The FCC should stay the course on spectrum sold in the 24 GHz auction, despite Commerce Department and other objections (see 1905230037), Seth Cooper, Free State Foundation director-policy studies, blogged Tuesday. Agencies' claims may lack "reliable and verifiable evidence, that 5G operations in the 24 GHz band could interfere with a weather sensor in an adjacent band. But their calls to change rules for the 24 GHz band, now echoed by some members of Congress, threaten the integrity of the interagency process and U.S. spectrum policy in international circles.”

The FCC Public Safety Bureau sought alert originators willing to participate in a targeted test of the wireless emergency alert system “in late 2019 and/or early 2020.” The bureau “seeks to better understand WEA performance, particularly with respect to the accuracy of … geographic targeting capabilities,” Tuesday's public notice said. Carriers face a Nov. 30 deadline for delivering alerts to the target area specified by the alert originator with no more than a one-tenth of a mile overshoot (see 1801300027). “Interested alert originators should submit an expression of interest in PS Docket Nos. 15-91 and 15-94 that identifies how they meet these criteria, as well as any additional information that may be relevant to our consideration of potential alerting partner(s),” the bureau said.

ISP Starry representatives met with an aide to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on 37 GHz spectrum set for a December FCC auction. Starry supports “a simple coordination mechanism in the near-term based on first-in-time rights, with the potential for evolving the sharing mechanism over time to add more dynamic elements as technology and uses cases mature,” the company said in docket 14-177: The sharing framework “must include explicit, aggressive, and enforceable construction requirements to ensure that the spectrum in the Lower 37 GHz Band is utilized to the benefit of consumers and federal users, not warehoused and left unused.”

Ericsson predicted 5G subscriptions will hit 1.9 billion, up about a quarter from a previous forecast and with 35 percent of traffic carried on 5G networks, all by the end of 2024. That's the fastest growth for any new generation of wireless. “5G is on a roll,” the company said Tuesday: During Q2 “several markets switched on 5G following the introduction of new 5G-compatible smartphones. Some communications service providers have set ambitious targets of reaching up to 90 percent population coverage within the first year.” The number of mobile subscriptions worldwide grew 2 percent year-on-year to 7.9 billion in Q1, the report said.

5G networks will generate 26 percent of wireless service revenue in 2024, but won’t boost overall performance of “a stagnating global wireless market,” reported Strategy Analytics Monday. The 5G market will begin to build “real momentum” in 2021 as network coverage improves, phone prices fall and use cases mature, said the research firm. From 2012 to 2018, 4G grew from 4 percent to 61 percent of all mobile subscriptions worldwide, but service revenue increased by less than 1 percent: “5G’s impact will be equally disappointing,” it said. “There is little to suggest from early 5G launch plans that any willingness to pay a 5G premium can be attached to the service” vs. the device, said analyst Phil Kendall. When 5G device prices begin to fall in 2021, operators will be challenged to monetize the “significant additional capacity that the more widely deployed 5G networks will bring,” he said: Operators can succeed by executing based on customers’ 5G needs vs. “who has the fastest network and biggest data plans.” 4G LTE networks will host more than 6 billion subscriptions by year-end 2024, comprising two-thirds of all wireless subscriptions, said analyst David Kerr. He said that leaves “considerable time” for 4G LTE platforms to evolve through LTE-Advanced and LTE-Advanced Pro technologies, which have a “bright future” in certain Africa and Middle East markets.

FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said privacy issues loom large and need to be addressed. O’Rielly also spoke Monday about the importance of spectrum and infrastructure to smart cities. “I see a real issue developing over the combination of data with police and military powers, and a government’s ability to use data for the purpose of controlling or punishing its citizenry,” O’Rielly said at an American Society of Civil Engineers smart city conference. “How governments can create a comfort level with the potential privacy implications of Smart Cities remains to be seen and represents an increasingly problematic area.” Finding spectrum won’t be easy, O’Rielly said. “Fallow spectrum is not just laying around,” he said: “Recently, our attention has been focused on high-band and mid-band spectrum, with high bands providing the capacity needed to connect the plethora of devices and the mid bands offering both good capacity and added coverage.”

