The Open Radio Access Network Software Community (O-RAN SC) announced last week the availability of its J and K software releases. The releases “demonstrate how the O-RAN SC is meeting industry demands for open, efficient, and modular RAN software solutions,” the group said. They “also address critical issues such as interoperability, security, and scalability, paving the way for widespread adoption of open-source technologies across the telecommunications ecosystem.” The group is sponsored by the O-RAN Alliance and operated by the Linux Foundation.
The citizens broadband radio service (CBRS) band uses technology that's “simplistic” and “at this point …obsolete,” so it shouldn’t be considered the best model for sharing, Rysavy Research President Peter Rysavy said. Rysavy spoke as part of an American Enterprise Institute series on spectrum, posted Monday. He also argued that 7/8 GHz spectrum should be allocated for full-power licensed use. CBRS hasn't been very widely used because “it involves coordination between incumbents and secondary users,” and “there’s a very complicated environmental sensing capability that secondary users must rely on to detect” DOD operations.
WISPA President David Zumwalt on Friday called for changes to the BEAD program's rules to make it technology neutral. Zumwalt said the Biden administration wrongly put too much focus on fiber in developing the rules. “The mission of serving the unserved can be met with the tools that we have in place, with the service providers we have in place,” he said. “There’s no need to continue the nonsense that was put into the BEAD program from the beginning.”
GCI representatives met with FCC staff to explain the carrier’s request for clarification on the agency’s Alaska Connect Fund (ACF) order (see 2501310053). "Key changes" will make the order "more effective in serving rural Alaska," said a filing posted Friday in docket 23-328. The FCC should “clarify that the goal for all areas cannot reasonably be 5G at 35/3 or 7/1 Mbps” and “reconsider removing support and, instead, target ACF support to areas that need it,” GCI said: “Clarify the standards for being ineligible to participate in the ACF based on Alaska Plan performance. Reconsider and permit GCI to use its Anchorage consumer plans for comparable pricing.” The GCI representatives said they met with staff from the Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics.
Counsel for Assist Wireless, enTouch Wireless, Easy Wireless and Access Wireless spoke with aides to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to ask that the agency grant applications for review that they filed on upward revisions for reimbursement of services provided in the last month of the Lifeline COVID-19 waiver period. The Wireline Bureau rejected their appeals of the Universal Service Administrative Co.’s denials of the upward revisions to their Lifeline reimbursement claims, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 11-42. The bureau “wrongly found that the revisions would violate the FCC’s rules by providing reimbursements for Lifeline subscribers who were not eligible for reimbursement based on when the Bureau’s final waiver of the Lifeline usage rule ended.”
Representatives of the Association of American Railroads and major members CSX and BNSF Railway Co. discussed spectrum needs in a meeting with an aide to Chairman Brendan Carr. The representatives noted railroads’ use of spectrum in the 160-161, 219.5-222, 450 and 900 MHz and 6 GHz bands, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 17-200.
The most user-friendly and resilient communications networks will be engineered from the start to integrate terrestrial and satellite technologies, Pennant Investors partner Tim McDonald wrote Thursday. Such integration lets operators avoid making ground investments in uneconomical areas, he said. Formerly on the board of Federated Wireless, McDonald said EchoStar, with its Boost Mobile, "holds a potentially decisive advantage in this space." EchoStar has end-to-end control and can craft a direct-to-device service with minimal satellite/terrestrial friction. It can also move faster than others due to unified planning and procurement, he said. "If D2D connectivity becomes a core feature of mobile service -- like 5G did a decade ago -- then owning both the space and ground layers will be a powerful advantage."
NextNav envisions itself providing backup to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) as part of a “system of systems” that includes space- and terrestrial-based solutions, said Renee Gregory, its vice president-regulatory affairs, during an FCBA webinar Wednesday (see 2504020062).
As the spectrum wars continue, WifiForward released a study Wednesday that found Wi-Fi was responsible for more than 7 million U.S. jobs in 2023. It projected that the figure would grow to more than 13 million by 2027 and 21 million by 2032. “This growth is driven by significant direct employment derived from the economic value of Wi-Fi, coupled with substantial indirect employment from upstream supply chains and a Wi-Fi-facilitated boost in consumer spending,” the analysis said. Telecom Advisory Services wrote the study.
T-Mobile on Wednesday offered customers who switch to 5G home internet up to $1,050 in incentives. New customers can get a $300 virtual Mastercard when switching to All-In Internet or a $200 virtual Mastercard when choosing Amplified Internet, T-Mobile said. The carrier said it will also pay early termination fees of up to $750.