Open radio access networks “should be industry led, but ... there is a role for governments to play,” said Jaisha Wray, NTIA associate administrator-international affairs. Government “recognizes that many network operators in the United States, and really across the world, are facing limited options,” she told the virtual OpenRAN Forum Tuesday: The limits “can reduce supply chain resilience and contribute to higher prices for operators and consumers in the long run,” she said. The biggest motivation for carriers opting for ORAN is wanting more choices of gear suppliers, said Stefan Pongratz, Dell’Oro vice president. “They want to have a broader selection from the get-go." U.S. government efforts against Huawei are working and the Chinese company had a 3%-4% drop between last year and today in global market share, he said. Globally, providers spend as much as $40 billion a year on RAN equipment, he said. Dell’Oro estimates 80% of operators are investing in ORAN or considering doing so, he said: “It’s a broad-based movement. It’s strong right now.” NTIA, which held 5G listening sessions (see 2102250056), is continuing its focus on open networks, noted Wray. ORAN is ready to be deployed and the performance is “at par” with legacy systems, said Stefano Cantarelli, Mavenir executive vice president. “We have had several implementations where we have seen all of the requirements of operators being met.” More radio units are coming to market, he said. Analog Devices first became involved with ORAN three years ago and knew then that development would take time, said Joseph Barry, vice president of the company’s Wireless Communications Business Unit. “It’s essentially on track in terms of deployment at scale” though this pandemic slowed things down by “one or two quarters,” he said: “We’re seeing a lot of good progress in the near term but also a lot to be done in the next one to two years in terms of its ultimate large-scale deployment.” Work remains on power savings, beam forming and digital functionalities needed for massive multiple-input and multiple-output radios, he said.

Wireless ISP Association representatives urged FCC action permitting outdoor use of the 5.9 GHz band without waivers or grants of special temporary authority, in a call with an aide to Commissioner Nathan Simington. With more than 200 STA grants, WISPs show “that fixed wireless providers can use this spectrum without causing cochannel interference to Intelligent Transportation System operations or federal operations,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 19-138: “The public interest would be better served by allowing these small providers to use … resources for deploying broadband service rather than for applying for STAs and waivers.” WISPA also sought point-to-multipoint operations with an effective isotropic radiated power of up to +36 decibel-milliwatts.

T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile retail presence will more than double via Walmart, said the carrier Monday. New Walmart shopping locations are to open Oct. 18 and will bring 5G to more of the country, said Jon Freier, executive vice president-T-Mobile Consumer Group. E-commerce continues to grow, but retail stores “remain one of the primary places where wireless customers pick up devices and service,” he said. Consumers can shop for phones at Metro by T-Mobile displays with an option of three unlimited 5G monthly plans. Beginning Nov. 1, the premium Magenta Max plan will be available, including Netflix on Us and one free year of Apple TV+. T-Mobile’s Extended Range 5G covers 305 million people; 165 million of those are covered with Ultra Capacity 5G, which is expected to cover 200 million people by year-end. Other carriers at Walmart are AT&T, Verizon, Straight Talk and Tracfone.

The FCC is looking to help wireless mic users, acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel assured Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., in a letter posted Friday. “Wireless microphones are an important part of our civic and cultural lives,” she said. Rosenworcel noted the April NPRM on wireless multichannel audio systems (see 2104220056).

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit laid out a final schedule Friday for oral argument, scheduled for Sept. 17, on challenges to FCC 6 GHz rules (see 2104160053). AT&T, APCO, electric utilities and other plaintiffs had appealed the order. Petitioners get 12 minutes, followed by three minutes on issues raised by APCO. The government gets 12 minutes to respond, with three minutes for intervenors defending the FCC, said an order (in Pacer) in docket 20-1190.

