Verizon picked Ericsson to provide networking equipment for its commercial 5G launch, Ericsson said in a Monday news release. Verizon plans to launch a pre-standard 5G commercial radio network and the 5G Core network in select markets in the second half of next year, the company said: “Verizon and Ericsson plan to work together to move the mobile ecosystem towards rapid commercialization of 5G.” Ericsson said the two did fixed-wireless 5G trials using millimeter wave spectrum in “multiple cities and residential neighborhoods with different geographies and housing densities.” The trials are “a critical step in Verizon’s plan to deploy a first-of-its-kind fixed wireless broadband network,” Ericsson said.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Cisco and Broadcom stressed in meetings at the FCC why the agency should move forward on key 6 GHz spectrum as part of its actions on mid-band spectrum. “We discussed the importance of the 6 GHz band to unlicensed broadband investment and innovation, as well as approaches to protect incumbent licensees from harmful interference,” said a filing in docket 17-183. The executives met with Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp and aides to the commissioners, except Brendan Carr. “A set of FCC rules requiring interference-protection mechanisms tailored to the environment in each 6 GHz sub-band will protect incumbents, and ... the Commission should reject calls to clear portions of the band of incumbents,” the filing said.
The National Association of Counties, National League of Cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors jointly raised concerns Thursday about a draft bill being circulated by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, that aims to ease barriers to 5G and other broadband deployments. The groups urged Senate Commerce members to “work with local governments and our national organizations as you continue to shape this legislation.” The groups were known to have concerns with language in the draft, released in October, that would seek to pre-empt state, local and tribal laws seen as barriers to deployments (see 1710310057 and 1711240024). The groups noted several provisions in letters to Thune and other Senate Commerce members, including language that would pre-empt “the authority of local governments to regulate the use of, and effectively manage public rights-of-way.” The bill would “unfairly and unreasonably reduce the time provided to local governments to respond to requests to build or alter wireless service facilities within our jurisdictions, as well as reduce revenue that local governments may charge for access to our property,” the groups said. “We are concerned with the draft’s new 'shot clock' time limits local governments have to process broadband infrastructure siting applications for telecommunications service providers.” That language would limit the timeline to 90 days. “Dig once” language in the draft shows Thune and Schatz “are headed in the right direction,” the localities said. Senate Commerce "understands the concerns and continues work to improve the draft," a spokesman said.
The V-band satellite market, while speculative, could have 2.6 million installed sites by 2030, generating more than $25.8 billion in cumulative annual revenue, Northern Sky Research said Wednesday. NSR said those looking at V-band opportunities should consider launching programs that would support multiple terabits per second, and more than 5 Tbps could be generated 2023-30, not counting such segments as mobility. It said V-band deployment challenges include landing rights in key countries, hardware development and rain fade. Satellite operators are seeking FCC approval for the constellations (see 1703020036).
LTE-unlicensed and its license assisted access cousin are likely to play an increasingly important role for carriers as they move toward 5G, IHS Markit reported Wednesday. “In the US, AT&T, T-Mobile US and Verizon have already jumped on the LTE‑U/LAA bandwagon; it’s an easy software upgrade to their small cells as long as devices are available,” the researcher said. “The world will follow with LAA rollouts in Asia (SK Telecom) and Europe (Vodafone).” The need carriers have for the new technologies is clear, the firm said: “The unabated need for capacity means that unlicensed spectrum must be harnessed to support LTE services, and later, 5G.”
Wireless ISP Association officials met with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and staff on 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service spectrum. WISPA hopes the FCC will stick with small, census tract-sized priority access licenses (PALs) in the band. If the FCC adopts larger license sizes, and lengthy license terms, as proposed in an October NPRM (see 1710240050), only “a few large mobile wireless carriers” would bid for PALs, WISPA said. “Modifying the PAL rules in the manner proposed … would only benefit the mobile-carrier use case to the detriment of all other use cases.” Federated Wireless also reported on a series of meetings at the FCC on the CBRS band and the importance of quick FCC action on certifying spectrum access system administrators and environmental sensing capability operators in the band and completing the NPRM. CEO Iyad Tarazi and others from the company met with Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel and aides to the other commissioners. “Federated alone has conducted 30+ technical trials, and has a number of important field trials underway with Charter, Verizon, American Tower, and ARRIS/Ruckus Wireless,” said a filing in docket 17-258. “Federated supports the goal of concluding the NPRM proceeding by the end of Q1 2018. Federated emphasized the importance of resolving remaining CBRS issues in a manner that preserves access to CBRS spectrum for as many users -- and use cases -- as possible.”
Comments are due Jan. 31 on Technological Advisory Council spectrum policy recommendations to the FCC in recent years, replies Feb. 15, the Office of Engineering and Technology said in a public notice in Monday's Daily Digest. Those recommendations from white papers include wider adoption of risk-informed interference assessment and statistical service rules and adoption of a variety of spectrum management principles.
An FCC Media Bureau decision Wednesday dismissing petitions of reconsideration against FM translator applications affirms the practice of rebroadcasting HD channels on such translators, blogged Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford the next day. “The common practice of rebroadcasting HD signals on FM translators has been blessed once again -- at least for now.” The bureau dismissed petitions from Triangle Access Broadcasting against a number of translators near Raleigh, North Carolina, the order said. Though Triangle argued translator owners Eastern Airwaves and Curtis Licensees needed to make a showing of technical need to rebroadcast HD channels coming from the same station over the translators, the Audio Division said no showing is necessary as long as the channels contain different content. The order says the decision is based on precedent, but uses the phrase “pending further Commission action on this matter,” and could indicate the FCC might in the future limit the use of translators to rebroadcast HD subchannels, Oxenford wrote. “We have no reason to believe that any change in policy is imminent, but thought that we should pass along this warning that the rules on this practice have never been set in stone.”
Verizon's 5G wireless residential broadband plans raised questions among analysts after top executives met them Wednesday, though there's some early optimism about a potentially sizeable market. The company isn't commenting. "Until they admit to the capex and opex costs associated with a serious deployment," New Street's Jonathan Chaplin wrote investors the night of the gathering, referring to capital and operating expenditures, "the market should be skeptical." The start (see 1711290045) of the 5G services in up to five markets next year and its forecast of a potential 30 million-household market left some attendees scratching their heads. "They left us with more questions than answers," Chaplin said. "Discussion on technology was thin. They seem to be making bold assumptions ... that seem very optimistic." To MoffettNathanson's Craig Moffett, "the way all this plays out is so murky as to be unforecastable." Many questions along the lines of whether the carrier targets more areas that are outside its wireline footprint and beyond its initial market of Sacramento, California, "are likely unanswerable," he wrote Thursday. The "meeting increased our conviction there is indeed a network plan -- which we believe has many more chapters," said Wells Fargo's Jennifer Fritzsche. Technical rollout in 5G trial markets appeared to exceed the telco's expectations, with 800 Mbps average when a site was 2,000 feet away, the analyst wrote in a note titled, "Yes, There Is A Plan! And It Is A Multi-Use Case (In Revenue & Costs)." Raymond James' Frank Louthan sees a potential "$5+ billion new high-margin revenue stream." Much fiber will be needed, analysts said. "Verizon will still need a lot more, which will be a combination of building themselves and leasing," Louthan wrote.
Comments are due Dec. 29, replies Jan. 16 on an application by Perry Johnson Laboratory Accreditation for recognition as a lab accreditation body with authority to accredit test laboratories that perform testing for radio, telecom and electromagnetic compliance requirements, the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology said in a public notice in Thursday's Daily Digest.