The FAA should endorse commercial networks as the preferred communications platform for small, low-altitude drones, CTIA said Monday in a white paper. “This begins with the FAA recommendation to use these networks as one of the viable technologies for remote tracking and identification of [drones] by law enforcement, and continues with FAA recognition of wireless networks as suitable to provide safe and reliable command and control functionality for small, low-altitude” unmanned aerial vehicles, the association said. It urged policymakers to work with industry “to create a unified national framework for FAA management of drone airspace” based on a risk-based regulatory framework. Policymakers should ensure carriers can build networks needed for drones “by freeing up more spectrum for licensed use, encouraging broadband infrastructure deployment, and promoting the testing of commercial wireless networks to support low-altitude UAV communications,” CTIA said. The group said more than 800,000 drones are U.S. registered. CTIA said it's convening leading players in the drone space, including Amazon, AT&T, Qualcomm and Verizon, for a meeting of its Drone/UAS Working Group on Tuesday.
AT&T, Verizon and tower company Tillman Infrastructure said Monday they agreed to build hundreds of cell towers, with the potential for “significantly more new site locations.” Tillman agreed to build the towers, which will be leased and co-anchored by AT&T and Verizon. “These new structures will add to the overall communications infrastructure in the US, and will fulfill the need for new locations where towers do not exist today,” said a joint news release. “They also will serve as opportunities for the carriers to relocate equipment from current towers.” Construction of the first tower is to start in early 2018.
The Illinois legislature propelled a small-cells bill to the governor’s desk after the Senate voted 41-7 Thursday to concur with House amendments to SB-1451. The House passed the bill 62-41 Tuesday (see 1711080033). Like legislation enacted in about a dozen other states but vetoed in California, the Illinois bill would seek to streamline 5G deployment by pre-empting local jurisdiction over wireless infrastructure siting. Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) has 60 days to decide whether to sign.
CTIA wants a 2018 auction of high-frequency bands, it said in meetings with aides to all FCC commissioners except Chairman Ajit Pai. Carrier officials said last week an auction is likely next year (see 1711030045). The FCC should make “significant blocks of spectrum available for licensed terrestrial mobile use to facilitate 5G mobile broadband networks and services,” said a filing in docket 14-177. “Given the urgency for action, CTIA urged the Commission to set a deadline of 2018 for moving forward with an auction of the bands made available in the 2016 Spectrum Frontiers Order and the Draft Second Order.”
An Illinois small-cells bill seemed poised for passage after the House voted 62-41 Tuesday for an amended SB-1451. The Senate must concur with House amendments and placed the bill on its Wednesday calendar. The Senate last passed the bill in May, 47-8. The bill would streamline 5G deployment by pre-empting local governments (see 1711070054).
Small-cells legislation passed the Illinois House Public Utilities Committee 16-3 Tuesday. Friday is the final action deadline for SB-1451, which would streamline 5G deployment by pre-empting local jurisdiction on wireless siting in the right of way (see 1710250027).
Real-world experience showed Verizon densifying its network often works better than just deploying more spectrum, said John Stratton, president-global operations, at a Wells Fargo conference Tuesday. Stratton cited operations in Chicago, where the company has relatively thin spectrum holdings. The carrier “massively densified” its network there, he said. The performance since has been “stunning,” he said. Verizon’s moves on densification are a natural prelude to 5G, he said. “Moving to a densification regime to increase capacity under LTE is a very natural sequential step towards supporting the architecture of the next-generation networks.” The company has plenty of spectrum in its portfolio, he said. Its network is “still best-in-class, among the best, if not the best, in the world,” but the carrier is using just over half its spectrum, Stratton said. Verizon is interested in the 3.5 GHz shared band when that becomes available, he said: “We haven't even begun to leverage the unlicensed spectrum that will come available at that band. We see that as an opportunity to augment capacity as we go.”
Starry Internet CEO Chet Kanojia told staff the FCC should reject any move to scuttle commercial-to-commercial sharing in the lower 37 GHz band as part of the broader spectrum frontiers proceeding, meeting with Wireless Bureau Chief Donald Stockdale, Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp and others. The lower 37 GHz band “represents only 4 percent of the aggregate amount of spectrum made available through the First Spectrum Frontiers” order, the company said in docket 14-177. “This de minimis amount of spectrum does not significantly alter any company’s decision in their investment in millimeter wave bands or significantly impact any auction.”
The Enterprise Wireless Alliance said it launched Cevo Go, a mobile app that allows wireless system suppliers and licensees to quickly secure certified frequencies from EWA. It's to “change the private land mobile industry’s culture surrounding the identification and recognition of certified frequencies,” said a news release. “The process need not be as complex and as arduous as many have grown to accept as the norm. The sooner certified frequencies can be put into play, the sooner spectrum monitoring may commence, and the sooner system design, equipment procurements, system installation and implementation may be finalized.”
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Tuesday he now expects the bill he and Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, have begun circulating on easing barriers to 5G and other broadband deployments will come up at the committee markup after the one expected to happen this month. Thune previously told us he had hoped to have the legislation ready for the committee's early November executive session, which could happen as soon as Nov. 8 (see 1710270058 and 1710300022). A draft we obtained includes language that would require state and local governments to sync their shot clocks for granting siting permits. The legislation also would direct the GAO to study broadband deployments on tribal lands. A committee spokesman said there isn't a set timeline for Thune and Schatz to formally file their bill. CTIA Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Kelly Cole praised the draft as “modernizing how wireless networks are deployed.”