The outlook for both the lower and upper 12 GHz bands remain unclear, with the FCC and Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel providing little guidance in recent months on next steps in either band. The 5G for 12 GHz Coalition has been relatively quiet this year and there have been few filings in docket 20-443 exploring the lower band.
The chip needed for Gogo 5G passed “a critical design review and is now in fabrication,” with delivery anticipated midyear, Gogo said. “The critical design review was an important process and milestone before entering into the manufacturing cycle,” Mike Syverson, senior vice president-engineering, said in a Wednesday news release: “Given the challenges that our supplier experienced in 2022, we felt that passing this amount of review would give us the confidence necessary to deliver 5G in 2023.” Gogo Business Aviation’s 5G service is expected to launch commercially in Q4 and provide 25 Mbps of average throughput, with peak speeds in the 75-80 Mbps range, the company said. “It has been designed to deliver high throughput with very low latency to address the increasing demand for data-heavy interactive services like video conferencing, live TV and gaming,” Gogo said.
Indiana should hasten to join other states with privacy laws, said state legislators and the attorney general’s office at a hearing livestreamed Thursday. Two Democrats raised concerns that an opt-out privacy bill based on Virginia’s law might not go far enough, but the Senate Commerce and Technology Committee voted 11-0 to clear the comprehensive data protection bill. SB-5’s low bill number shows it’s a priority this legislative session, said Chair Chip Perfect (R).
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) appoints Doyle Webb, former state Republican Party chair, as Arkansas Public Service Commission chair, for term expiring Jan. 14, 2029; he replaces Katie Anderson, continuing as commissioner … National Religious Broadcasters names Michael Farris, from the Alliance Defending Freedom, general counsel … Twilio promotes Adam Jorde to head-government affairs, managing congressional relationships and leading congressional advocacy.
Barriers remain to wide-scale launch of open radio access networks, said NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson and other speakers at an NTIA listening session Tuesday as the agency seeks advice on a $1.5 billion federal fund to spur ORAN. The fund was part of the $54.2 billion Chips and Science Act signed into law in August (see 2208090062). NTIA is also taking written comments, due Friday in docket NTIA-2022-0003.
The addressable smartphone market for Iridium's Qualcomm Snapdragon Satellite partnership (see 2301050061) includes China, and Samsung, and Chinese Android original equipment manufacturers Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Lenovo are likely to adopt QSS in their premium brands, William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma wrote investors Wednesday. QSS partnerships could be announced at February's Mobile World Congress conference, he said. The Samsung Galaxy S23 likely won't have the new chip, but it should be ready for the S24, he said. Iridium's third constellation could cost less than the $3 billion spent on its 66-satellite NEXT constellation, with the spending for that likely being 2030-2037, he said.
Nathalie Marechal, ex-Ranking Digital Rights, joins Center for Democracy and Technology as co-director, Privacy & Data Project … DLA Piper names Ben MacWilliams, ex-SpaceX, a Seattle-based principal, Telecoms Practice … Bob Koppel departs Lukas LaFuria to establish Koppel Telecom Law … Morgan Lewis adds veteran litigator and corporate legal adviser David Howard, ex-Microsoft, as a partner, Technology Sector.
Completing NTIA’s work on more than $48 billion in connectivity spending through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will take years and require “a huge amount of work,” but it’s not the agency’s only focus, NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson told CES Saturday. Other speakers said wireless projects must be able to fully compete with fiber for the program to be most successful.
The Consumer Technology Association's president sharply criticized FTC merger policy during a Thursday keynote at CES. CTA also released a scorecard on the most innovative countries in the world. In one of the most prominent presentations at CES, John Deere executives described how the autonomous tractor will help feed the world as population continues to expand. The company introduced the fully autonomous tractor at CES a year ago.
CTA warned of potential rocky months ahead as CES got started in Las Vegas Wednesday. Supply chain issues are easing, but labor shortages remain, said Steve Koenig, CTA vice president-research, during his annual tech trends update before formal CES programming begins Thursday. CTA projects in a new report U.S. technology retail revenue of $485 billion in 2023, slightly above pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels but down from a record-breaking $512 billion in 2021.