The FCC would be ill-advised to impose any rules to shore up 5G security as it opens high-frequency bands for commercial use as part of its spectrum frontiers rulemaking, CTIA said in a filing Monday. The FCC has long supported industry leadership and working groups like the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council to address technical issues “affecting the entire global ecosystem,” the wireless association said. “CTIA urges the Commission to maintain an ongoing dialogue with the wireless industry on important and complex 5G security issues and encourage actions that can be taken in standards groups and by CSRIC,” CTIA said in the filing submitted to dockets including 14-177. Carriers are committed to ensuring that 5G is secure, the group said. Nokia is doing research on security for 5G networks and Ericsson has been working on 5G issues, CTIA said. Any move by the FCC while 5G is still nascent “would depart from that history and undermine ongoing global collaboration,” CTIA said. “Given the complex technical issues involved, FCC regulation also would be nearly impossible to execute and could have serious unintended consequences. The Commission should instead continue to rely on industry actions that can be taken in standards groups and by CSRIC to bring together the wireless ecosystem to continue work on emerging 5G architecture.”
Iridium told front office and other FCC International Bureau officials of interference concerns if the satellite company's "unique" low-earth, nongeostationary orbit network shares spectrum with what it called "ubiquitously deployed terrestrial services." Because of Iridium's Next network's uses, which include defense and public safety, "degradations in service caused by terrestrial interference could produce unusually catastrophic results," the company said in a filing Wednesday in docket 14-177. Satellite companies have been telling the commission of interference concerns as the agency's spectrum frontiers proceeding looks at using the 28 GHz band for sharing (see 1605130037), and Iridium said Next uses a higher non-adjacent frequency, in the 29 GHz band. Company representatives told International Bureau Chief Engineer Robert Nelson, Satellite Division Chief Jose Albuquerque and another bureau official that Iridium backs the FCC "determination that the bandwidth available in the 29.1-29.25 GHz band simply does not meet the requirements for terrestrial 5G networks." The agency should "continue to focus on more viable spectrum for flexible use services," Iridium said. Carrier interests including Verizon have said they back commission efforts to find a way for mobile and satellite to coexist in the 28 GHz band.
New America Wireless Future Project Director Michael Calabrese agrees with Well Fargo’s skepticism about likely bidding in the FCC incentive auction (see 1605180039). “The Wells Fargo analysis is not surprising, particularly with respect to the limited appetite of Verizon and AT&T for more expensive TV spectrum,” Calabrese emailed. “Together they already hold 80 percent of all low-band coverage spectrum. And one of them will gain access to public safety’s allocation. We expect the two largest carriers to focus their energies and investment dollars on the far less expensive, higher-frequency spectrum, at 3.5 GHz, 28 GHz and even higher up, which they can use in targeted urban areas to expand capacity, not coverage.” Calabrese is a member of the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee. Some others had doubted the analyst report.
The FCC needs to carve out an exception to Section 15.201 of its rules for unlicensed wireless microphones “in light of the unique applications of microphones compared to other types of devices for which the rule was created,” Sennheiser said in a filing at the FCC. The wireless mic maker reported on a meeting with officials from the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology. The FCC approved new rules for wireless mics last August tied to the TV incentive auction and 600 MHz band repacking (see 1508060050). “Sennheiser discussed possible scenarios for modifying existing equipment to ensure operations would meet the new rules, and the equipment certification implications, using the clearing target band plan as an example,” Sennheiser said. The company said professional productions require interference protection from white space devices. “A pathway for this needs to exist for legitimate performing arts companies that do not meet the 50 microphone threshold for licensed operation,” it said. Sennheiser also said it proposed alternate frequencies in the 169-172 MHz band that could be used for wireless mics. "With regard to the 1.4 GHz band, Sennheiser noted that the 30 MHz spectrum limit was unexpected and not needed." the company said. "Use is limited to specific licensees and circumstances, and the frequency coordinator is well-situated to determine whether the number of channels requested by [a] licensee is necessary and appropriate." The filing was posted Wednesday in docket 12-268.
Qualcomm representatives urged FCC flexibility on out-of-band emissions levels as the agency approves rules for high-frequency spectrum, said a filing in docket 14-177. Qualcomm officials said they spoke on the phone with officials from the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology and the Wireless Bureau. “Qualcomm encouraged the FCC to implement flexible technical rules to foster innovation and experimentation in order to enable successful mobile deployments in the millimeter wave bands,” the filing said.
