Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America, explained the group’s push for prompt action on the 5.9 GHz band (see 2008210044) in calls with an aide to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology staff, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 19-138. “Reallocating all 75 megahertz of the unused 5.9 GHz band for unlicensed use and authorizing [vehicle-to-everything] in a new public safety band, particularly the 4.9 GHz band, can achieve the optimal win-win for consumers and the U.S. economy,” Calabrese said. 5G Automotive Association representatives emphasized in a call with a Pai aide the growing use of cellular V2X. Ford “plans to deploy C-V2X Direct throughout its vehicle fleet pending favorable Commission action in this proceeding, and many other automakers, including Fiat Chrysler, BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, and Tesla, among others, also have endorsed this technology,” 5GAA said: “This growing momentum is also reflected in planned and operational infrastructure deployments of C-V2X Direct technology in Colorado, Georgia, Michigan, Virginia, and -- most recently -- Hawaii.”

NCTA and other Wi-Fi advocates told aides to the three Republican FCC commissioners an “updated and expanded” technical analysis by CableLabs shows the agency can safely make further changes to its 6 GHz rules. “We discussed the importance of authorizing low power indoor unlicensed operations in the band at 8 dBm/MHz power spectral density to ensure that new 6 GHz Wi-Fi devices can efficiently utilize the significant new bandwidth to deliver next-generation multi-gigabit Wi-Fi with the whole-home coverage and throughput Wi-Fi consumers experience and expect today,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 18-295: “We appreciate the Commission’s need to take a conservative approach in unleashing expansive new Wi-Fi bandwidth, given the important incumbents operating in the band, and have completed additional, more comprehensive technical work to respond to its concerns and conclusively show that the Commission can create substantially more value and significantly reduce consumer costs for Wi-Fi without compromising critical incumbent protections.” Representatives of CableLabs, Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox Enterprises and Midcontinent Communications participated in the calls. The same parties spoke with the aides about the importance of an FCC vote reallocating part of the 5.9 GHz band for Wi-Fi, said a filing in docket 19-138. The spectrum is “key to delivering gigabit Wi-Fi and much-needed unlicensed capacity to American consumers in the very near term,” they said.

A federal court dismissed an ExteNet small-cells lawsuit against Cambridge, Massachusetts. The wireless infrastructure provider said the city’s Pole and Conduit Commission improperly denied its applications by not giving timely notice that applications were incomplete. ExteNet claimed the denials effectively prohibited wireless service provision and unreasonably discriminated against the company in violation of FCC orders and the Telecom Act including sections 253 and 332. The U.S. District Court of Massachusetts disagreed in a Wednesday decision. “ExteNet has cited no authority suggesting that denying an application based on incompleteness is a shot clock violation,” wrote Judge Allison Burroughs. ExteNet failed to state a claim for relief for a prohibition of service under either the FCC’s 2018 declaratory order or the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' “Significant Coverage Gap” standard, the judge said. ExteNet failed to show the city’s small-cells policy “materially inhibits or limits the ability of any competitor to compete in a fair regulatory environment, she said. “ExteNet has not shown that there is a competing provider who is its functional equivalent or that Defendants have unreasonably discriminated.” ExteNet declined comment Thursday. Localities might challenge a 9th Circuit ruling last week that mostly upheld the FCC’s 2018 wireless infrastructure orders (see 2008250023).

Microsoft urged the FCC to stick with a proposal to increase the effective isotropic radiated power limit of fixed white space devices (WSD) from 40 dBm to 42 dBm in less congested areas and increase the height above average terrain (HAAT) of antennas from 250 to 500 meters, also in less congested areas. “Microsoft believes the Commission’s proposed coordination procedures for WSDs operating at a HAAT greater than 250 meters provides protection to incumbent operations from receiving harmful interference without being overly burdensome on the affected Wireless Internet Service Provider and the White Spaces Database Administrator,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 20-36. Commissioners approved a Further NPRM on white spaces rules 5-0 in February (see 2002280055). The Office of Engineering and Technology Wednesday said RED Technologies is now administrator of the white space database previously overseen by Nominet UK, as a result of a transfer of ownership and control.

The FCC is set to publish updated rules for finding the vertical location of wireless callers to 911 wireless in the Federal Register Thursday, and parts are to be effective Sept. 28. Commissioners approved the rules in July over a dissent by Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel (see 2007160055). The FCC must still announce a compliance date for parts of the rules.

Ultra-wideband-enabled smartphone shipments will increase from 42 million handsets in 2019 to nearly 514 million in 2025, about a third of the global smartphone market, reported ABI Research Wednesday. It forecasts shipments of more than 2 billion between 2019 and 2025. “Smartphones will see an increase in the integration of UWB, providing users with the ability to accurately locate other UWB-enabled devices, unlock doors or vehicles, and automatically wireless pay for products,” said ABI. “While other devices will also have the ability to provide these use cases and others, the vast shipment numbers associated with smartphones will allow the devices to lead the UWB market.” UWB has the long-term potential to become as “ubiquitous as Bluetooth within smartphones,” it said. Challenges abound, including the complex integration of antennas, the current high cost of components and infrastructure and “the limited awareness around what the technology provides over others,” said ABI.

U.S. wireless providers invested $29.1 billion in their networks last year, a four-year high, as they built out 5G, said CTIA in its annual survey, released Tuesday. “This significant investment helped prepare U.S. wireless networks for the traffic spikes and shifts from COVID-19 this year and to handle last year’s 37 trillion MBs of mobile data, which represents a 30% increase from the year prior and is 96 times the amount of mobile data used in 2010,” CTIA said: Mobile traffic increased by 30% over the previous year and industry added more than 46,000 more cellsites. Wireless connections increased by more than 20 million to 442.5 million, CTIA said.

The citizens broadband radio service auction hit close to $4.59 billion after 76 rounds Tuesday, with bidding slowing and no increase over Monday. Tuesday was the first with five bidding rounds. BitPath calculates the average price at just under 22 cents MHz/POP.

Cable and other Wi-Fi advocates urged the FCC to act on reallocating the 5.9 GHz band for unlicensed use, in a call with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai. Charter Communications, Comcast, Facebook and NCTA were among those on the call. “The 5.9 GHz band is key to delivering gigabit Wi-Fi and much-needed unlicensed capacity to American consumers in the very near term,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 19-138: “Consumers heavily rely on Wi-Fi to connect to the internet, as Wi-Fi carries a majority of internet traffic and a significant percentage of the traffic offloaded from mobile networks, and are using it more than ever before to work, learn, connect with each other and engage with their communities from a distance.” A vote on the band is expected at the Oct. 27 commissioners’ meeting (see 2008200040).

The OMB approved, for a period of three years, the information collection requirements in the FCC’s 2019 spectrum horizon order’s experimental radio service rules (see 1903150054), said Monday's Federal Register.