The FCC is seeking comment on ANSI C63.26–2015, ‘‘American National Standard for Compliance Testing of Transmitters Used in Licensed Radio Services,’’ said a notice in Wednesday's Federal Register. The agency is seeking comment on incorporating the standard into FCC rules “by reference as part of an open rulemaking proceeding that addresses its equipment authorization (EA) rules and procedures,” the notice said. The standard was recently published and is already considered an ‘‘active standard,’’ the agency said. Comments are due May 5, replies May 16. “Take note: the periods are shorter here than in many Commission proceedings, so if you have something to say, you should be prepared to say it quickly,” Fletcher Heald said in a blog post.
T-Mobile representatives explained the carrier’s proposal for dividing the U.S. into eight regions for broadcaster repacking after the TV incentive auction (see 1603040052), in a meeting with officials from the FCC Incentive Auction Task Force. “T-Mobile’s proposed broadcast relocation schedule would steadily open access to low-band spectrum for both population and land area over a three-year period in an objective and balanced manner,” the carrier said in a filing posted Friday in docket 12-268. T-Mobile’s representatives described the company’s experience in frequency-relocation projects, including the AWS-3 relocation process, the filing said. “In the broadcasting context, T-Mobile explained how it has already assisted multiple full-power television stations since August 2014 in relocating from Channel 51 to lower-frequency spectrum. On average, these stations needed just 93 days to move from the start of the transition process when the FCC granted the station’s construction permit to the end of the process when the station filed a license to cover its new operations.” Repacking TV stations after the auction "will be the most complex transition the commission has ever overseen," an NAB spokesman said in response. "Rather than insisting on keeping the FCC’s current unsupported deadline in place, T-Mobile should support an efficient, rational and achievable repacking plan that protects the interests of both broadcasters and forward auction bidders.”
AT&T, CTIA and T-Mobile representatives met with FCC officials to urge the agency to build flexibility into proposed rules on the transition from text technology (TTY) to real-time text (RTT) technology. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler circulated an NPRM on the transition April 7 for a vote at the FCC’s April 28 open meeting (see 1604070067). “As deaf, hard of hearing, and speech-impaired consumers increasingly adopt innovative wireless services, including Text-to-911, CTIA supports the Commission affirming the wireless industry’s ability to transition beyond yesterday’s wireless TTY obligations and toward solutions like real-time text that will better meet the needs of today’s consumers,” the wireless industry officials said. But the FCC should “provide flexibility for wireless providers and equipment manufacturers to develop and implement the necessary network and handset standards and capabilities to support RTT,” they said. The wireless officials met with Diane Cornell, special counsel to Wheeler, and Karen Peltz Strauss, deputy chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, said a filing posted Friday in docket 15-178.
Google representatives supported CTIA’s request that the FCC reconsider out-of-band emissions limits for Citizens Band Radio Service devices, said a report on a meeting with Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology staff. Making sure LTE devices “are available for the 3.5 GHz band” and making the devices “more readily usable for CBRS will speed and lower the cost of CBRS deployments,” Google said. “Google’s propagation testing indicates the OOBE requirements can be relaxed as proposed by CTIA without material increased risk of harmful interference.” CTIA argued (see 1604140036) that addressing OOBE limits in the shared spectrum band, 20 MHz-wide channels and less-restrictive power levels are key to making it “economically viable” and will set the CBRS "on a better path towards meaningful investment, innovation, and deployment.” The filing was posted Thursday in docket 12-354.
