NTIA released a conditional waiver of the broadband, equity, access and deployment program's letter of credit requirement Wednesday. More than 300 groups in September urged the agency to remove the requirement, citing potential limitations on small providers' participation (see 2309060022).
Mobile networks face the danger of "running out of steam by the end of the decade" in terms of available capacity, given skyrocketing data demand, Peter Vetter, Nokia Bell Labs Core Research president, said Wednesday at the 2023 Brooklyn 6G Summit. Even absent new use cases, 6G will require access to more spectrum to fill that capacity hole, he said. One potential hurdle is possible skepticism among regulators globally about the need for spectrum for 6G due to a perception that 5G spectrum hasn't been used and 5G's potential hasn't panned out as expected, GSMA senior spectrum adviser Veena Rawat said. Every World Radiocommunication Conference sees calls "for spectrum for a G -- 3G, 4G, 5G," Rawat said. Fabiano Chaves, Nokia's head-spectrum standardization, North America, said most administrations understand the need for study of some bands for terrestrial mobile, with the hang-up being which bands and how much spectrum is needed.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., and other backers of his Senate-passed 5G Spectrum Authority Licensing Enforcement Act (S-2787) are resuming their push for the House to pass the measure now that the chamber has resolved the leadership crisis that halted all legislative activity for most of October. The measure’s backers believe its enactment may be the easiest way to blunt the short-term effects of the FCC losing its spectrum auction authority, a lapse that began almost eight months ago. Lawmakers are continuing to press for full restoration of the mandate but believe that will be difficult until DOD releases its much-anticipated report on repurposing the 3.1-3.45 GHz band for commercial 5G use.
The citizens broadband radio service spectrum-sharing model is easily adoptable by other nations, but there needs to be more work proselytizing about it internationally, spectrum experts said Tuesday at a CBRS seminar by New America's Open Technology Institute about spectrum sharing in private wireless networks. CBRS is a route for regulators and agencies like NTIA to work with overseas counterparts on pushing sharing models, said Scott Harris, NTIA senior spectrum adviser. He said the U.S. needs to boost such international engagement and the private sector needs to encourage regulators overseas to have those conversations.
The FCC faces a bid by Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., to defund its Communications Equity and Diversity Council as part of upcoming floor action on the Appropriations Committee-approved FY 2024 spending bill that covers funding for the commission and FTC (HR-4664). Lawmakers pursued relatively few other FCC-focused amendments to HR-4664, but several targeted halting FTC action on proposed changes to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act premerger notification process and other recent agency actions. House Appropriations advanced HR-4664 in July with proposals to cut funding to both the FCC and FTC compared with what they got in the FY 2023 omnibus funding package. The Senate Appropriations Committee proposes increasing annual money for both agencies (see 2307130069).
President Joe Biden on Monday signed an executive order directing the Commerce Department, the FCC, the FTC and other federal agencies to establish new “rigorous” standards for how and when companies can deploy AI systems (see 2310040063).
Industry sought some edits to a sweeping update to state telecom rules under consideration at the Texas Public Utility Commission. The PUC received comments Friday to Sept. 26 proposed changes to Texas Chapter 26 substantive telecommunications rules (docket 54589). The Texas Telephone Association (TTA) commended the PUC’s "Herculean effort in crafting proposed changes to the entire chapter on telephone regulations all at once."
Broadcasters, wireless companies and alerting equipment manufacturers are concerned about the potential costs of increasing cybersecurity regulations on emergency alerting participants and the burden of potentially duplicated reporting requirements across multiple federal agencies, they told the FCC and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Monday at a public roundtable event on alerting cybersecurity. The event included local government public safety agencies, the FBI and cybersecurity companies and featured discussion of potential threats to alerting infrastructure and the need for transparency around cyberattacks alongside potential regulatory burdens. “WEA is a voluntary program,” said CCIA General Counsel Angela Simpson. “There is a straw that will break the proverbial camel’s back at some point.”
Despite changes in leadership in the months leading up to World Radiocommunication Conference in Dubai, the U.S. is in a good position before the start of the conference next month, government officials said during a U.S. ITU Association conference. Steve Lang, who replaced Anna Gomez as head of the U.S. delegation to the conference (see 2309120069), also spoke Thursday (see 2310260054). WRC-23 starts Nov. 20.
Charter Communications is warning some states that it won't be interested in broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program opportunities there. States that closely follow NTIA proposed guidelines regarding internet tiers, pricing and labor practices "just won't be attractive states for us to bid in," CEO Chris Winfrey said Friday as the company announced Q3 financial results. He said Charter "will focus our investments in the states that allow us to retain flexibility to run the business, properly respond to market demand and ultimately earn a healthy return."