Microsoft got support for its proposal for a Further NPRM on TV white spaces (see 1905030050). NAB earlier said it supports some changes. Comments were posted Monday in docket 14-165 and due that night. The Wireless ISP Association supported a Microsoft proposal to allow use of the 6 MHz of spectrum first-adjacent to TV channels at power levels higher than 40 MW. “With access to spectrum adjacent to TV broadcast channels -- with appropriate interference protection -- WISPs can aggregate more spectrum and more contiguous spectrum to increase capacity,” the group said. WISPA said the FCC should seek comment on a proposal to allow TV white spaces devices to transmit from a height above average terrain (HAAT) up to 500 meters, subject to coordination above 250 meters. Giving white space users “additional deployment flexibility will increase the utility of the band, especially in rural areas where towers may be taller but the number of towers may be limited, or where towers are located on mountains or plateaus that exceed the current HAAT limit,” WISPA said. New America’s Open Technology Institute, Next Century Cities and the Gigabit Libraries Network endorsed the petition, in comments not yet posted. “The Petition proposes ‘pragmatic and long-overdue changes’ to the TV White Space rules in Part 15 that present the Commission with an opportunity to take important steps to bridge the rural-urban digital divide.” The groups “strongly concur that the modest improvements proposed in the Petition can empower providers to extend higher-speed internet access to more unserved areas where wireline or even fixed wireless broadband relying on higher-frequency spectrum has proven to be unavailing.” Sacred Winds, a carrier on Navaho tribal lands, said it’s working with Microsoft here. “Using a mix of telecommunications technologies, Sacred Wind has succeeded since its inception in increasing voice service from 26 percent coverage of total locations within its study area to over 90 percent and broadband service from zero in 2006 to over 90 percent,” the carrier said: “Yet, there remain areas within Sacred Wind’s service territory, and in areas in other surrounding rural communities, where customers that live near dense foliage or not clearly within Line of Sight of Sacred Wind’s communications towers, are unable to receive service.” Evolve Cellular and Skylark Wireless said OK'ing the petition "would substantially improve access to broadband in rural areas and thereby advance the Commission’s goal of extending broadband connectivity to all Americans.” Nominet also supported the petition.

Peter Rysavy of Rysavy Research argues net neutrality rules based on Title II of the Communications Act would be harmful to 5G, in a white paper. The Thursday paper is an update of one Rysavy published two years ago. Strict net neutrality rules “sacrifice the very 5G characteristics that hold the most promise for consumers, innovation, and economic growth,” the paper said. “The FCC’s Title II-based restrictions on handling different kinds of traffic based on what the bits require slammed the door on a vast number of new applications that are actually pro-consumer and pro-innovation,” Rysavy said. “Although these rules were repealed by the FCC in 2018 under a new administration, legislation or court action could reinstate the Title II restrictions. If this happens, without changes to the regulations, the full potential of 5G will never be realized.”

Robocall technology company Numeracle sees problems with the robocall ruling approved by the FCC Thursday (see 1906060056). “This ruling does not give clear direction on how the carriers can more aggressively block robocalls when the FCC has still not defined what constitutes a ‘legal,’ ‘illegal,’ ‘wanted,’ or ‘unwanted’ call based on the reasonable analytics that are available and in-use today,” a spokesperson emailed. “To avoid the improper blocking of legal calls, we do not believe the carriers will agree to implement more aggressive tools without a safe harbor and a defined process for accurately identifying the entities behind the call.” The agency released the declaratory ruling and Further NPRM Friday.

The FCC got a mixed response in a handful of comments last week on two proposed updates to rules for authorizing RF devices. In April, the Office of Engineering and Technology sought comment (see 1904020052) on updating rules to reflect changes to ANSI C63.4a-2017 “American National Standard for Methods of Measurement of Radio-Noise Emissions from Low-Voltage Electrical and Electronic Equipment in the Range of 9 kHz to 40 GHz, Amendment 1: Test Site Validation” and ISO/IEC 17025:2017(E) “General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories.” Teradata, which makes testing equipment, was onboard with the ISO/IEC 17025:2017(E) revision. “Teradata does not see significant technical justification for adopting ANSI C63.4a-2017,” the company said in docket 19-48: “It does not address any apparent failures in the current Normalized Site Attenuation method.” ElectroMagnetic Investigations saw no need to update the ANSI standard. The test lab said OET should ask “’what are the possible cost impacts” on manufacturers, labs and consumers and “is there really a need to deviate from widely recognized international standards and test procedures.” Sony Electronics supported the ANSI change but said the FCC should allow at least two years for labs to make the change: “A mere 15 months of lead time might not be sufficient here in the U.S. Test sites will need ample time to understand the various changes made in the amendment, and to alter their test setups accordingly.” Updating the rules “to incorporate ISO/IEC 17025:2017 will ensure conformity assessment bodies working in the industry … may continue to offer services and support FCC work,” said the International Federation of Inspection Agencies.