Providers signaled a note of caution in response to letters from FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel asking the nation’s nine largest providers of wireless emergency alerts about sending alerts in languages beyond English and Spanish (see 2302140059). “If alert originators and FEMA originate and hand off multilingual alert information in a format consistent with Commission rules and relevant technical standards, Verizon could support them,” the carrier said, posted Tuesday in docket 15-91. Revisions in the alerting process “will require collaboration and consensus among stakeholders responsible for originating, delivering and presenting alerts to consumers, and a feasible period of time to incorporate the new capability into networks and handsets,” Verizon said. “Any modifications to the current, broadcast-based model of WEA must be made under structured conditions and rigorously hashed out through technical standards bodies, otherwise the FCC risks fragmenting a well-functioning international alerting system,” AT&T said: “Further, the more significant the modification, the less likely that current and legacy handsets will be able to support it.” T-Mobile urged the FCC to work with its Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) and the ATIS Wireless Technologies and Systems Committee (WTSC) on any changes. “With regard to potential modifications to the WEA system and WEA-capable wireless devices referenced in your letter, T-Mobile supports CSRIC and WTSC evaluating whether these solutions are compatible with the cell-broadcast technology that underpins the successful WEA system,” the company said. “While technical evaluations about the issues raised in your letter are on-going” the FCC and FEMA “should encourage alert originators to use the embedded link capabilities of WEA to ensure that emergency information is accessible to as many language communities as possible,” T-Mobile said. The FCC must “engage device manufacturers to effectively enhance WEA messaging,” C Spire said. The company “is not aware of existing machine translation technologies that are sufficiently reliable for use in emergency situations,” it said: “To make such functionality a reality, C Spire believes that the FCC must initiate a proceeding prompting a designated standards body, … vendors, and device manufacturers to develop standards for such technologies.” Google Fi said as an mobile virtual network operator it “relies upon underlying network partners to provide WEA capabilities. The network partners push WEA notifications directly to Fi users without any modification by Google Fi.”
A big theme of the Mobile World Congress Tuesday was the potential for what 5G can do, and how new networks are bringing diverse companies together. Industry executives said carriers need to fundamentally change their mindset to refocus on collaboration with other companies and helping customers use all the data 5G makes possible.
The kind of “digital cooperation” facilitated by the ITU is “needed now more than ever before,” new ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin’s told Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Monday. “I strongly believe that we can’t separate people from technology,” she said. Bogdan-Martin said it remains unclear whether the world will meet the U.N.’s 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) (see 1702280042): Under the worst-case scenario, “we fail to rescue the SDGs, development is stalled, or it’s going backwards, the climate crisis has overwhelmed us, and mistrust is rampant in terms of technology. Gender equality is a distant dream, and more and more people actually question the very value of connectivity.” What can we do to challenge the status quo? she asked. Finite resources like spectrum and associated satellite orbits “are the building blocks of our advanced global communications system, for all humanity,” she said. They need to be shared “equitably, responsibly, while avoiding harmful interference.” The world needs to “speak the same language” and “reach consensus on global technology standards,” she said. The ITU vision for 6G for 2030 and beyond will be completed later this year and will make energy efficiency and environmental sustainability part of the technical specifications for the first time, she said. She also supports more partnerships to bring down the cost of connectivity. Bogdan-Martin urged the wireless industry to unite behind the SDGs “because failure is not an option.” She said when she spoke with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres a few weeks ago “he stressed the importance of digital technologies and how ITU can be a pioneer.” There “are risks, and those risks are growing, but I ask, what are the risks if we do nothing?” Bogdan-Martin asked.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel highlighted the FCC’s proposal for the commissioners' March 16 open meeting to approve a mobile satellite service allocation to some terrestrial flexible-use bands (see 2302230059). Speaking Monday to the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Rosenworcel also noted the FCC’s work on the 12.7 GHz band, the topic of an October NPRM (see 2210270046).
