Verizon got FCC permission to run tests using the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band in Manhattan, Brooklyn and other locations in New York. “Field tests will be conducted in a production network, in a highly controlled field environment, in order to assist in the development of commercial products,” Verizon said. “The testing will benefit the public interest by enabling the pre-commercial testing of new products outside of a lab environment but in a controlled and managed manner.” Verizon said it wants to look at radio propagation characteristics of 3.5 GHz for outdoor installations, end-to-end CBRS architecture and of inter-band carrier aggregation between 3.5 GHz and licensed bands.
The FCC should tell Congress that it, the Navy and NTIA are “falling short of the expectations that were widely held” on the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band when the Spectrum Pipeline Act became law Nov. 2, 2015, public interest groups told the FCC on two reports to Congress (see 1808100033), posted in docket 17-258 Wednesday. “Congress had every reason to believe” the band would be brought online quickly, the groups commented. “The sad fact is that in the waning months of 2018 there is far less to report back to Congress about the ‘results’ of the landmark CBRS framework than there reasonably should be.” The groups sought a quick FCC decision on sharing the 6 GHz band with unlicensed. “Adjacent to current Wi-Fi operations,” the band is “uniquely positioned to help build capacity for Wi-Fi networks as unlicensed, and Wi-Fi in particular, increases in importance as the connectivity of choice for mobile devices and local area networks.” The Open Technology Institute at New America, American Library Association, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, National Hispanic Media Coalition and Public Knowledge were among signers. These frequencies are "a unique opportunity to significantly expand the nation’s unlicensed spectrum inventory by more than 1 Gigahertz,” said Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intel, Microsoft, Qualcomm and several others. “Opening this band is essential to addressing a growing unlicensed spectrum shortfall.” The Wi-Fi Alliance stressed the importance of the swath. “While new Wi-Fi devices are being introduced in the 5 GHz band, which is available for unlicensed operations, more mid-band spectrum is needed to meet the growing demand for data throughput capabilities offered by the next generation Wi-Fi,” the alliance said. “This spectrum shortfall has yet to be addressed.” The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council said it's “premature” to report on success or failure of the 3.5 GHz band. “Significant operation of CBRS devices is yet to occur,” NPSTC said. The Dynamic Spectrum Alliance said for CBRS to be a success, at least some priority access licenses (PALs) must be available in small geographic sizes. “Failure to do so would undermine CBRS’s promise as an innovation band, strand millions of dollars of investment already made in CBRS, and ‘rig the system’ in such a way that only those business models that prefer large license areas could acquire PALs,” the alliance said. Making the 6 GHz band available for unlicensed is also key since Wi-Fi carries more data than any other wireless technology, the alliance said.
Dish Network-designated entities Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless are asking an appellate court to hold in abeyance their appeal seeking a review of the FCC's July order (see 1807130003) reaffirming FCC Wireless Bureau procedures for the DEs to comply with the court's 2017 remand. In a consent motion (in Pacer, docket 18-1209) for abeyance filed Thursday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the two said the FCC is "proceeding with additional actions" that could give rise to more proceedings before the court related to the issues of the case and a consolidated case. They asked the cases be held in abeyance until those issues can be consolidated with the pending cases. The D.C. Circuit last year upheld FCC denial of AWS-3 auction bidding credits to the DEs but gave them a chance to negotiate a solution to Dish's de facto control (see 1708290012).
The Citizens Broadband Radio Service Alliance met with FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and staff from the Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology, with a CBRS update. “We detailed the Alliance’s continued membership growth, the launch of our OnGo brand and certification program, the formation of our new Deployment & Operations Working Group, the growth in our Authorized Test Labs (ATLs), the number of [devices] that have been submitted for certification, and our upcoming Interoperability Event,” the alliance said Wednesday in docket 15-319. Nine ATLs have been approved and 12 devices submitted for OnGo certification, the alliance said.
The American Trucking Associations said the FCC should preserve the 5.9 GHz band for dedicated short-range communications. ATA weighed in on one of the unresolved spectrum fights at the FCC -- whether to allow other use of the band including sharing with Wi-Fi (see 1804260040). “Much work has been done by federal government, state governments, research institutions, technical standards organizations, technology companies and automakers to develop DSRC based [vehicle-to-vehicle] protocols and applications for passenger vehicles,” the group said in docket 13-49. “ATA is supportive of V2V technology and the significant safety benefits it is expected to provide.”
