FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Tuesday that commissioners will take up changes to the USF Lifeline program at their Feb. 18 meeting in an effort to “prevent fraud, and ensure that federal dollars go only to eligible low-income Americans.” The Lifeline item ties back to the Trump administration’s broader campaign against illegal immigrants. Commissioner Anna Gomez slammed the proposed changes, saying they could cause eligible households to lose federal support, including on tribal lands.
FCC commissioners are expected to approve an order and further NPRM Thursday on changing the rules for the 6 GHz band, likely with minimal revisions from the version circulated by Chairman Brendan Carr (see 2601080066), industry officials said this week. One question, though, is whether the agency will broaden the FNPRM to ask additional questions about other potential updates to the rules. Only three ex parte filings were made in response to the item, posted in docket 18-295.
An FAA rulemaking on radio altimeters (RAs) looms as a potential complication as the FCC moves closer to an auction of upper C-band spectrum, mandated by Congress. Industry analysts said the FAA NPRM raises questions that must be resolved as quickly as possible to ensure a successful auction.
Ericsson warned Friday as it reported Q4 earnings that it expects a “flat” market for radio access networks (RAN) this year, though other parts of its business are growing. Ericsson and Nokia are the top RAN equipment suppliers for U.S. telecom providers.
Summit Ridge Group President Armand Musey questioned in an interview how making more licensed spectrum available for carriers will help the U.S. compete with China. Musey also said last week that he has seen few signs so far that AI will mean significantly more wireless traffic, though it will require improved wired connections between data centers. “AI is generating traffic, but it’s generating traffic between data centers,” he said.
Providers worldwide are starting to move to direct-to-device (D2D) satellite communications, said Mark Giles, director of industry research and analysis at Ookla, during the company's webinar Thursday. Industry has moved past the “science project phase” into commercialization, he added.
While aviation safety and protection for radio altimeters were possibly the hottest topics in comments on the future of the upper C band (see 2601210067), other major issues emerged as well in FCC filings this week (docket 25-50). Small carriers warned that the proposed auction rules benefit large providers, while tribes and public interest groups decried the lack of a tribal licensing window. Upper C-band incumbents also defended their use of the band.
Wireline and wireless associations and providers agreed in FCC filings this week about the importance of moving to all-IP technology and completing the technology transition, but they also acknowledged that getting rid of time-division multiplexing (TDM) interconnection won’t be easy. As USTelecom noted in early comments (see 2601160057), the transition is “a daunting task.”
CTIA and the wireless industry emphasized the importance of the upper C-band auction to the future of wireless communications in comments on an NPRM that commissioners approved in November (see 2511200046). Aviation safety and protection for radio altimeters were among major themes in the filings, most of which were posted Wednesday in docket 25-59. The upper C-band auction is expected to be the biggest spectrum auction under FCC Chairman Brendan Carr (see 2512260002).
The National Institute of Standards and Technology's review and approval of final BEAD plans is hindering deployment, state broadband directors warned Wednesday during a Broadband Breakfast webinar. Issues with slow NIST approvals come on top of concerns that the Trump administration's changes to the program have delayed deployment in general (see 2601140044). Officials also asked at the webinar whether all states are being treated the same.