Commenting on proposed FCC data breach rules (see 2302230038), groups representing the deaf and hard of hearing urged a focus on telecommunications relay service providers. “Overall, rules concerning TRS should account for the unique privacy concerns faced by TRS users, including the possibility that call transcripts could be accessed in a data breach,” the advocates said: “These rules should not include harm-based trigger notification requirements and should not treat cost as a barrier to implementation.” The filing was signed by Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Hearing Loss Association of America, National Association of the Deaf and the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing at Gallaudet University. TRS provider Sorenson Communications said it and other providers should have to report “inadvertent disclosures” of customer proprietary network information. But the FCC should recognize “the legitimate dangers of over-reporting,” Sorenson said: “Many inadvertent ‘breaches’ pose no serious risk to consumers, such as when an employee of a TRS provider inadvertently receives access to CPNI but does not misuse the information. Requiring providers to report such de minimis ‘breaches’ -- essentially false positives -- would serve no helpful purpose.” Provider Hamilton Relay said the commission should keep in mind “how TRS providers are different from common carriers with regard to the services they provide and the information they collect from their customers.” The FCC should also consider “how its proposed rules will align, or potentially conflict, with existing state and federal privacy regimes,” Hamilton said. Comments were posted last week in docket 22-21.
The three largest U.S. tower companies see lots of runway ahead for 5G, based on comments in financial calls as they reported Q4 earnings. American Tower became the last to report Thursday. None of the companies had much to say about COVID-19 pandemic aftereffects or the effects of inflation, big issues in some recent quarters.
Federal agencies need better coordination on AI as the U.S. works toward a national AI policy, said Lynne Parker, former director of the White House National Artificial Intelligence Office, on a Center for Data Innovation webinar Thursday. Experts said the Biden administration should do more to follow up on initiatives started under President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, a new survey by NVIDA found that 95% of industry respondents said they’re looking at or using AI, though most use is at an early stage.
CTIA warned the FCC its ability to regulate data breaches of information beyond customer proprietary network information (CPNI) is constrained by law. Other provider groups' filings posted Thursday struck a similar tone. But the Electronic Privacy Information Center said it's time for the FCC to get tough.
The FCC released the drafts of items scheduled for votes at the commissioners' March 16 open meeting, headlined by new rules for robotexts and a draft NPRM that would create a supplemental coverage from space (SCS) FCC authorization that would let satellite operators use flexible-use spectrum allocated to terrestrial services. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel also proposed rules designed to strengthen Stir/Shaken aimed at blocking more robocalls. The agenda is the biggest for an FCC meeting in many months (see 2302060035).
The wireless industry faces a significant challenge training the workforce needed for open radio access networks, 5G, 6G and beyond, experts said Tuesday during an RCR wireless webinar. The industry is becoming increasingly competitive and carriers are having to pay “top dollar for top talent” to hire the staff they need, said Shirish Nagaraj, Corning chief technologist. With the transition from earlier Gs to 5G, things are happening “on a much faster timescale,” Nagaraj said. “Networks are getting deployed faster” and industry has to “do more with less,” he said. Staffers need new skill sets like managing the cloud, system integration and working with fiber, he said. Workers need training to make sure they’re focused on“cutting-edge technologies, on new innovations that are leading edge, and it makes for very interesting work," Nagaraj said. Industry needs to cross-train staff and break down “silos,” he said. Corning projects a need for 850,000 fiber technicians this decade, “so this in a tall ask that we have to fill,” he said. Corning has launched two training programs, a fiber broadband technician training working with AT&T, and a registered apprenticeship program, working with the Wireless Infrastructure Association, he said. “There’s a massive, inevitable momentum already happening in the need for secure networks to be built,” said Vishal Mathur, Telecom Infra Project global head-engagement: “We’re driving toward a whole new agenda here in the industry and there’s economic value to chase after.” Governments are driving change, as they seek supply chain diversity and more security in the way networks are built, he said. There has been lots of “proving” and testing of new networks, like those built using ORAN technologies, Mathur said. “Actual deployment” is happening, he said. With ORAN, open-optical and open-Wi-Fi networks “we need more people who understand the product set, understand how to integrate it and test it, understand how to procure it in a multivendor environment,” he said. The move from a single vendor network to multiple vendors requires workers with a “fundamental understanding of what builds up the solutions stack from a technology perspective,” he said. “That’s who we’ve designed fundamental training at the common layer for everyone,” he said. Network and test engineers, and operations staff “need to speak in the same taxonomy and need to understand exactly the same glossary of terms,” he said.