GCI Seeks Tweaks to Alaska Plan Drive Test Rules
Alaska’s GCI asked the FCC to adjust the Alaska Population-Distribution Model used in mobile drive tests to conform to a version proposed in 2020 by the Alaska Telecom Association (ATA). “Without this change, GCI will needlessly drive test unpopulated areas…
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that were never intended to be included within the Alaska Plan, and its coverage area will appear to serve less population than it actually does, understating GCI’s achievements in fulfillment of its Alaska Plan commitments," said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 16-271: “GCI also requested that all values necessary to calculate a provider’s compliance with its Alaska Plan deployment obligations be released or provided to the carriers subject to the drive test requirements.” The GCI representatives spoke with staff from the Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics. In a second filing in the docket, representatives of ATA, GCI and other Alaska wireless providers “reviewed the status of testing" the use of low earth orbit satellites for wireless backhaul. They told FCC staff the cost is “approximately 84% of the cost of current C-Band backhaul service.”