Wireless carriers are concerned and have many questions about the administration's processes for proposed studies under the national spectrum strategy that will examine the future of five bands as part of a possible spectrum pipeline, industry and government officials said. Carriers are most concerned about two bands, the lower 3 GHz and 7/8 GHz, which they see as possible spectrum for full-power licensed use. Meanwhile, USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter urged the leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees Thursday night to reach a deal on legislation to “unite behind a national spectrum strategy” and reinstate the FCC’s lapsed auction authority.
Google asked the FCC for an emergency waiver of rules requiring environmental sensing capability systems to protect federal incumbent users in the citizens broadband radio service band as storms sweep through parts of California. Operations in one dynamic protection area (DPA) lost commercial power while another “suffered physical damage” due to high winds, Google said. In another DPA, the power provider “is currently unable to provide an estimated time for restoration of commercial power,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 15-319.
Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen and others from the company met with all FCC commissioners, except Anna Gomez, for discussions focused mostly on spectrum, said a filing posted Wednesday in 20-443 and other dockets. The executives urged that the commission “unleash 500 MHz of spectrum in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band for fixed 5G broadband services,” Dish said: “Substantial evidence in the record shows that fixed 5G services can provide broadband to tens of millions of Americans, while fully protecting existing non-geostationary orbit Fixed-Satellite Service and Direct Broadcast Satellite customers.” In addition, the executives discussed the need for a modernized spectrum screen, a proposed 5G Fund and “the benefits of proposals to maximize the efficiency” of the citizens broadband radio service, among other issues.
The approach to spectrum allocation on the Hill and in industry is maturing, which may explain in part the problems Congress is having as it considers renewing the FCC’s auction authority, experts said during a Technology Policy Institute webinar Wednesday. That authority largely lapsed in March (see 2312200061),
David Zumwalt, who became president of the Wireless ISP Association in June 2022, told us during an exclusive Communications Daily Q&A that the NTIA’s broadband, equity, access and deployment program shouldn’t be used to inject artificial competition into markets that WISPA members already serve. WISPA has fought to have BEAD fund projects that rely partly on using unlicensed spectrum (see 2302090063).
Dish Network transferred some spectrum licenses, including AWS-4, H Block, CBRS, 12 GHz, 24 GHz, 28 GHz, 37 GHz, 30 GHz and 47 GHz, to a sister EchoStar subsidiary, EchoStar Wireless, while retaining ownership of other licenses including 600 MHz, 700 MHz, 3.45 GHz and AWS-3, parent EchoStar said Wednesday. EchoStar said the move "optimized strategic and financing flexibility." Spectrum and space consultant Tim Farrar posted on X that the moved spectrum "is mostly peripheral or low in value, and perhaps therefore more readily saleable to raise cash."
Samsung Electronics America made a technical argument at the FCC in favor of approval of a waiver for a 5G base-station radio that works across citizens broadband radio service and C-band spectrum (see 2309130041). The proposed multiband radio “will not materially increase emissions” in the CBRS band, “or materially increase the CBRS noise floor, compared to two collocated standalone C-Band and CBRS radios; and it will have emissions that are lower than those permitted by the FCC’s rules,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 23-93. Key parts of the filing were redacted, including a table on measured noise levels from the composite radio. The multiband radio “will always have less emissions than a C-band radio or collocated C-band and CBRS radios operating in compliance with the FCC rules,” Samsung said.
Samsung Electronics America refuted objections NCTA raised to the company's request for an FCC waiver for a 5G base station radio that works across citizens broadband radio service and C-band spectrum (see [Ref:2309130041). “The practical implications … would be harmful to the CBRS ecosystem, particularly if used as precedent for future composite radios,” NCTA said in a late November filing that other cable interests joined. NCTA's technical assertions are at odds with the FCC rule “governing the measurement of emissions by composite devices" and "inconsistent with the rule itself, with the Office of Engineering and Technology’s well-settled guidance regarding the proper application of the rule, and with current and longstanding wireless industry measurement practices,” Samsung said in a response posted Friday in docket 23-93. The proposed radio won't have “a practical impact” on CBRS operations “compared to the deployment of two standalone radios, and therefore, Samsung’s radio will not disrupt any CBRS operators’ reasonable reliance interests,” Samsung said. Ericsson, Qualcomm and Verizon joined Samsung on the filing.
CTIA and other industry players sought to keep pressure on the Biden administration to make more mid-band spectrum available for 5G and eventually 6G in comments on the implementation plan for the national spectrum strategy. Others stressed the importance of spectrum sharing. NTIA has not yet posted the comments, which were due Wednesday.