Verizon representatives spoke with FCC staff and commissioner aides about the carrier’s opposition to the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance’s proposal that effectively gives the FirstNet Authority control of the 4.9 GHz band (see [Ref:2405240048). PSSA proposes that FirstNet use the band “in the same manner as Band 14 is today, which means it would be fully available to AT&T to serve its commercial customers, subject to priority and preemption for its public safety customers,” a filing posted Wednesday in docket 07-100 said: “PSSA would take the 4.9 GHz band out of the hands of local public safety entities and give it to FirstNet, and in turn AT&T.” The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) also opposed giving FirstNet control of the spectrum. In meetings at the FCC, the MTA discussed how it uses the 4.9 GHz band for its Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) modernization project: “MTA described its significant investments in the 4.9 GHz band for the New York City subway system and how its CBTC project will promote intensive use of the band using next-generation 5G technology.”
The FCC Wednesday notified certified spectrum access system administrators in the citizens broadband service band that they are now permitted to implement changes to the existing aggregate interference model used to protect federal operations in the band. Among the changes, SAS administrators may now assume an 80% time division duplex activity factor and 20% network loading factor for each CBRS device in the aggregate interference calculation, said a notice from the Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology. Administrators may use median irregular terrain model terrain dependent propagation loss “using reliability and confidence factors of 0.5 -- to calculate the aggregate received power levels” within a protection area. The FCC urged administrators to submit a demonstration of their ability to implement the new testing parameters in docket 15-319. NTIA approved the changes in a letter to the FCC posted Wednesday. “The changes outlined … will expand Internet access to more people across the country,” said NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson: “They could not have been implemented without the collaboration of the Navy and our ongoing coordination with the FCC.” The change will expand use of the band to tens of millions of Americans, said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “The CBRS dynamic spectrum sharing framework is already fertile ground for wireless innovation, and through collaboration with [DOD], NTIA, and stakeholders, we are expanding opportunities for reliable spectrum access while also ensuring that federal incumbents remain protected,” she said. The changes authorize service to approximately 72 million more POPs and expand the total unencumbered CBRS area to roughly 240 million POPs nationwide, the agencies said. CBRS is a prime example of how industry and government can coordinate on spectrum, Ira Keltz, deputy chief of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology said Wednesday at the International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies (ISART) conference in Denver. When CBRS started, the initial exclusion zones were “huge” and would have excluded 75% of POPs, he said. NTIA, working with engineers, was able to reduce the size of the zones so that CBRS made more sense, industry was willing to invest, and the Navy felt comfortable that its radars would be protected, Keltz said. “It just really comes down to people being open-minded,” he said. Derek Khlopin, NTIA deputy associate administrator, noted the work to make CBRS work better. “These improvements we’ve made have been phenomenal,” he said, also at the ISART conference. He credited the Navy for its willingness to work with the NTIA and the FCC. “With little ‘greenfield’ spectrum available yet ever-increasing demand for spectrum-driven utilizations, sharing allows more efficient use of limited spectrum resources,” emailed Richard Bernhardt, vice president-spectrum and industry at the Wireless ISP Association: The development “will provide more predictability and allow for approximately 72 million additional people to be covered by CBRS without having to move or change power due to Federal operations.”
A coalition of industry groups asked the FCC to modify its process for assigning costs to broadband serviceable locations (BSL) as part of the adjustment process for the enhanced alternative connect America cost model (E-ACAM) program. In a letter Wednesday in docket 10-90, the ACAM Broadband Coalition, NTCA, USTelecom and WTA asked the commission to use the "model-provided cost of a nearby BSL in the E-ACAM company’s study area to assign a cost to an uncosted BSL." The groups said the proposed adjustment "provides an equitable, simple to administer means to address" BSLs in the latest version of the broadband serviceable location fabric compared with the version used in the first ACAM program.
Education in 2024 “bears very little resemblance to education in previous decades,” and advances in technology have “transformed the pattern of classwork and homework,” said the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition in a 5th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court amicus brief Tuesday (docket 23-60641). The brief backs the FCC’s Oct. 25 declaratory ruling authorizing E-rate funding for Wi-Fi on school buses (see 2312200040).
Aides to Senate Commerce Committee supporters of the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207) say revisions that the Commerce Department and military leaders endorsed Tuesday night will sway enough Republicans to ease the bill's path forward in the chamber. Senators told us much will depend on the language in a new substitute version of S-4207 that was still under development Wednesday afternoon. The bill would restore the FCC’s spectrum auction authority for five years, allocate $7 billion to the expired affordable connectivity program during FY 2024 and fully pay for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program.
The FCC and NTIA are working together as well as Ira Keltz has seen in his 30 years of government service, but the deputy chief of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology said finding consensus on spectrum issues remains difficult. Keltz spoke Wednesday at the International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies (ISART) conference in Denver. Echoing Keltz was Derek Khlopin, NTIA deputy associate administrator in the Office of Spectrum Management.
The FCC must recognize that public TV stations are separate and distinct from commercial stations, and the proposed definitions of locally originated content in the agency's local content application processing prioritization proceeding should reflect that, America's Public TV Stations said in a docket 24-14 filing Tuesday. Recapping a meeting with Commissioner Brendan Carr's office, APTS warned that the definitions in the NPRM don't align with the local programming of public TV stations. It said those definitions could have implications in future rulemakings for what's considered local broadcast programming.
The FCC Wireless Bureau on Tuesday approved revised performance plans by Bristol Bay Cellular Partnership (BBCP), TelAlaska Cellular and Windy City Cellular under the Alaska Plan. BBCP’s revised plan commits to providing a minimum of 10/2 Mbps service to 5,454 Alaskans and offering 1,277 customers with 25/15 Mbps 4G LTE, said a bureau public notice. TelAlaska committed to upgrade many of its 2G and 3G areas to 4G, the order added. In Nome, “it commits to upgrade to 4G LTE at a minimum of 10/1 Mbps.” Windy City’s revised plan upgrades customers on Adak Island from 2G to 4G, the bureau said.
The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Tuesday sought comment on using geofencing in the 5.9 GHz band, which would allow higher power limits while protecting federal radiolocation service sites. Comments are due July 5 in docket 19-138. NTIA recently suggested that geofencing could allow higher equivalent isotropically radiated power limits for cellular vehicle-to-everything on-board units (see 2406100032). OET noted that filing and asked for comments on NTIA's proposal.
Boston became the latest opponent of the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance’s (PSSA) proposal that effectively gives the FirstNet Authority control of the 4.9 GHz band (see [Ref:2405240048). Local control of the band “is crucial for future preparedness and providing network resiliency to first responders,” said a filing at the FCC posted Tuesday in docket 07-100: “One of the most valuable aspects of the 4.9 GHz band is the flexibility it affords public-safety communications at the local level. Many local and regional authorities, including those in the Greater Boston area, currently operate point-to-point communications on the 4.9 GHz band during natural disasters, recovery efforts, and other emergencies.”