Reply comments filed by Friday raised concerns about the FCC proposal to reallocate the 5.9 GHz band, mostly for Wi-Fi. Comments are due Monday. “Reallocation of this spectrum will result in unnecessary deaths that otherwise would have been prevented through connected and automated vehicles,” the Institute of Transportation Engineers said in docket 19-138: “A broad cross-section of transportation safety experts and stakeholders has clearly objected to anything less than the current 75 MHz of bandwidth.” The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials said reallocation “will result in unnecessary deaths that otherwise would have been prevented through connected and automated vehicles.” The National Federation of the Blind also opposed changes: “For many blind Americans, the prospect of fully autonomous vehicles … represent[s] a new era in transportation efficiency and independence.” The Alliance for Automotive Innovation Thursday said the auto industry is committed to deploy at least 5 million radios on vehicles and roadway infrastructure within five years if the FCC preserves all 75 MHz of the 5.9 GHz band for safety (see 2004230054).

NTIA released a report Thursday by its Institute for Telecommunication Sciences summarizing federal spectrum occupancy results in the 3.45−3.55 and 3.55−3.65 GHz bands at four coastal military installations -- San Diego, San Francisco, Norfolk and Oregon's Astoria. San Diego had the highest use of the spectrum, the report said. Tests were done throughout 2018 and 2019. “Incumbent federal operations in both these bands are primarily military radars and include shipborne, airborne, and land-based systems,” NTIA blogged.

Anterix executives, reviewing the draft 900 MHz item posted Wednesday (see 2004210055), like what they see, CEO Morgan O’Brien said on an investor call Thursday. The draft comes after five years of work and at least 250 filings by the company, O’Brien said. “This item confirms that spectrum allocation is a living, not a static process." The draft “really looks good” and helps meet the need for more spectrum by critical infrastructure companies, he said. “I can’t stand watching premature celebrations of victories when the game is not quite over,” he said. “Our game is not quite over. … It isn’t everything we could have possibly imagined.” Anterix has a lot more analysis to do, O’Brien said. The company said the FCC appeared to take a reasonable approach in the anti-windfall payment rules.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation said the auto industry committed to deploy at least 5 million radios on vehicles and roadway infrastructure within five years if the FCC preserves all 75 MHz of the 5.9 GHz band for safety. “V2X communication technologies … allow vehicles to share real-time safety-critical information with each other and with infrastructure and other road users,” the alliance said Thursday: “These applications promise significant safety and societal benefits, including crash reductions that can save lives and provide economic, environmental, and transportation efficiencies.” The group made the commitment in a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. DOT didn’t comment. WifiForward slammed the plan. “Even in the best case, this pledge would be ineffective,” a spokesperson emailed: “Less than 2% of all cars on the road would be equipped with one of two competing V2X technologies, which means a motorist’s chance of encountering another car equipped with a compatible V2X device in a crash-imminent situation is less than one in a hundred.” "Given that about 17 million new vehicles have been sold in the United States in each of the last five years, this is not an impressive commitment," an FCC spokesperson emailed. "It only reinforces the need for the FCC to reform the use of the 5.9 GHz band so that it is put to its best use." That "the auto industry conditions this rather modest deployment on continued control of more spectrum than they need reinforces a false choice,” said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America. “As regulators around the world have concluded, the auto industry can deploy critical V2X safety communications on the 30 megahertz at the top of the band, just as the FCC has proposed.” Commissioner Mike O'Rielly Thursday predicted the FCC could take up an order reallocating the band this summer (see 2004230059).

The FCC Enforcement Bureau proposed $25,000 fines against Puerto Rican wireless ISPs Buzzer Net and WiFi Services Caribbean for allegedly interfering with FAA terminal Doppler weather radar. The companies didn’t comment. Other WISPs there have also been fined (see 2002260027). “Interference to these radar stations is unacceptable and, in certain circumstances, could be potentially life threatening,” the bureau said Wednesday.

The FCC is to publish its procedures public notice for the citizens broadband radio service auction in Thursday's Federal Register. The auction of priority access licenses starts July 23; applications are due May 7.

The FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology certified Amdocs as an administrator for the citizens broadband radio service band spectrum access system. This covers the contiguous U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Guam. A second Tuesday public notice greenlit Federated Wireless, already an accepted SAS in those areas, for American Samoa.

Garmin asked the FCC to allow provisional certification of RF devices, which the agency declined to do in a July 2017 order reshaping Part 2 equipment authorization rules (see 1707130032). Garmin representatives met with Office of Engineering and Technology staff, including acting Chief Ronald Repasi, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 15-170. “Provisional certification would provide no shortcuts from the current rigorous testing and certification.” Such certification would expire in 90 days or when the device is delivered to users.

Energous got FCC Part 18 certification for an over-the-air wireless charging transmitter based on a single antenna and new chip components, said the company Tuesday. The stock closed up 156% at $2.68. The certification reflects a “completely new” technology, CEO Steve Rizzone emailed Tuesday, contrasting it with the company’s first certification for wireless power received in 2017. That transmitter employed beamforming, multiple antennas to focus radio beams at a three-dimensional point in space. “Due to the use of several antennas required to beamform, the implementation was large and cost-prohibitive for many consumer electronic applications,” Rizzone said now. The new technology uses “a single antenna, single power amplifier and single control chip ... resulting in a much smaller design at a fraction of the cost of the larger, more powerful beamforming transmitter,” said the executive. “We’re imagining new products such as smart speakers and gaming consoles that can also wirelessly charge smartwatches, smart glasses, sensors and other IoT devices within range.” Citing uncertainties about the impact of COVID-19 and the bankruptcy filing of potential partner ZPower, Energous withdrew 2020 guidance of $1 million-$10 million in revenue that Rizzone projected on the company’s Q4 call. The companies showcased at CES their micro-battery wireless reference design aimed at small electronic devices such as hearing aids.

T-Mobile signed a three-year agreement to lease 600 MHz spectrum from entities controlled by Columbia Capital, and a similar deal is likely to follow with Dish Network, LightShed’s Walter Piecyk wrote investors Friday. Leasing is preferable because of T-Mobile’s “current leverage” ahead of the citizens broadband radio service and C-band auctions, the analyst said. Leasing spectrum means it can be “deployed in a matter of days,” he said. T-Mobile didn't comment Monday.