Satellite operators raised “aggregate interference concerns” for fixed satellite service receivers from carrier operations in the 28 GHz band, in a meeting with FCC officials. Representatives of EchoStar, Inmarsat, Intelsat, O3b Limited, OneWeb, SES Americom and ViaSat participated, a filing in docket 14-177 said. The FCC is looking at the band for sharing as part of a spectrum frontiers rulemaking (see 1603090057). Satellite companies have assured FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler they won’t obstruct use of the band for 5G. But the satellite companies said aggregate equivalent isotropically radiated power (EIRP) density limits are critical. “We continue to work with Nokia as a representative of [5G] proponents,” the filing said. “In light of the Chairman’s announced intention to address this issue at the Commission’s open meeting in July, we will reach out to Nokia and other vendors in order to schedule meetings during the week of May 16, to better model the interference scenario and arrive at a more precise definition of aggregate EIRP density limits.” AT&T, Nokia, Samsung, T-Mobile and Verizon officials met with officials from the Wireless and International bureaus and the Office of Engineering and Technology to offer early Nokia test results, a second filing in the docket said.
NCTA, eager to use the 5.9 GHz band for Wi-Fi, met with Daudeline Meme, aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, to discuss a pending public notice to refresh the record in the proceeding. “We encouraged the Commission to seek comment on both sense-and-avoid and re-channelization sharing approaches, the appropriate sharing approaches for both crash-avoidance and other Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) applications, and whether policies and assumptions the Commission made regarding DSRC in 1999 remain valid seventeen years later,” NCTA said. The filing was posted in FCC docket 13-49. Chairman Tom Wheeler is expected to push forward on rules allowing shared use of the band before the end of his chairmanship (see 1604280043).
There's reason to be “cautiously optimistic” the 3.5 GHz shared spectrum band will be a bigger usage success for the FCC than the TV white spaces have been (see 1605110015), emailed Doug Brake, telecom policy analyst at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. “Making 150 MHz available where it is actually needed is huge,” Brake said. “There are a number of countries already using the band abroad, so we have some existing scale to work with. And there is healthy multistakeholder activity. But what deployment actually looks like is an open question. Given the short license terms, widespread investment from operators unfortunately seems out of the question -- the FCC is banking on there being enough momentum for other deployment scenarios. Carrier-neutral models are probably most intriguing, but a lot remains to be seen.” Brake said he's watching closely to see if there are any surprises in who files to be a spectrum access system administrator for the band.
Its tests of different GPS devices show manufacturers can build products that coexist with Ligado's LTE plans, Ligado said in a submission to be filed Wednesday in FCC docket 11-109. The filing was a final result of Ligado-commissioned testing of LTE/GPS compatibility, with the company echoing what it said early this year when it filed preliminary test results (see 1602250032): that consumer GPS devices won't be adversely affected by Ligado's LTE operations within power limits agreed to by GPS companies Deere, Garmin and Trimble (see 1602040015). Ligado also said the Roberson & Associates testing proves many industrial-use GPS device designs let them coexist with Ligado LTE, while others either won't be used near network facilities or can be cheaply retrofitted in advance. Ligado said the 12 consumer devices it tested kept baseline GPS position accuracy when in presence of Ligado operations and even with severely underpowered GPS signals only one showed any LTE interference. Tablet and smartphone testing showed no effects to their GPS operations, it said. The tests of industrial devices showed one manufacturer's devices were affected, though replacing the stock antenna with a filtered antenna solved the issue, Ligado said. The company also said another manufacturer's devices were affected by LTE operations in the 1526-1536 MHz band, but Federal Aviation Administration requirements likely will include power restrictions that would resolve that issue.
Consumers are the winners when carriers launch zero-rated data services, said CTIA President Meredith Baker Friday on Medium. Baker cited T-Mobile’s Binge On and Verizon’s FreeBee services, both of which the FCC is reviewing as possibly violating 2015 net neutrality rules (see 1601280056). “What all free data services have in common is simple: Consumers can save money and enjoy their wireless experience even more,” Baker wrote. “While wireless consumers are clear winners with free data services, Internet startups and small content companies benefit too. A recent Harris Poll survey found that 84 percent of consumers would consider using new apps and content that are included in these types of offerings.”