A new analysis submitted to the FCC by Dish Network found that providers can offer fixed-wireless service in the lower 12 GHz band without causing interference to satellite operations. Dish asked engineering company RKF to find “how many customers a fixed service operator could serve in a market while causing zero risk of interference into satellite customers,” Dish said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 20-443. “The answer is millions, even without taking into account vegetation, even with assuming near-free-space propagation, even without considering the dominant-path method or other techniques for nulling non-line-of-sight paths, and even without taking any of the measures that could avert interference on a case-by-case basis,” Dish said. It noted that the national spectrum strategy, released Monday (see 2311130048), cites the FCC’s look at sharing in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band. “DISH readily accepts that Fixed 5G will not be capable of serving all Americans in light of the need to avoid interference,” the filing said: “Given its 6.72 million [direct broadcast satellite] customer base, DISH takes seriously its duty to avoid interference to existing satellite customers’ services. The RKF study shows that DISH and other Fixed 5G licensees can fulfill that duty while still offering service to large swaths of the country.”

NTCA told the FCC it agrees with concerns raised by the Rural Wireless Association (see 2311130058) and the Competitive Carriers Association on long delays small carriers face in receiving reimbursement through the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program. “While NTCA appreciates that the Fund Administrator may be addressing staffing shortages, participants in the Reimbursement Program continue to experience excessive delays in getting invoices approved and additional delays for receiving reimbursements,” according to a filing posted Thursday in docket 18-89: “Unforeseen delays in the Reimbursement Program are making it difficult for participants to complete the required work within the one-year timeline. This not only lengthens the amount of time that insecure equipment remains in operation, but it also costs participants significant resources.” While lack of full funding for the program is a “significant hurdle outside of the Commission’s control,” CCA members “are also experiencing challenges related to the Reimbursement Program’s administration that we encourage the Commission to address expeditiously,” CCA said in a filing earlier this month.

The FCC’s August public notice on spectrum access in tribal and native Hawaiian areas is part of the agency’s broader focus on closing the digital divide, Wireless Bureau Deputy Chief Susan Mort said during an FCC webinar Thursday. Mort said she realized timing was tight on responding to the notice, with comments due Nov. 30 (see 2308040039). “To assess current and future policy efforts in furtherance of this goal, we kind of need to know what the current lay of the land is,” she said. The FCC collects some information through its licensing forms but wants to improve its understanding of how tribes may be accessing spectrum, including through leasing or by using unlicensed or lightly licensed bands, she said. “We do not currently have specific, granular answers that help us … to better identify and/or track tribal or native applications,” she said. Once the FCC decides what categories it might be able to add to licensing forms, “then there are both legal and technical steps that we must undertake,” Mort said. Clearance is faster if the FCC adds to existing questions rather than posing completely new questions, she said. “We do have to run those traps,” she said: “We’d like to move … forward as quickly as we can." No comments were filed so far in the docket on the inquiry, 23-265. “We want to be as comprehensive as we can be without being confusing,” Mort said.

PCTEL Wednesday unveiled a new embedded antenna platform for integrated radio deployments. “PCTEL’s embedded antennas help device manufacturers to overcome space limitations and meet aesthetic requirements without sacrificing performance,” the company said: The platform “consists of compact low-profile design solutions that provide wide coverage patterns in the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz frequency bands. They are easy to install and integrate into tight spaces.”

Las Vegas chose Juniper Networks' Cloud Metro to build the city's private 5G network, the company said Wednesday. “This ambitious endeavor hinges on the city building and operating the largest private 5G network in the United States, complemented by a portfolio of smart city capabilities,” Juniper said. Las Vegas has a goal of becoming “a model smart city by 2025,” the company added.

The Cloud Security Alliance announced Wednesday the launch of what it said is the industry’s first “authoritative” zero-trust training and credentialing program. “From industrial control systems to cloud computing to generative AI, the world of pervasive technology has outraced legacy security models,” alliance CEO Jim Reavis said. “Zero Trust ‘never trust, always verify’ principles are clearly the path forward, and we anticipate virtually all organizations to apply this strategy to diverse technological environments in order to protect strategic assets and prevent breaches,” he said.

