The FCC Wireless Bureau on Tuesday approved 12 additional licenses in the 900 MHz broadband segment for PDV Spectrum, all in Texas. The FCC approved an order five years ago reallocating a 6 MHz swath in the band for broadband while maintaining 4 MHz for narrowband operations (see 2005130057).
Airspan Networks announced Tuesday that it had finalized its purchase of Corning’s wireless business. The terms of the deal weren’t released. It acquired Corning's "6000 and 6200 distributed antenna systems and its SpiderCloud 4G and 5G small cell radio access network portfolio,” Airspan said, along with “valuable intellectual property” and “experienced wireless professionals.” Airspan announced an agreement last month to acquire Jabil’s open radio access network portfolio and associated intellectual property rights.
The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) said Monday that it’s offering a new specialty certification exam, “Advanced Rigging Concepts,” starting April 7. “This advanced certification is designed to provide assurance to certificate holders, employers, carriers, and tower owners that lifting operations on-site are executed safely and effectively,” the group said. Richard Cullum, chair of the NWSA Specialty Exam Management Committee, added: “Based on my experience and the number of rigging incidents I have seen over the years, a specialty credential such as this is needed to ensure tower technicians properly grasp and understand not only the fundamentals, but some of the more complex aspects of rigging.”
The Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services asked the FCC to update its rules on 406 MHz satellite personal locator beacons and maritime survivor locating devices. Recent updates to standards for both types of devices “have significantly improved distress alerting and locating capabilities,” said a petition for rulemaking Monday. “These enhancements benefit not only the person in distress by using these devices but also assist search and rescue authorities. The updates ensure that authorities are quickly alerted to the distress situation, its location, and the identity of the person in distress.”
The FCC moved quickly to seek comment on a petition filed by CTIA last week (see 2503270059) asking the commission to launch a rulemaking aimed at updating its rules to implement the National Environmental Policy Act. The Wireless Bureau released a notice Monday, seeking comment by April 30, replies May 15, in RM-12003.
AT&T said Monday that FirstNet has continued to grow, hitting “more than 7 million public safety connections.” That figure is up by about 300,000 since the end of 2024, a positive development for AT&T as it competes for phone subscribers, New Street’s Philip Burnett told investors Monday. It probably means 90,000-110,000 FirstNet postpaid phones adds in Q1, based on prior trends, he said.
Samsung Electronics America and Ericsson jointly disputed a recent FCC filing by NCTA raising concerns about citizens broadband radio service interference, including by dual-band radios that operate across CBRS and the C band (see 2503060016). Both companies have waiver requests for multiband radios before the regulator. “NCTA’s continuing efforts to put off FCC action on these waivers only serves to delay the public interest benefits the multiband radios will provide: an innovative, efficient, and cost-effective base station that is smaller and has more functionality than separate CBRS and C-band radios,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 23-93. “Multiband radios will support faster deployment through fewer site approvals, lower installation costs, smaller form factor, and more energy efficiency.”
UScellular provided additional answers to questions posed by the FCC in December on the carrier’s proposed sale of wireless assets to T-Mobile (see 2412270031). But all the data was redacted from the filing, posted Friday in docket 24-286. The carrier said the data submitted is “'Highly Confidential' pursuant to the Protective Order in this proceeding.”
The FCC posted Friday a notice of inquiry on alternatives to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), approved by commissioners 4-0 Thursday (see 2503270042). “Relying on GPS alone as the primary source of PNT data leaves America exposed to a single point of failure and leaves our PNT system open to disruption or manipulation by adversaries,” the notice says.
5G connections worldwide have hit 2.25 billion as the latest generation of wireless grows four times faster than 4G, 5G Americas said Thursday. Based on Omdia research, the report said mobile grew globally to 1.5 wireless connections per person worldwide by the end of last year, compared with one connection in 2014. North America is leading the world in 5G, with 289 million connections, “covering 77% of the region’s population,” the group said. The world also added 438 million IoT connections last year, increasing the global number to 3.6 billion.