless devices and integrate them into production,” the company said in a filing Thursday in docket 13-49. “HP Inc. is concerned there will not be enough time between the publication of the new rules and the June 2nd 2016 date to obtain, test and implement the compliant wireless devices into our products without impacting delivery to consumers and businesses.” Intel asked for a delay in a Nov. 6 filing. “The continuing uncertainty regarding the OOBE [out-of-band emission] limits that will apply to the U-NII-3 band in just 8 months is proving highly problematic to Intel given the high volume of IEEE 802.11 products it produces each month and the fact that Intel’s customer base for that product largely consists of OEMs who incorporate Intel product into their own devices,” Intel said.

Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure was at the FCC last week to talk with the four commissioners other than Chairman Tom Wheeler about special access reform, said a series of filings posted Friday in docket 15-191. Claure “noted that access to reasonably priced special access circuits, including ethernet backhaul, will be critical to expanding the coverage of mobile broadband services and providing the data speeds consumers demand,” said a filing. Claure also “discussed the importance of streamlining the siting process to allow more rapid deployment of small cells and network densification,” it said. “He noted the delays frequently encountered in certain jurisdictions and encouraged the FCC to consider actions that would speed the siting process nationwide.”

The FCC Wireless Bureau dismissed an objection filed by Sirius XM to an exchange of AWS-1 and PCS licenses between Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile. The carriers announced the $173 million deal in August (see 1508050054). The objections aren't specific to the deal and would be “better addressed in an appropriate proceeding designed to address the interference claims,” the bureau said in an order released Thursday. It said Sirius said in the objection that some subscribers in large urban markets have begun experiencing harmful interference to their reception of satellite radio.

The FCC Wireless Bureau put off deadlines for filing comments on the protection framework and protection criteria during the transition to spectrum sharing in the 3.5 GHz band. The deadlines were those sought by the Wireless Innovation Forum earlier this week (see 1512080008). The deadline for initial comments was delayed from Thursday until Dec. 28, the reply deadline from Dec. 28 to Jan. 12. “It is in the public interest to grant an extension to promote industry collaboration and allow parties to fully address the complicated issues raised in the 3650-3700 MHz Band Protection Contours Public Notice,” the bureau said in a Wednesday public notice.

The Virginia Department of State Police raised objections to a FirstNet proposal for clearing incumbent systems from Band 14 (758-769/788-799 MHz), the spectrum that the authority is using to build its network. The FCC Public Safety Bureau sought comment in November on an Oct. 20 letter from FirstNet detailing its plans (see 1511050060). Initial comments were due Wednesday. The state said its comments express the views of the 21-agency Statewide Agencies Radio System (STARS). Incumbent statewide public safety systems “must be properly protected during the transition” to FirstNet, Virginia said. “It is not appropriate procedurally to have a new public safety licensee (FirstNet) control at its discretion the transfer schedule of existing public safety licensees,” the state said. “This is not intended as a reflection on FirstNet's ability or good faith, but when a conflict develops between First Net's legitimate needs and timetable, and an existing public safety licensee's legitimate needs and timetable, FirstNet should not be allowed to unilaterally make that decision.” The state of Hawaii, which has systems that must move from the band, said the FCC, consistent with past practice, should require that FirstNet pay transition costs. The state said FirstNet has committed to do so and a federal grant funding notice is expected. The comments were filed in docket 06-150.

Any 5G deployment will need low- and mid-band spectrum allocations plus high band to enable such applications as IoT, and sizably different infrastructure from 4G, with many more small cell sites, said CTIA Chief Technology Officer Tom Sawanobori Wednesday at an FCBA telecom and wireless committees event. Unlike the traditional spectrum evolution where a technology came first, followed by technical requirements and regulations, 5G represents "a slightly different equation," said Michael Ha, FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Policy and Rules Division deputy chief. The increasing demand for bandwidth for data transmission and the relative lack of unassigned spectrum is pushing the move into the millimeter wave bandwidths to support 5G, Ha said. The spectrum frontiers rulemaking (see 1510230050) is looking at bands above 24 GHz for 5G, and the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference identified some bands for 5G -- though 28 GHz, a subject of the FCC proceeding, wasn't included in the WRC work, Ha said. While numerous incumbent satellite operations already use that spectrum, Ha said, sharing is inevitable: "We know it's not going to be exclusive use." The satellite industry wants to be part of 5G -- such as in potential applications like driverless vehicles -- but also wants assurances and safeguards against harmful interference, said Satellite Industry Association President Tom Stroup. "We certainly are advocates of sharing, where it works." 4G has become ubiquitous in the U.S., with roughly 98.5 percent of the nation covered and traffic on the 4G network expected to sextuple over the next five years, Sawanobori said. Such applications as Voice over LTE are expected to become commonplace as soon as more products offer "high-definition voice," he said. 5G, by contrast, probably won't be deployed ubiquitously across the U.S. due to different business models, Sawanobori said.

The TV incentive auction offers a “historic test case for using market dynamics” as part of spectrum policy, CTIA President Meredith Baker said Tuesday in a blog post carried by The Hill. “CTIA’s call for this new spectrum allocation tool was first included in the FCC’s National Broadband Plan and ultimately adopted by Congress in 2012,” she said. “Since then, we worked tirelessly with the FCC and in the courts to ensure a timely and effective auction -- a complex and difficult undertaking that came with no pre-existing roadmap.” The auction is a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” for broadcasters, she said.

Representatives of Total Call Mobile (TCM) asked the FCC to change a provision in the June FCC Lifeline order (see 1506180029) establishing “a uniform snapshot date" for Lifeline reimbursements. TCM reported on a series of recent meetings at the FCC, raising an issue it has complained about in the past (see 1510290038). “TCM recognizes that the negative impact of the proposed Snapshot Rule is likely an unintended consequence,” it said in a filing in docket 10-90. “Barring Commission action, the Snapshot Rule will go into effect in February, 2016. TCM respectfully asks the FCC to examine impact of the Snapshot Rule on companies like TCM and change the Snapshot Rule to reimburse service providers for customers who enroll and dis-enroll within the same month before the Snapshot Rule takes effect.”

The Wireless Innovation Forum asked the FCC to extend the comment period on the protection framework and protection criteria during the transition to spectrum sharing in the 3.5 GHz band. Initial comments are due on an Wireless Bureau public notice Dec. 10 and the forum asked that the deadline be delayed until Dec. 28, and the reply deadline from Dec. 28 to Jan. 12. “The Task Group is making good progress and has reached general agreement on some specific aspects of Part 90 protections,” the group said in a filing in docket 12-354. “However, because substantive comments filed by the Wireless Innovation Forum must be balloted prior to submission, we are unable to submit the results of the Task Group’s discussions on a timescale consistent with the Public Notice’s short comment window.”