Verizon is satisfied with its progress on fixed wireless access after adding 384,000 FWA customers in Q3, Chief Financial Officer Tony Skiadas said at a Morgan Stanley financial conference Wednesday. “It's very simple -- you plug it in and go,” he said: “There's no install. … It resonates with customers and it's very simple to use, and that's been the goal with this.” Skiadas said Verizon is now able to deploy all the licenses it purchased in the C-band auction, providing some 160 MHz of spectrum across the U.S. “Our C-band is rolled out to ... a little more than half of our cellsites,” he said. “We're very pleased with the progress thus far of the build, but we still have more to do.”

To facilitate wider adoption of school bus Wi-Fi in 2024, the FCC needs to clarify E-rate eligibility issues before year's end, Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition Executive Director John Windhausen said Wednesday during an SHLB webinar. A divided FCC last month approved a declaratory ruling 3-2 clarifying that the use of Wi-Fi on school buses is eligible for E-rate funding (see 2310190056). Comments are due Nov. 30 about the addition of services and equipment needed to use Wi-Fi service on school buses, the Wireline Bureau ordered. With the agency's declaratory ruling, legislation from Congress about bus eligibility issues is unlikely to be forthcoming, said Jeff Lopez, senior policy adviser for Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M. Lopez said past bus eligibility bills faced pushback from questions about USF's limited resources. He said the USF working group started by Lujan and others (see 2305110066) is focused on broader revisions to the program. Farmington (New Mexico) Municipal Schools Supervisor Billy Huish said its adoption of bus Wi-Fi "was kind of a no-brainer" because all students have a take-home electronic device and often face rides of 90 minutes to two hours each way. He said there aren’t gaps in connectivity coverage, though buses going to tribal lands require installation of dual wireless carriers, with coverage toggling depending on which has a stronger signal. The costs the FCC cited in the declaratory ruling -- $1,840 per bus per year -- are "pretty close to what we're paying," Huish said. The typical bus setup involves a cellular modem, which converts LTE or 5G signals into Wi-Fi, and an antenna, with the system wired into the vehicle's power supply, said Ben Weintraub, CEO of Kajeet, a school bus Wi-Fi provider.

GPR sought a tweak of a waiver the company received earlier this month from the Office of Engineering and Technology for its driver-assistance safety technology, which uses ultra-wideband (UWB) ground penetrating radar. The waiver grant is conditioned, in part, on the GPR device halting operations when a vehicle comes to a stop, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 19-241. “The GPR system’s design, however, has been updated to improve the system’s functionality and safety,” GPR said. The system “is designed to begin transmitting continuously when the vehicle’s electrical power system begins operating, including when the vehicle is stopped,” the company said: “Continuously providing UWB outputs while stopped allows for the system to make constant vehicle position corrections, thus avoiding problems induced by motion model or dead reckoning drift. This substantially increases the positioning accuracy and timeliness of vehicle position data when moving from a situation when the vehicle has come to a complete stop.” GPR representatives met with OET staff to explain the need for changes.

CTA offered its updated take on the FCC’s proposed cybersecurity labeling program for smart devices, in reply comments posted Tuesday in docket 23-239. Most replies were posted Monday (see 2311130034). CTA and other groups said last week the program should be voluntary and based on existing National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) guidance (see 2311090033). “The task now falls to the Commission to establish this Program to support efficient procedures for use of the Mark, apply rules consistently and equitably across program participants, and enable the Program to evolve over time,” CTA said. The group called on the FCC to “embrace opportunities to minimize administrative burdens and other participation costs while promoting public trust in the Mark.” The commission “must establish a process for self-attestation, streamline the review and renewal process for devices bearing the Mark, and leverage modern industry practices like e-labeling and other technology solutions,” CTA said. NCTA said most comments agree with its arguments that “the Program’s benefits and ultimate success are more likely to be realized if the technical security criteria for the Cyber Trust Mark are based on existing guidance that NIST has developed through robust engagement with diverse technology and security experts.” Building the program on “NIST’s already-established definition of ‘IoT device’ would maintain a consistent federal approach to IoT security baseline requirements, while also providing a clear vehicle for the Commission to identify and address updates over time,” NCTA said. The Connectivity Standards Alliance noted commenters disagreed on definitions and whether the FCC should certify IoT products or devices. The comments supporting certification of products “for the most part fail to squarely address or recommend a currently available framework for meeting the challenges associated with that approach,” the Alliance said: “The Alliance reiterates its recommendation to launch the Program with an immediately implementable focus on consumer IoT devices, and build from there.”