Dish Network's Dish Wireless is seeking FCC special temporary authority for 90 days to use two 600 MHz band licenses owned by Bluewater Wireless to test and validate equipment for its open radio access network-compliant 5G network. Dish plans to use the licenses to test carrier aggregation (CA) functionality paired with Dish-licensed 600 MHz spectrum, said a filing posted Thursday. Dish is “unable to adequately test CA using only its own licensed spectrum due to insufficient bandwidth in the two test markets and because the contemplated CA tests require non-contiguous 600 MHz spectrum blocks,” the carrier said.

Qualcomm representatives told staff from the FCC Wireless and International bureaus and Office of Engineering and Technology that the company’s C-band chipsets aren't a risk to aviation spectrum, said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-122. “The level of emissions into the 4.2 to 4.4 GHz band from mobile equipment using its chipsets comply with [3rd Generation Partnership Project] specifications and that the actual levels of emissions … can be significantly lower depending on the specific deployment configuration, transmitter operating parameters, and antenna configuration.”.

The Land Mobile Communications Council and the Association of American Railroads opposed in replies posted Wednesday in FCC docket 21-230 use of the 160.900 MHz band by maritime devices that mark fishing equipment, saying railroads use the spectrum. A June NPRM asked to what extent the 1900-2000 KHz band is used “to support fishing operations, and what obstacles prevent heavier spectrum usage.” NTIA earlier raised more general concerns (see 2108060056). “The record establishes that the introduction of transmitting maritime devices in the 160.900 MHz band would cause harmful interference to receiving railroad devices in the band,” said LMCC. Commenters from the fishing industry “have yet to show any real interest in or enthusiasm for operating in the … band -- no commenter representing the fishing industry has sought to have these devices authorized in the 160.900 MHz band,” AAR said. Atlantic Red Crab said the use of automatic identification system (AIS) beacons for fishing gear “would enhance safety by expanding maritime situational awareness, allowing operators of vessels when approaching or traveling through fishing grounds to identify the location and type of fishing gear present with greater confidence and accuracy and to react in a timelier fashion to avoid potentially hazardous entanglement in vertical lines.” The company said 160.900 MHz may be a “viable alternative” to other channels. “It is important to the safety of deck hands and all mariners to allow fisherman using pot gear the ability to deploy AIS beacons to mark their gear,” the Sablefish and Halibut Pot Association said: “Solutions are available that will allow the use of the AIS system to mark fishing equipment without confusing or swamping the existing system.”

The U.S. is moving faster to 5G than many other American Tower markets, CEO Tom Bartlett said during a New England Council webinar Wednesday. “We still have many markets outside the United States that are still back in the 3G world.” The company is using what it learns in the U.S. in international markets, he said. “We’re still in the early innings” on 5G, but American Tower customers will spend as much as $35 billion this year deploying the new generation of wireless, he said. 5G depends on moving computing capabilities closer to the customer and the network's “edge,” Bartlett said. “When we take a look at our 220,000 sites that we currently have today, they’re pretty much out at the edge.” Consumers are using their wireless devices as much as five times more than they did a few years ago and usage will continue to accelerate, he said. The COVID-19 pandemic has been the top issue he has dealt with since he took over in March 2020, Bartlett said. His focus has been keeping workers safe and “engaged,” he said. “As people are more and more isolated, you can get less engaged from the core of what we’re trying to do.” He has been thinking through “once we are through the pandemic, what does the world look like and what do our offices look like, what are our people expecting.” Every business is asking those questions, he said.

CTIA countered concerns raised by the aviation and aerospace industries on interference risks to low-range radar altimeters posed by mobile C-band use (see 2108160029), in a report filed at the FCC. Aviation interests contend 5G “will cause interference to radio altimeters that operate 220 MHz or more away -- but they ignore that real-world deployments in the C-Band and other nearby bands, both in the U.S. and abroad, operate today without any evidence of harmful interference to altimeters,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-122. The groups haven’t made available “underlying data that would allow all stakeholders to fully evaluate those assertions,” CTIA said: “With no transparency into test results and indefensible testing parameters, the Organizations’ calls to upend 5G deployments in the C-Band must be rejected.”