EchoStar disagreed sharply with a recent NCTA study that raised concerns about proposals to relax in-band emissions limits in the citizens broadband radio service band (see 2503060016). Other technical studies “disprove NCTA’s arguments that there is a binary choice between high power use and protecting [general authorized access users], sharing, and incumbents,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 17-258. EchoStar’s studies show that power levels and “updating the in-band and out-of-band emission limits will increase spectrum utility without harming federal or commercial incumbents,” EchoStar said, recapping its meeting with an aide to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks.
Verizon representatives met with FCC Wireless Bureau staff to discuss the spectral dynamics of the citizens broadband radio service band. While higher allowed equivalent isotropically radiated power (EIRP) levels create “larger cells, which offer more coverage area, propagation losses are identical, regardless of power level,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 17-258. “The propagation ‘slope’ dictates the ratio of cell edge (cell size area) to interfered area. … This ratio (interference area/cell area) is the same regardless of cell size or allowed EIRP.”
Advocates of keeping most of the current rules for the citizens broadband radio service (CBRS) band intact have been playing defense since the start of President Donald Trump's administration and the ascension of Brendan Carr to chairman of the FCC. Carr has said little in recent weeks but went on record in the past urging an examination of higher power levels, which some view as a threat to growing use of the band.
Nokia asked the FCC not to make public the information it provided as it starts commercial operations as a spectrum access system administrator for the citizens broadband radio service band. Nokia filed a notice at the commission last week that it had begun operations, but it stripped all data from the filing in docket 15-319. The FCC approved Nokia’s application last summer (see 2407180035).
As President Donald Trump's administration approaches the end of its second month, many questions remain about what it will do concerning the national spectrum strategy and the studies of the lower 3 and 7/8 GHz band started under former President Joe Biden. Most of the news out of NTIA so far has been about BEAD's future, with little on spectrum.
NCTA filed at the FCC results of recent tests that it said justify concerns about proposals to relax in-band emissions limits in the citizens broadband radio service band. The tests by Charter Communications “show up to 60-plus percent degradation in service” from the change, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 17-258. “NCTA’s previously submitted simulation studies and the February … Lab Test Results provide consistent and complementary views of the frequency with which different interference scenarios resulting from elevated, undesired emissions limits will occur in real-world deployments, thus harming the CBRS operating environment,” NCTA said.
With Congress fighting over whether DOD spectrum will be reallocated for commercial use (see 2502270064), experts agreed Wednesday that putting a value on federal spectrum remains difficult.
After years of discussions, wired/wireless convergence is happening this year, consultant John Cankar, COO of Wiverse and managing director at GravityPath, said Wednesday during a Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy webinar. Other speakers said the outlook on spectrum auctions remains unclear. A top Verizon executive said separately that the carrier won't need more spectrum in the near future.
Federated Wireless executives spoke with an aide to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks about the company’s support for some changes to citizens broadband radio service rules, but its opposition to allowing some devices to operate at higher power levels. Federated “articulated its support for codification of the processes that are being used to manage CBRS spectrum access, greater harmonization of the CBRS rules with adjacent bands, and strengthening of the rules that would facilitate use of AI and other advanced tools to maximize efficient use of CBRS spectrum by a wide range of use cases and business models,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 17-258. Federated has been making the rounds at the FCC, with company representatives meeting last week with an aide to Chairman Brendan Carr.
Significantly higher power levels and relaxed emission limits across the citizens broadband radio service band could cause problems for users, Spectrum for the Future said following meetings with aides to FCC Commissioners Nathan Simington and Anna Gomez. Other groups and companies have expressed similar concerns (see 2502060050). “Such changes would fundamentally alter the longstanding nature of CBRS, result in massive harmful interference to existing deployments, undermine existing and planned investments” and “immediately halt America’s global momentum in private wireless networks,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 17-258.