A group of tech companies and SiriusXM are butting heads over a technical study on coexistence in the 6 GHz band. Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intel, Marvell Technology, Microsoft and Qualcomm in docket 17-183 Friday said Sirius criticisms of the RKF Engineering study actually confirm the study in some parts and don't provide reasonable alternatives to the assumptions in others. Apple and the others said the RKF study -- looking at the 5925-6425 MHz band -- includes 12 times as many terrestrial links as the band, including Sirius feeder links, so that company confirms its uplink operations are even less vulnerable to terrestrial noise than the one with the representative system characteristics RKF analyzed. The tech companies dismissed Sirius claims the 6 GHz band will be used more heavily than the 5 GHz and 2.4 radio local area network, saying the satellite-radio provider doesn't understand how radio resource management algorithms of managed and unmanaged RLAN deployments work. Sirius outside counsel didn't comment Friday. The company has said satellite digital audio radio service in some parts of the country is subject to downlink frequency band interference, leaving it with no margin for tolerating additional interference, and big RLAN device deployments expected over the next seven years would just worsen the problem.
Sennheiser is asking the FCC to start allowing low-power auxiliary stations, including wireless mics, to use more bandwidth in the TV bands and 600 MHz duplex gap when they employ new technology. In a petition posted Friday, Sennheiser said existing wireless mic technology lets engineers use at most 12 such devices in a 6 MHz channel, but it and other manufacturers are developing wireless multichannel audio systems (WMAS) that combine the signals from multiple devices into a 6 MHz channel instead of giving each its own separate frequency segment. It said spreading each connected device across the full channel width, WMAS allows denser use of the channel by ending the problem of multiple receivers picking up adjacent frequencies. The company asked for amendment of a Section 74.861(e)(5) rule on low-power auxiliary stations so it defines WMAS and allows WMAS system use of 6 MHz of bandwidth when providing the same or better spectrum efficiency as conventional single-channel systems.
The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology sought comment on the 45-day public trial of the Nominet UK TV white space database system. The trial ended July 26, OET said Wednesday in docket 04-186. “This database system is designed and intended to support the operation of low power unlicensed transmitting devices on unoccupied spectrum within the broadcast television bands, the 600 MHz service band, the 600 MHz duplex gap, and in channel 37.” Comments are due Aug. 16, replies Aug. 23.
Using the shared 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band moved another step closer Monday, as the CBRS Alliance announced selection of the first eight labs to test equipment that will be used in the “OnGo” band. Gear must be able to “interoperate with other ecosystem components” and communicate with a spectrum access systems that will control the band as well as “operate within the provided operating parameters for LTE systems with in the 3.5 GHz band,” the alliance said: More labs are likely to be certified this year. The first eight include: Dekra, Nokia Global Product Compliance Laboratory, Sporton International, TUV Sud and Nemko San Diego. This all "further indicates the explosive growth of this technology,” said Alan Ewing, alliance executive director. "The OnGo Certification program ensures that FCC regulations for operating in shared spectrum are met -- expediting formal FCC certification -- and allows manufacturers to conduct the initial phase of functional testing,” the group said.
As the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band enters the test phase, the FCC Friday sought proposals for short-term, limited geographic deployment by conditionally approved spectrum access system (SAS) administrators. The Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology must assess and test each SAS before final certification, said the notice in docket 15-319. “This is intended to ensure that, through robust, rapid testing in a variety of real-world scenarios, the SAS is operating in compliance with Commission rules.” The real-world tests “will complement the testing done in a controlled laboratory setting by providing a real-world environment to assess certain aspects of compliance with the Commission’s rules that cannot be effectively verified under laboratory testing,” the FCC said. Tweeted Commissioner Mike O’Rielly (see 1807250055): “As I hinted was coming at @HouseCommerce hearing, @FCC announces today another step to making 3.5 GHz band operational for licensed & unlicensed use. I look forward to early commercial SAS markets, hopefully later this year.”