A draft notice of inquiry on receiver performance notes that looking at receivers now is important, as spectrum becomes increasingly congested. A draft Further NPRM on wireless emergency alerts proposes a mechanism for providers to file reports on the effectiveness of the alerts. The FCC released both Thursday, three weeks before the commission’s April 21 meeting (see 2203300072).
The NFL told the FCC it didn’t need to use an agency waiver to use citizens broadband radio service spectrum to operate its in-stadium, coach-to-coach communications system during a game in which it lost connection with a spectrum access system manager. In a single incident in Atlanta Nov. 18, a fiber cut to the Lumen network "took the Lumen ISP connection down at that stadium,” the league said: “The Verizon LTE system was automatically switched in and there was never any loss of communication with the SAS.” The NFL said “the level of ISP redundancy implemented in each stadium is sufficient to make it highly improbable that the CBRS system will be operated pursuant to the waiver.” The filing was posted Monday in docket 21-111.
The FCC’s newly reconstituted Technology Advisory Council met for the first time Monday, with a new focus on 6G, directed by FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. New TAC Chairman Dean Brenner, a former Qualcomm executive, said TAC’s work is more important than ever due to the reliance on broadband since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago. The first meeting was initially expected in October (see 2107230039).
Dish Network's mobile 5G network is up and running in Las Vegas, albeit with mixed results, and the company will easily meet its June goal of reaching 20% of the U.S. population, executives said Thursday, announcing its 2021 year-end results. "When it works, it works pretty well," Chairman Charlie Ergen said. He said network optimization and working with handset manufacturers to ensure Dish frequencies are in their hardware are still to be done before broad commercial launch, plus fixing of some regulatory issues like Enhanced 911 access.
The FCC got some support for use of an ascending-clock auction for the 2.5 GHz band, the only imminent auction of spectrum for 5G, in comments filed at the FCC, mostly posted Thursday. AT&T and groups concerned about bidding by the smallest players, prefer a single-round, sealed-bid auction. The agency is trying to start and end the sale before its auction authority expires Sept. 30.
The FCC approved Key Bridge to be an environmental sensing capability (ESC) operator in various markets, for the citizens broadband radio service, said a notice in Tuesday’s Daily Digest. The Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology gave preliminary clearance earlier but told the company to submit its sensing software to NTIA for retesting (see 2007140055). “Based on these results, we find that Key Bridge has satisfied the retesting condition and is approved for full commercial operation of their ESC,” the FCC said in docket 15-319.
Federated Wireless answered questions from the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology on its bid to be an automated frequency coordination system operator in the 6 GHz band, but asked that many of the details be given confidential treatment, in a filing posted Thursday in docket 21-352. Federated said its proposed system is similar to one it operates in the citizens broadband radio service band. “The confidential information details the functioning of the Federated Wireless AFC in the 6 GHz Band, and Federated Wireless and other AFC operators will compete vigorously on the basis of the services provided through these products,” the company said.
Charter Communications will ramp up broadband speeds throughout its network this year with more high-split deployments, CEO Tom Rutledge said Friday as the company announced Q4 results. The high-split upgrades allow symmetrical gigabit speeds or multi Gbps downstream, and are cheaper than network capital spending such as new nodes, he said. Rutledge said Charter will expand its 800,000-mile network by 100,000 miles over the next five years through Rural Digital Opportunity Fund funding. He said beyond RDOF, the company is using broadband stimulus money and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding to reach other rural areas, plus expanding into areas adjacent to subsidized builds. That rural spending, including RDOF and other subsidized rural projects, will be about $1 billion this year in capital expenditures, said Chief Financial Officer Jessica Fischer. Rutledge said Charter continues to work on DOCSIS 4.0 tech development, with recent tests delivering speeds of more than 8 GB downstream and more than 6 GB upstream. He said Charter is rolling out its 5G hybrid mobile network operation using citizens broadband radio service small cells in an unspecified market, letting people connect to CBRS small cells when they're not in Wi-Fi reach. Charter said it ended 2021 with 28.1 million residential broadband customers, up 1.1 million year over year and 15.2 million residential video subscribers, down 400,000. It reported 3.4 million residential mobile lines, up 1.1 million, and 8.6 million residential voice customers, down 600,000. Revenue was $13.2 billion, up $600 million. The stock closed up 5.3% at $590.47.
Key Bridge completed testing of its environmental sensing capability software for the citizens broadband radio service band, said a filing posted Monday in docket 15-319. NTIA initially required Key Bridge to complete testing with the agency’s Institute for Telecommunication Sciences by Dec. 31, 2020, but that was extended by a year due to “COVID-19 related access restrictions at the ITS laboratory,” the filing said.
Dish Network said Thursday it’s working with FreedomFi on what it calls the “world's first community-driven” neutral host 5G hotspot network, using citizens broadband radio service spectrum. “This collaboration furthers DISH's position that the next generation of wireless networks can be cloud-native open source platforms, leveraging” open radio access network technology, Dish said. FreedomFi, meanwhile, said it's making available a consumer-deployable cellular base station, which uses CBRS spectrum.