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.”
The launch of service in the 3.5 GHz shared band could take several more years, even though the FCC recently wrapped up final rules for the band (see 1604280062), said Laura Stefani, wireless and technology lawyer at Fletcher Heald, Friday in a blog post. The FCC approved the initial 3.5 GHz NPRM in 2012 (see 1212130044), putting in place an experimental three-tiered access and sharing model made up of federal and nonfederal incumbents, priority access licenses (PALs) and general authorized access (GAA) users. Sharing is to be coordinated by spectrum access system administrators. “So when can you expect to fire up your shiny new 3.5 GHz equipment?” Stefani wrote. “Probably not for another few years, unfortunately. Though testing of equipment is being done by the likes of" Ericsson and Qualcomm, "the FCC still must approve at least one SAS database administrator as well as the Environmental Sensing Capability (ESC) system that will be used to provide information to the SAS to protect federal radar incumbents," wrote Stefani. "The Commission will need to auction the PALs, although GAA license-by-rule use may occur before then.”
States should adopt rules of the road for wireless pole attachments that speed deployment of small cells and distributed antenna systems (DAS), CTIA said in a report released Wednesday. Congress and the FCC have required that utilities give wireless providers nondiscriminatory access to poles, “but state rules on utility pole attachments remain a complex checkerboard of different requirements,” CTIA said. The association advises states to put in place: nondiscriminatory access, mandatory timelines, just and reasonable rates and an effective complaint process. “We all want more wireless deployments, better wireless service and coverage, and all the benefits of 5G service, smart cities, and the connected life,” CTIA said. “A crucial step states should take to unlock those benefits for consumers is to establish pole attachment and siting rules that ensure fair and reasonable access to utility poles.” Carriers are deploying hundreds of thousands of small cells, the report said. AT&T and Verizon alone plan to deploy 100,000 small cells in 2016 and Sprint plans tens of thousands of small cells in the near future, CTIA said. “Deployment of 100,000 small cells in only one year represents approximately one third of the total number of traditional cell cites deployed over the previous two decades.” CTIA estimated the U.S. wireless industry will deploy 16 million DAS nodes by 2018. An estimated 120 million utility poles were in use in the U.S. as of 2005, CTIA said. “Utility poles allow denser deployments with lower elevation installations that are optimal for DAS and small cells covering high demand, localized areas where macrocells cannot efficiently operate.”
Citi Research said the 126 megahertz clearing target for the TV incentive auction (see 1604290048) is higher than it had predicted. “More spectrum is available for sale than we previously expected, perhaps creating an opportunity for carriers to aggregate more spectrum or pay a lower price than we had estimated,” Citi wrote investors. “This is especially positive for Buy-rated T-Mobile.” Other stock analysts made similar comments late last week and so far this week. The high clearing target means the 600 MHz band will likely emerge as a very valuable band for the wireless industry, emailed Jim Patterson of Patterson Advisory Group. “More spectrum, combined with 5G and other network developments, should be enough to tip the scales in favor of new bidders or challengers looking for nationwide differentiation,” Patterson said. “The implications of this are very positive for bidders such as Comcast, T-Mobile, America Movil and NTT DoCoMo. It could place competitive pressures on Sprint, who has not selected to bid, as equipment and device manufacturers choose to move their development efforts to 600 MHz use cases.”
Google representatives explained a March report by the company that said the FCC can set aside one or more channels in every market for unlicensed use without causing harm to broadcasters (see 1603250019). A filing on Google's series of meetings at the FCC was posted Friday in docket 15-146. The report said only 0.01 percent of low-power TV stations and 0.51 percent of translator stations may have to make adjustments, such as channel sharing, to continue to reach their viewers. Google’s simulation “provides the only substantial data in the record that predict the effect of the proposed vacant channel rule on [low-power] TV and transistor stations,” Google said in the filing. NAB had called the Google report “uninformed, careless and misleading” (see 1603310059). The Google representatives said they discussed Google’s simulation results with Gary Epstein, chairman of the Incentive Auction Task Force; Bill Lake, chief of the Media Bureau; and officials from the Office of General Counsel and Office of Engineering and Technology.
The Wi-Fi Alliance and “dozens of industry players made significant progress” toward a test regimen on fair coexistence between Wi-Fi and LTE-unlicensed devices at a coexistence workshop Tuesday, the alliance said. “Since Wi-Fi Alliance released the Alpha version of its draft test plan earlier this month, an industry-wide effort has been underway to validate the draft procedures for feasibility, correctness, and repeatability, and to further refine testing criteria,” the alliance said Wednesday in a statement. “Firm conclusions about device coexistence cannot be drawn until this validation phase is complete and the test plan is finalized.” Attendees of the workshop agreed to a deadline for submission of data to support a decision on neighbor awareness test criteria before the next workshop in June, the alliance said. “Attendees explored other ways to ensure the timely completion of test plan validation and accelerate work wherever possible. The importance of community contributions was a common theme, and Wi-Fi Alliance identified specific work items where contributions are necessary to maintain expected progress.”
The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology approved special temporary authority for Samsung Electronics America to test 5G technology in the 28 GHz band at various locations. Samsung’s goal is to “demonstrate 5G systems to various customers,” the company said in an application posted by the FCC. “We will be operating at low power and within a very limited area of operation.” Among the locations are Plano, Texas, where Verizon is doing tests; Bellevue, Washington, where T-Mobile is headquartered; and in New York.
High-band spectrum will be “an important complement to low- and mid-band spectrum” and will enable the IoT and 5G technologies, said CTIA and member companies in a series of meetings with staff for FCC commissioners. CTIA urged the agency to move forward on licensing and technical rules for the 28, 37, 39 and 64-71 GHz bands this summer, said a filing on the meeting. “That will provide the certainty needed to encourage investment and foster innovation in these bands,” the group said. “CTIA also urged the Commission to explore additional high-band spectrum for mobile wireless use.” CTIA and major carrier and equipment maker members met with staff for the commissioners, except Ajit Pai, said a filing in docket 14-177.
The FCC needs to move as quickly as possible to repack the broadcast band after the TV incentive auction, T-Mobile officials said in meetings at the FCC. The meetings, with Wireless Bureau Chief Jon Wilkins, Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp and others, also involved T-Mobile’s broader regulatory agenda, said the carrier in a filing in docket 14-28. “We discussed the importance of LTE-U, T-Mobile’s plans for testing the technology and the need for the Commission to ensure that testing and authorization of equipment is not unnecessarily delayed. We discussed T-Mobile’s interest in, and activities in support of, 5G technology and the need for the Commission to move forward with making spectrum available in the millimeter wave bands.”
Officials from FirstNet’s technical HQ team were at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February and saw a lot of technology with implications for FirstNet’s future network, said a Wednesday blog post by the authority’s devices group. FirstNet officials saw advances in smartphones and 5G technology, wearables and drones that can be used for communications, the group said. “As commercial wireless technology transitions to public safety use, there are areas that are customized to support the public safety operational procedures and working environments,” the group said. “Examples of these areas include ruggedization of devices for operation in hazardous environments, modification of user interfaces to match the public safety usage requirements, and enhanced security capabilities to allow connection to limited access databases.” In general, advances in technology occur first on commercial networks, the blog post said. “Monitoring the advancements in the area of commercial products provides some advance notice of what may be coming in the future to public safety platforms,” the group said. “In some cases, there may be a need to accelerate the transition of commercial focused technology for the benefit of public safety users.”