Ten governors, Democrats and Republicans, signed a letter to Chairman Ajit Pai urging the FCC to set aside at least three channels in every market as white space channels for unlicensed use. Then-Chairman Tom Wheeler circulated an NPRM in June 2015 on reserving TV spectrum for Wi-Fi (see 1506160043) and Microsoft has been urging action (see 1707050048). The letter says 34 million Americans don’t have access to high-speed broadband. “If approved, companies from across the private sector will be able to invest and deploy innovative white space technologies,” the governors said. “Concerns from all parties can be addressed in a way that allows this game-changing initiative to positively impact the lives of countless Americans.” Meanwhile, Microsoft President Brad Smith told Commissioner Brendan Carr of the company's initiative. A lawyer for the company also reported representatives met with aides to Pai and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. The executives told Office of Engineering and Technology staff they want the agency to "consider clarifying the application of its transmitter height restriction rules as they relate to fixed White Spaces radios operating indoors in buildings."
The FCC should leave rules for priority access licenses (PAL) in the 3.5 GHz shared band largely unchanged, said Kalpak Gude, president of the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance (DSA), in a meeting with Rachael Bender, aide to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. Google said similar. “To the degree that the Commission sees the need to modify the term length for PAL licenses, DSA would support changes that were tied to economic recovery of investment,” Gude said in a filing in docket 17-183. “Claims that periods longer than that are necessary for investment are generally unpersuasive. Business investment decisions are made on the basis of recovery of investment.” Google officials told Wireless Bureau Chief Donald Stockdale and others the agency shouldn't make major changes. The rules are “attracting significant, diverse investment,” Google said. The company noted the commission has authorized more than 200 experiments since a 2015 order setting up the rules for the band. “Traditional and non-traditional use cases are being deployed,” Google said.
The Rhode Island General Assembly passed small-cells legislation to promote 5G infrastructure by pre-empting local government authority over wireless siting. It's the 14th state to pass such legislation. The bill seemed to fade in late June, but Tuesday the House voted 65-4 for an amended H-5224 and the Senate voted 30-2 that night to concur. The legislation needs the signature of Gov. Gina Raimondo (D), whose office didn’t comment Wednesday. A California small-cells bill, passed last week, also awaits gubernatorial OK (see 1709150030). California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) is unpredictable, said local government attorney Gail Karish on a Best Best webinar Wednesday. Brown understands the wireless siting issue well, but his position on SB-649 is unknown, she said. Based on the vote counts at the legislature, there might not be enough votes to overcome a veto, Karish said.
The FCC should leave the rules for the 3.5 GHz band largely as they are, said Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld in a meeting with Julius Knapp, chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology. The FCC is expected to rewrite rules for the shared band, especially provisions on the licensed segment (see 1708010058). “The record contains diverse and overwhelming opposition to proposals to change the Priority Access License rules as proposed by T-Mobile and CTIA,” Feld said, according to a filing in docket 12-354. “Billions of dollars in capital are ready to be invested in the 3.5 GHz band under the current rules.” Feld also said the FCC should “quickly finalize its sharing rules” for the 37 GHz band and allocate three 6 MHz TV channels in every market for unlicensed use.
More than 21,000 people from 110 countries and territories attended the 2017 Mobile World Congress Americas, which ended Thursday, GSMA announced. There were more than 2,400 CEOs and 20 percent of attendees were women, GSMA said. A few attendees told us numbers seemed low and security was tight.
AT&T got the go-ahead from the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology to do tests using 2.5 GHz spectrum. “AT&T plans to test experimental integrated radio and adaptive antenna systems to evaluate the performance of short distance microwave radio digital communications systems,” it told the FCC. "Testing will assess various performance characteristics of each system in a real world rural/suburban outdoor environment, such as data throughput, latency, error rates, and availability.”
The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology gave Charter Communications approval of an experimental license for propagation and coverage characteristic testing in the 3650-3700 MHz band. The company's application said the testing will help in potential deployment of fixed wireless services, and the tests will be done around nine fixed locations in Florida.
The California Assembly passed small-cells legislation that seeks to promote 5G deployment by pre-empting local authority on wireless siting. It voted 46-16 Wednesday to send SB-649 to the Senate for a final up-or-down concurrence vote. Senators started voting Thursday afternoon, with 17 for and 3 against, but not enough senators were on the floor to finish, said a spokeswoman for bill author Sen. Ben Hueso (D). Friday is the last day for California bills to pass this legislative session (see 1709060053). State small-cells bills elicited much discourse at the NATOA conference this week (see 1709130024 and 1709120001).
NAB launched a consumer education website about TV channel changes connected with the post-incentive auction repacking process, said a news release Wednesday. “The website is part of a consumer education campaign to keep viewers apprised of channel changes during the repack’s 39-month timeline.” The site has sections explaining the repack, links to FCC explainers, lets users know when they will have to rescan their TV tuners, and lets them sign up for mobile alerts to do so. “NAB is devoted to working with Congress, the FCC, the wireless industry and third-party groups to keep the public informed throughout this enormously challenging undertaking,” said President Gordon Smith. NAB will release “tools" for local stations in coming weeks, including “talking points, sample scripts and crawls and even automated phone messaging,” the group said.
American Enterprise Institute Visiting Scholar Shane Tews said local governments have a role to play in furthering 5G deployment. The FCC is looking at speeding up deployment of wireless infrastructure, with action likely this fall (see 1705230057). “Potentially the most important catalyst for the implementation of 5G will be the cooperation of local governments for the approval of equipment placement on utility poles and streetlights,” Tews blogged Monday. “Those who restrict access to 5G deployment through excessive municipal fees and arduous permitting processes will be blocking the opportunity to improve their local information infrastructure.”