Dish Network representatives told FCC staff that open radio access networks offer vendor flexibility, will enhance spectrum utilization and network slicing, and mean a more secure network. “DISH is well underway in its construction of a first-of-its-kind, cloud native, virtualized O-RAN 5G network,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 21-63: “Because DISH is building a greenfield network, we have the flexibility to choose the best technology to enter the market.”

The global fixed wireless access market is expanding quickly “to fulfill the need of high-speed broadband connectivity” for business and consumer segments, and 5G’s “fiber-like broadband service” capabilities are expected to speed FWA adoption, reported ABI Research Wednesday. It forecasts the FWA market will exceed 180 million subscriptions globally and generate $70 billion in revenue by 2026, when 5G FWA will have 40% of the total FWA market. “5G FWA services can be deployed faster and at lower cost” than fiber to the home, said ABI. Faster time-to-market at a lower rate of capital expenditures are the key advantages of FWA deployments “to expand the service coverage and boost adoption,” it said.

Nokia representatives said all open radio access network deployments aren’t equally open, in a call with staff from the FCC Office of Economics and Analytics and Wireless Bureau. “Simply declaring a deployment ‘open’ does not make it so, if, for example, it is achieved through a private agreement in which vendors have disclosed their specifications to each other but are not building to the type of open, common specifications envisioned by the O-RAN Alliance work,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 21-63: “Lack of conformity to common specifications would make it very difficult for another supplier to step into such a deployment later, effectively limiting the carrier’s options for partners. That is hardly the end-state ‘mix and match’ environment that would reflect an open ecosystem.” ORAN company Rakuten also spoke with staff from the OEA, Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology. “Rakuten discussed and answered staff questions on how American wireless carriers can deploy an OpenRAN, cloud-native network,” the company said.

The FCC ignored federal law in dividing the 5.9 GHz band, with 45 MHz for Wi-Fi and 30 MHz for cellular vehicle-to-everything technology, petitioners told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in a Wednesday reply brief (in Pacer). ITS America, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and the Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network want the court to overturn the order (see 2106020076). The FCC’s reallocation of 60% of the band “expressly ignores the statutory direction of Congress in the Transportation Equity Act,” they said. The FCC claims “this was a straightforward ‘spectrum management’ decision involving only the FCC’s typical balance of equities,” the groups said: “The Commission’s refusal to acknowledge the limitations imposed by the Transportation Equity Act is fatal, and its decision to rewrite the meaning of intelligent transportation systems cannot be defended under the overlapping statutes.”

T-Mobile is the exclusive 5G launch partner in North America for Qualcomm Technologies’ new Snapdragon Spaces XR Developer Platform, the carrier said Tuesday. T-Mobile said it’s working with startups and developers using the platform on augmented reality glasses starting next spring. “5G is powering more immersive experiences that better connect us to people and things around the world, and glasses will be one of the first disruptive new product categories,” said Neville Ray, T-Mobile president-technology: “First we need to build the ecosystem of developers that will bring new applications to life.”

T-Mobile filed a supplement to its Aug. 25 response answering FCC questions on its performance during the Aug. 11 nationwide wireless emergency alert test (see 2108260046). The carrier emphasized that system performance was “within normal parameters,” in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 15-91: “Within seconds, the alert was distributed to millions of cells sites over multiple technologies. This process was completed while separate live WEA alerts were issued and transmitted simultaneously. The system performed as intended and we did not observe any anomalies.”

Alarm Industry Communications Committee Chairman Louis Fiore and others from the group cited problems with AT&T’s pending shuttering of its 3G network (see 2109150041), in calls with an aide to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and staff from the Wireless and Consumer and Government Affairs bureaus, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 21-304. AICC noted “the persons and activities that will be adversely impacted if an extension of the AT&T 3G sunset is not granted, including the safety implications for school children.”

Members of the Aerospace Vehicle Systems Institute spoke with FCC staff about the group's tests of radio altimeter susceptibility to interference from 5G signals in the C band. “The discussion was based on a set of questions provided by the FCC to AVSI,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-122: “The discussion included the appropriate values of ground reflectivity to be used in further analysis of 5G interference.”

The future of 5G spells growth “way beyond the smartphone," blogged Alex Katouzian, Qualcomm Technologies senior vice president-general manager. “Widespread 5G deployment is accelerating into numerous industries, sectors, and governments, serving to quickly and efficiently connect organizations to every aspect of their business,” said Katouzian. “Ultra-fast” millimeter-wave 5G “is creating completely new use cases” for technologies like “connected intelligent edge” for immersive extended reality and “powerful AI through distributed computing,” he said. Rather than just being a “personal connectivity” technology, 5G is “fueling digital transformations around the world,” he said. It’s connecting people to their homes and cars, “businesses to their supply chains, robotics, and security, and cities to their transportation and infrastructure systems,” he said.

Ericsson submitted data to the FCC modeling altimeter interference exposure from use of the C band for mobile wireless, at the airport in Santa Monica, California, but the data was redacted as highly confidential. “This simulation modeled the emissions from base station equipment utilizing Ericsson specific Advanced Antenna System (AAS) patterns, as well as presenting data on the characteristics of those AAS in the vertical plane,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-122. Representatives of Ericsson and AT&T discussed the data with staff from the Office of Engineering and Technology and others from the FCC. AT&T and Verizon last week agreed to delay C-band deployments for a month as safety issues are studied (see 2111040042).