The 5G Automotive Association urged officials from the FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology to act on a public notice on a streamlined waiver process for cellular vehicle-to-everything roadside units. A “thoughtfully designed” process “would provide road and infrastructure operators an opportunity to accelerate the deployment of C-V2X safety services to travelers,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 19-138. The notice should “reflect the realities of C-V2X technology,” they said. Qualcomm and Ford were represented.
Replies largely tracked initial comments in docket 21-186 urging caution as the FCC considers adopting out-of-band emissions in the 24 GHz band aligned with limits adopted at the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference (see 2106290036). The American Geophysical Union, American Meteorological Society and National Weather Association urged more aggressive limits. “At a minimum, the Commission should align its rules with the WRC-19 limits on emissions from active operations in the 24.25-25.25 GHz band into passive sensing in the 23.6-24.0 GHz band,” the groups said: “Implement more stringent rules that expedite limits on emissions to 2024, consistent with European regulators, given continued concerns from the Earth science community about major interference to weather modeling that will ensue before 2027 under WRC-19 rules.” Industry said the WRC agreement is adequate to protect earth exploration satellite services operations. The FCC “took a reasoned approached in initially determining the -13 dBm/MHz (-20 dBW/200 MHz) out of band emission limit in the 24 GHz Report & Order,” said AT&T. The limit “is consistent with other operations surrounding the 23 GHz passive band and should protect EESS operations,” AT&T said. “There is no basis for the Commission to deviate from the carefully crafted agreements reached at WRC-19 with respect to protection levels, timeframe, or types of devices to which the … emission parameters should apply,” said T-Mobile. “Reject any calls to expand limitations on 24 GHz equipment beyond the consensus agreement of the WRC, which would unnecessarily hinder the deployment of 5G service in the United States,” urged CTIA.
The 10-year Dish Network/AT&T network service agreement (see 2107190003) "is a game changer for Dish and a disastrous result for the wireless incumbents," practically assuring viability for Dish's wireless plans and upping the odds of a strategic partnership and future financing, MoffettNathanson's Craig Moffett wrote investors Monday. The mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) agreement now extending well past expiration of the 2026 no-sale prohibition opens the door to a possible sale of Dish's spectrum or its entire business, he said. The AT&T agreement buys Dish breathing room to expand its network beyond the 70% of the U.S. population it has to cover by 2025 by eliminating the danger it faced with its T-Mobile MVNO expiring in 2027, and it raises the chances of Dish to be competitive to the Big Three wireless carriers, Moffett said.
President Claude Aiken and others from the Wireless ISP Association spoke with FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks to oppose any FCC symmetrical speed mandates. “Consumers typically use at least eight times more download bandwidth than upload bandwidth,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 20-34.
Tech companies fired back at Southern Co report from last month, warning of interference from low-power indoor unlicensed devices for electric utility operations in the 6 GHz band (see 2106240075). “We were disappointed to see that, more than a year after the Commission’s unanimous decision to authorize unlicensed low-power indoor devices in the 6 GHz band, Southern continues to focus its efforts on undermining that decision,” the companies said, posted Friday in docket 17-183: “The result of this approach is yet another set of advocacy-driven tests.” Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Hewett Packard Enterprise, Intel, Microsoft and Qualcomm filed. Southern declined comment.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit agreed with the Communications Workers of America that the National Labor Relations Board wrongly overturned an administrative law judge's decision that T-Mobile discriminated against union activity at its call center in Wichita in violation of the National Labor Relations Act. Friday's decision in docket 20-1112 was written by Judge Cornelia Pillard. “We grant the Union’s petitions in full,” the court said: “The Board erred under our precedent by relying on its own post hoc distinction between permissible and impermissible employee conduct to reject the evidence of disparate treatment. Based on that evidence of disparate treatment, and because the policies and rationales that T-Mobile itself offered in defense of its actions do not support them, the Board’s decision to reverse the ALJ’s finding that T-Mobile discriminatorily enforced company policies related to email use is not supported by substantial evidence.” T-Mobile had responded to an email sent by a customer service representative through her work account inviting co-workers to join ongoing efforts at the call center to organize a union. T-Mobile reprimanded the employee and management sent out a facility-wide email saying it didn’t permit employees to send mass emails through the company's system for nonbusiness purposes. CWA has been trying to organize at the call center since 2009, the court said. Judith Rogers and Justin Walker were the other judges. T-Mobile didn't comment.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation (AAI), Qualcomm and Ford backed a 5G Automotive Association petition for partial reconsideration of reallocating the 5.9 GHz band (see 2106030075), but Wi-Fi advocates opposed AAI and 5GAA recon petitions, in filings posted Thursday and Friday in docket 19-138. AAI agrees with 5GAA the FCC should revise its out-of-band emissions limit “to ensure that lifesaving [vehicle-to-everything] technology can function optimally, without the risk of harmful interference, in the upper 30-megahertz segment of the 5.9 GHz band,” it said: “The limit adopted in the Order fails to account for the difference in measured signal levels when using [root mean square] rather than peak power evaluations, is even more permissive than the limits proposed by unlicensed advocates, and threatens to imperil the functioning of critical V2X applications.” The limits “will harmfully interfere” with cellular-V2X and “are not needed to support robust and reliable … unlicensed services” in the band, Qualcomm commented. “Promptly approve the service rules for C-V2X proposed by 5GAA.” Ford agreed with 5GAA that “in multiple respects, the Order’s choice of unwanted emission limits fails to satisfy the Commission’s obligation under the Administrative Procedure Act to fully consider all the relevant facts and to articulate a reasoned explanation of how those facts support its decisions.” The alliance’s petition doesn't “warrant consideration,” the Wireless ISP Association countered. Rather than identifying “any material error or omission,” the group “relies on vague speculation about possible future actions by DOT” or by Congress,” WISPA said. The Wi-Fi Alliance opposed both recon petitions: The 5.9 GHz order “correctly recognizes that additional spectrum is necessary to not only meet, but to keep ahead of current connectivity demands, while also preserving spectrum access for intelligent transportation services.” NCTA and New America’s Open Technology Institute with Public Knowledge, opposed both petitions (see here and here).
CTIA reported Thursday that some 34% of active smartphones can get the latest generation of wireless emergency alerts, up from 18% last year. A majority will be capable next year, said a filing posted Thursday in FCC docket 15-91: Since they began in 2012, more than 61,000 WEAs have been sent.
An Aug. 12 FCC Broadband Data Task Force webinar at 2 p.m. EDT will provide information on “proposed technical requirements for the mobile challenge, verification, and crowdsourcing processes required under the Broadband DATA Act,” said a Thursday notice.
CTIA representatives told FCC Office of Economics and Analytics staff that potential bidders still don’t have enough information on “federal government encumbrances, coordination, and available auction products” for the October 3.45 GHz auction. “It is essential that potential bidders have access to additional information with more granularity,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 21-62.