The U.S. is right to start thinking now about 6G, which will likely be commercialized starting in 2030, said Dean Brenner, a former top Qualcomm executive who chairs the FCC’s Technological Advisory Council, during the Fierce Wireless 6G Evolution Summit Monday. Brenner noted TAC is the first formal U.S. government effort to get a handle on 6G.
Chinese companies appear likely to take the FCC to court with the commissioners approving, as expected, a draft order to further clamp down on gear from Chinese companies, preventing the sale of yet-to-be authorized equipment in the U.S. The order, circulated by FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel Oct. 5, bans FCC authorization of gear from companies including Huawei, ZTE, Hytera Communications, Hikvision and Dahua Technology.
The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology appears to be taking a relatively conservative approach to interference mitigation in the 6 GHz band as it works through issues raised in an April 2020 Further NPRM (see 2004230059), industry officials told us. Apple and Apple/Qualcomm met with OET in recent days on the Monte Carlo simulations the tech companies are relying on to justify very-low power (VLP) operations in 6 GHz at the 14 dBm power levels proposed in the FNPRM.
CTIA and other commenters asked the FCC to adopt alternative construction and renewal requirements, proposed in a Further NPRM as part of the new enhanced competition incentive program (ECIP). Others disagreed with CTIA on what these alternative requirements should entail. Commissioners approved the program in July (see 2207140055) but asked questions about potential changes. Comments were due Monday, in docket 19-38, and posted Tuesday. The order was approved in response to provisions in the Mobile Now Act, enacted in 2018 (see 2203310036).
FCC commissioners approved a draft order that would further clamp down on gear from Chinese companies, preventing the sale of yet-to-be authorized equipment in the U.S., FCC officials said. The item was subsequently removed from the public circulation list. The draft order, circulated by Chair Jessica Rosenworcel Oct. 5 (see 2210070083), proposed to ban the FCC authorization of gear from companies including Huawei, ZTE, Hytera Communications, Hikvision and Dahua Technology (see 2210130076). The FCC faced a Nov. 11 statutory deadline under the Secure Equipment Act, requiring the agency to stop authorizing equipment by companies the commission decides are a national security risk (see 2111120058).
FCC and NTIA officials defended the citizens broadband radio service band as potentially offering a model for future sharing, during an FCBA spectrum pipeline forum Monday. Last week, CTIA questioned whether CBRS, often cited as the potential sharing model of the future, is a suitable replacement for exclusive, licensed spectrum (see 2211140062). CBRS advocates have fired back.
The FCC’s final order approving new outage reporting rules, approved 4-0 Thursday (see 2211170051), addresses at length concerns raised by CTIA and other industry commenters, based on a side-by-side comparison with the draft order. Because of a field hearing after the commissioners meeting Thursday, FCC staff didn’t have a press briefing on changes to the items while on the 10th floor. The order was released Friday.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Thursday more changes to FCC rules are possible, after Hurricanes Fiona and Ian, speaking at the start of a “field hearing” on some lessons learned from those storms. Rosenworcel noted the FCC held a similar hearing after Ida last year (see 2110260067) and later made the wireless industry’s voluntary resiliency cooperative framework mandatory and expanded roaming requirements. The framework was a hot topic at that hearing. The big topic at the Thursday hearing was improving coordination between power companies and communications providers.
FCC commissioners approved rules to improve the delivery of outage information to public safety answering points 4-0 Thursday, largely as circulated by Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Last week, APCO, CTIA, wireless carriers, ATIS and others sought a few changes to the draft order (see 2211140072). The order was approved before commissioners held a virtual field hearing on other potential changes that could be made to disaster-related rules (see 2211170079).
Aviation groups and companies wrote top administration officials seeking to extend 5G C-band mitigation measures agreed to by AT&T and Verizon, as airlines work to retrofit aircraft. The letter said negotiations with carriers may not be enough to guarantee safety and warned that talks could be at an impasse. AT&T and Verizon voluntarily agreed in June to continue interference mitigations around airports through July 2023 (see 2206210059), but the aviation interests ask that protections be extended through the end of 2023. The new restrictions could apply to other carriers, including T-Mobile and UScellular, that take possession next year of the licenses they bought in the C-band auction. Their bids were dwarfed by Verizon’s and AT&T’s, but T-Mobile committed $9.3 billion to C-band spectrum and UScellular almost $1.3 billion. The letter was addressed to National Economic Council Director Brian Deese and top officials at the Commerce and Transportation departments, the FAA and the NTIA, but not the FCC. The FCC declined comment Wednesday. “After a year of discussions and despite accommodations made by all parties, we are now seven months away from the next deadline, with significant risks still unresolved,” said the letter, dated Tuesday: “We believe that by finding accommodations now, we can prevent another last-minute herculean intervention by the Administration and major disruption to our air transport system.” The aviation industry supports 5G deployment, but “we will not compromise aviation safety,” the letter said. The letter notes the FAA verified that certain aircraft radio altimeters (RAs) are susceptible to interference from 5G signals. “Since January 2022 the FAA has documented over 100 FAA incidents of potential 5G interference, the majority of which were found to have a direct RA impact resulting in safety alerts by systems such as the Terrain Avoidance Warning System,” the letter said. It said that “US government agencies do not appear to be on the same page with respect to these safety issues” and “aviation stakeholders are caught in the middle.” The coalition signing the letter included the Aerospace Industries Association, the Aerospace Vehicle Systems Institute, the Air Line Pilots Association, Airbus, the Aircraft Electronics Association, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Airlines for America, Boeing, Collins Aerospace, Garmin, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, the International Air Transport Association, the National Air Carrier Association and Thales. AT&T and Verizon didn't comment. “You should expect us to have C band pretty much everywhere we have the 4G network today,” Verizon Chief Financial Officer Matt Ellis said at a Morgan Stanley European conference Wednesday. He wasn't asked about the aviation industry letter. Verizon covered 160 million POPs with C band Q3 and expects to hit 200 million Q1, he said. “The team has done a phenomenal job building [C-band] out since we started a little over a year and a half ago,” he said. C-band capital expenditure will peak this year at as much as $6 billion and “will come down next year and ... the year after as well,” Ellis said.