DOD is making progress on electronic warfare (EW) and on spectrum systems survival on the battlefield, officials said during a Hudson Institute webinar Wednesday. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sharpened U.S. focus on EW, but China has been an even bigger concern, said Bryan Clark, Hudson senior fellow. “China has been expanding and modernizing its electronic warfare capabilities for a decade now, plus,” he said.
FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington said Tuesday the FCC should consider rules requiring gear makers to provide security updates for wireless devices authorized by the agency for sale in the U.S. “Currently our rules don’t explicitly require a software update mechanism, but it is questionable whether the purpose of the equipment authorization rules is being fulfilled when consumer devices with software-controlled transmitters are being put to market and then promptly abandoned by their manufacturers and retailers, not receiving security updates throughout the expected lifespan of the device,” Simington said in a speech to the Rural Wireless Association. “I don’t think it’s too much for the government to ask, that if you sell a wireless device, you make sure you have a way of fixing any later-discovered flaws that would allow an attacker to commandeer the transmitter and use it to attack the availability of our wireless networks,” he said. Manufacturers “shouldn’t have to support devices forever, and you shouldn’t have the obligation to deliver new features, but letting security vulnerabilities linger on devices with large install bases is not an acceptable state of affairs for the security of our wireless networks.” Simington said he's focusing on the issue and invites meetings with industry and the public. Carriers shouldn’t draw the wrong lesson from the rip-and-replace program, that “you should buy the cheapest device you can find, no matter the source, and that the US government will bail you out if it turns out to have been a bad decision,” he said.
The FCC has adopted three Telecommunications Relay Services items circulated for a vote June 6, an FCC official told the FCC’s Disability Advisory Committee at a virtual meeting Tuesday. DAC didn’t act on any reports or take substantial action at the meeting. The FCC acted on T-Mobile Accessibility’s push for more sustainable TRS compensation rates (see 2206240047), said Eliot Greenwald, deputy chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau’s Disability Rights Office. “We hope to be able to release those items very soon,” he said. “One item adopts a new compensation formula for IP relay,” he said: Another “addresses some of the issues that have arisen regarding pandemic waivers related to” the video relay service, including interpreters “working from home and calls from abroad to the United States. The third one addresses the contribution base for VRS and IP relay.” The IP Captioning Files Transmittal Working Group has called in experts to offer insights and is putting together a “drafting subcommittee of the willing” for an upcoming report, said Chair Kyle Dixon, NCTA deputy general counsel-program network policy. The WG was asked to “identify issues and best practices associated with the delivery and receipt of captioning files or full-length programming distributed online” he said. The WG will also “suggest solutions to increase the amount of captioned programming,” he said. The goal is to get the full WG a draft next week, he said. Lyle Ishida, chief of the CGB Consumer Affairs and Outreach Division, updated DAC members on the FCC’s affordable connectivity program. He wants to “deputize all of you to supercharge awareness of the program using your existing contacts and your influence to help low-income households within the disability community,” he said.
NTIA supported the FCC’s move to address receivers, in comments posted Tuesday in response to a notice of inquiry on receiver performance and potentially standards adopted by commissioners 4-0 in April (see 2204210049). NTIA noted it already collects receiver data. Other commenters generally support the inquiry, with most opposing regulation.
The FCC got general support for doing more to address receivers in early responses to a notice of inquiry on receiver performance and potentially standards adopted by commissioners 4-0 in April (see 2204210049). Comments were due Monday in docket 22-137.
Dish Network’s launch of a stand-alone 5G open radio access network is proof that ORAN can be deployed on a “massive” scale, said Stefano Cantarelli, Mavenir chief marketing officer, during the TelecomTV ORAN summit Thursday. Dish is working with Mavenir on that deployment. Other speakers said use of ORAN is growing, but ORAN companies haven't turned a profit and need more direction from carriers.
The COVID-19 pandemic drove home the importance of being able to connect to the internet, said Doreen Bogdan-Martin, head of the ITU Telecom Development Bureau, and candidate for secretary-general of the organization, during a virtual Telecommunications Industry Association conference Wednesday. The bureau recently concluded its international conference, held every four years, this year in Kigali, Rwanda. Other speakers stressed the importance of making connections more secure and the challenges industry continues to face.
Wireless carriers warned the FCC proposed reporting requirements in a Further NPRM on wireless emergency alerts would require wholesale changes in alerting technology and asks for information they can’t collect. APCO and the National Weather Service (NWS) asked the agency to impose reporting requirements on industry. Comments were posted Wednesday in docket 15-91. Commissioners approved the FNPRM in April (see 2204190053).
Industry experts said some questions remain after last week’s announcement that “key stakeholders in the aviation and wireless industries” agreed to a revised rollout of C-band spectrum around some airports by Verizon and AT&T (see 2206170070). Airlines for America (A4A), which represents major airlines, already questioned the pact in a letter to the FAA.
Two top litigators in the FCC Office of General Counsel think the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s December decision upholding the FCC’s 6 GHz order (see 2112280047) and a decision by the same court remanding the FCC’s 2019 RF rules to the agency for further work (see 2108130073) were the two most important recent court decisions affecting the FCC. The two spoke during an FCBA webinar Friday. A top administrative law expert said the Chevron doctrine is in doubt, but still not dead.