Members of the Mobile & Wireless Forum and CTIA General Counsel Tom Power said they met with an aide to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to recommend the FCC “update” its rules “to adopt the most current RF exposure standards.” The group also sought “clear guidance from the FCC Lab for 5G devices.” The current approval requirements “are based on a standard developed and adopted by the FCC in the 1990’s, prior to the development of 3G, 4G and 5G technology,” the groups said in a Sunday filing in docket 13-84. That standard is “not sufficient to address testing issues for the next generation of products, and there is a pressing need for adoption of an updated standard such as the pending 2018 IEEE C95.1 standard,” the filing said. Representatives of Cisco, Intel and Motorola Solutions were at the meeting with Pai aide Rachael Bender.
Officials from Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intel, Microsoft and Qualcomm discussed the 6 GHz band with aides to the five FCC commissioners. The companies said they addressed questions about a January study by RKF Engineering Solutions, which said the band can be shared with no downside (see 1801260043). “Further analysis reconfirms the RKF study’s conclusion: the band can support sharing without risking harmful interference to incumbents,” said a filing in docket 17-183 about last week's meeting.
CommScope and Ericsson said tests they ran show their equipment designed for the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service (CBRS) band is interoperable. The two said this was one of the first successful interoperability tests using the Wireless Innovation Forum’s release 1.2 specifications. Tests showed CommScope’s spectrum access system and Ericsson’s radio infrastructure with CBRS spectrum support can work together. “Ericsson offers a comprehensive portfolio of CBRS network solutions that will help operators of all sizes deploy in this spectrum quickly and successfully,” said Paul Challoner, Ericsson vice president-network product solutions. “Additional milestones need to be reached for CBRS to become a reality, but we are pleased to complete interoperability testing with CommScope as part of the developmental process.”
Nokia said the FCC shouldn’t be swayed by early criticisms of a draft NPRM that would prevent using money in any USF program to buy equipment or services from companies that “pose a national security threat” to U.S. communications networks or the communications supply chain. The NPRM is set for a vote at the April 17 commissioners’ meeting (see 1804090045). “There are parties that are promoting a narrative that the Commission is seeking to cast a wide net, to indiscriminately bar vendors that have a presence in, or manufacture in, certain geographies, such as China,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-89. “Essentially all” big technology and communications companies source some components in China, the Finnish equipment maker said. “Those who are against the Commission’s proposed action to secure our Nation’s infrastructure are using the fact that many companies share common countries of origin in their supply chains as a basis to suggest the draft order would therefore have sweeping effect and greatly limit equipment supplier options for carriers seeking USF support.” But the draft seems clear that’s not the case, Nokia said. “The Commission’s approach has less to do with country of origin as a basis of risk assessment and more to do with supplier trustworthiness.” The company said as rules are finalized, the agency should “make clear that identifying a company as a prohibited provider is an extraordinary act that the Commission expects would be used sparingly, and based on a review that takes into account the totality of the circumstances.” It said Monday that China Mobile had picked it to supply equipment for a regional optical transport network the Chinese carrier is building as part of its push toward 5G.
AT&T provided a broad update Tuesday on its 5G commercial trials. “It’s no coincidence that AT&T is aiming to be the first U.S. carrier to launch standards-based, mobile 5G services to customers this year,” said Melissa Arnoldi, president-technology and operations, in a blog post reporting the early results. “We’ve been ‘practicing’ for this moment for almost 2 years. And unlike some of our competitors, we plan to offer a 5G-capable device to customers this year, too. After all, what’s the use of a highway without an on-ramp?” In Waco, Texas, AT&T provided 5G service to a retail location more than 150 meters away from a cellsite, using high-frequency spectrum, and had wireless speeds of about “1.2 Gbps in a 400 MHz channel,” the carrier said. In Kalamazoo, Michigan, AT&T said, it studied the impacts on 5G millimeter-wave signal performance from rain, snow and other weather. The company “learned mmWave signals can penetrate materials such as significant foliage, glass and even walls better than initially anticipated,” the carrier said. It “observed more than 1 Gbps speeds under line of sight conditions up to 900 feet.” In South Bend, Indiana, the carrier said, it studied “a full end-to-end 5G network architecture, including the 5G radio system and core, demonstrating extremely low latency.”
The National Science Foundation said it designated its first two Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research -- in Salt Lake City and New York. “These platforms will power research motivated by real-world challenges on experimental, next generation wireless test beds at the scale of cities and communities,” the foundation said Monday. “The goal is to advance the state of the art for wireless technology beyond today's 4G, LTE and emerging 5G capabilities.” The development “will help the wireless industry test new and experimental technologies, processes and devices,” said Tom Sawanobori, CTIA chief technology officer.
The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology sought comment on Nominet UK’s request to be designated a TV white space database administrator under Part 15 of the FCC rules. Comments are due May 9, replies May 24 in docket 04-186. The company told the FCC it has extensive TV white spaces (TVWS) experience in the U.K., in its application. “We also played a central role in Europe's first commercial TVWS broadband rollout, which took place on the remote Isle of Arran off the coast of Scotland. Our TVWS database was the first to complete the UK’s regulator’s qualification process, and has since been used for academic research, for exhibits, and in live trial projects.”
Microsoft representatives encouraged the FCC to resolve various petitions for reconsideration on the TV white spaces (TVWS), in a meeting last week with Julius Knapp, chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology, and other OET officials. Microsoft also raised other white spaces issues, said a filing in docket 16-56: “Specifically, we discussed the need to maintain the WMTS [wireless medical telemetry service] exclusion zones in Channel 37 and to replace the push notification requirement with fast-polling channels. We also thanked OET for its approval of Microsoft’s amended experimental license for the use of TVWS on school buses in Michigan.” OET amended Microsoft’s license last week (see 1804020040).
The Wi-Fi Alliance urged the FCC to move quickly on opening the 6 GHz band for unlicensed use, in a meeting with Chief Julius Knapp and others from the Office of Engineering and Technology. “Limited availability of unlicensed mid-band spectrum undermines the potential of Wi-Fi technology to deliver ubiquitous broadband connectivity,” said a filing Thursday in docket 17-183. “The next generation of Wi-Fi, based on IEEE standard 802.11ax, is optimized to support high data throughput applications in wider channels (i.e., 80 megahertz and 160 megahertz), and therefore requires access to contiguous spectrum segments.” The alliance said the band is “ideally suited for rapid deployment of Wi-Fi technologies because it is adjacent to spectrum in the 5 GHz band that is designated for unlicensed use.”
Use of the TV white spaces is critical to deployment of broadband in rural areas, Connected Nation said in a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “By leveraging TV white spaces and other unlicensed technologies in rural areas, there is significant potential to reduce the cost of bridging the Digital Divide when compared to deploying fiber solutions alone,” the group said in docket 16-56. "That cost savings could mean that we can deliver the life-changing opportunities to rural Americans who for too long have lagged behind their city-dwelling counterparts. We believe that all potentially viable options should be on the table.”