The FCC’s 39-month timetable for the post-TV incentive auction transition is time enough, said Grundy Integration, RIO Steel & Tower and T-Mobile in a meeting at the FCC. The company representatives met with Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake, Gary Epstein, chairman of the Incentive Auction Task Force, and other FCC officials, said a filing in docket 14-252. “Representatives from the tower-climbing companies estimated that the average antenna installation project takes two to four weeks, though they emphasized that there is no typical installation,” the filing said. “A low-elevation, side-mounted, high-frequency antenna installation could be done in as few as five days. An extremely complex, high-elevation, top-mounted, low-frequency antenna installation could take six weeks or more, though the tower climbing experts characterized an installation of this complexity and length as "an outlier.” Both tower companies have the personnel to help complete the transition, they said. Equipment isn't an issue, they said. “RIO operates its own full turnkey tower fabrication facility,” the filing said. “This facility produces pole derricks called gin poles; complete tower structures, such as guyed towers up to 1,500 feet and self-support towers up to 450 feet; and the components necessary for tower modifications and strengthening. RIO can fabricate a gin pole in as little as two weeks once it has the design specifications.” T-Mobile, expected to be a major player in the 600 MHz auction, has said repeatedly that broadcasters should be able to complete the repacking within the 39 months mandated by the FCC and within the $1.75 billion budget established by Congress (see 1602180063). “Until we know how many stations will need to move and to what channels, it remains an exercise in futility to argue that the FCC set precisely the right deadline and that there should be no safety valve whatsoever for stations unable to transition in time,” an NAB spokesman said in response to T-Mobile.
Ericsson got FCC approval to expand its 5G testing, in cooperation with Verizon, at its main campus in Plano, Texas. Ericsson, which started 5G tests in 2014 under an experimental license, asked the FCC to expand the license to include the 27.5-28.5 GHz band and allow the repositioning of base stations. “The purpose of modifying our test environment is to develop and validate outdoor and indoor 5G use cases for industries and consumers,” Ericsson said in its application seeking the modification. “We will develop test cases for multiple industries and understand/validate how 5G can improve the use cases as compared to the current … systems.”
5G Americas members have a commercial interest in ensuring the security of their services and products as 5G services are deployed, said Chris Pearson, president of 5G Americas, in meetings with FCC officials. “5G standards are in the very early stages of development,” the group said in a filing in docket 14-177. “5G Americas agreed with the Commission that support for security must be a fundamental component in the design of any new network architecture and protocols developed for mobile wireless services in all generations of mobile broadband technologies including when using millimeter wave spectrum for 5G.” The group said security has been a design component in third and fourth generations of mobile broadband technologies. “5G Americas appreciates the Commission’s concern that as new wireless applications are used by vertical sectors such as smart grids, telemedicine, industrial control, public safety, and automotive, those sectors will have strict security requirements that are mission critical,” the group said. 5G Americas noted that because of these requirements, a number of standards development organizations and industry bodies are developing security features specific to each sector. Representatives of AT&T, Cisco, Intel, Qualcomm, Sprint and T-Mobile USA also participated in the meetings, the filing said. They met with staff from the Public Safety and Wireless bureaus and the Office of Engineering and Technology.
Progress is being made on a plan to test coexistence between Wi-Fi devices and LTE-unlicensed devices, Edgar Figueroa, president of the Wi-Fi Alliance, and Wi-Fi advocates told the FCC. The alliance reported on meetings with Edward Smith, aide to Chairman Tom Wheeler, and Ira Keltz, deputy chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology. “The Wi-Fi Alliance process is working, and Wi-Fi Alliance met its target of releasing an alpha version of the draft test plan on April 1, which reflected changes to account for recent requests made by LTE-U stakeholders as part of the process,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 15-105. The “Wi-Fi Alliance has been responsive to the requests of LTE-U interests," it added. "Validation of this alpha version of the test plan has already begun and LTE-U stakeholders are free today to perform test plan validation exercises.” Some makers of LTE-U devices may prefer to exercise the alpha test plan against their equipment internally first, the alliance said. “The process is moving forward rapidly with the goal of delivering a final coexistence test plan (which can then be used to test devices) during the summer of 2016.” Also attending the meetings were representatives of Comcast, Google, Microsoft and NCTA.
AT&T responded to T-Mobile comments Tuesday that AT&T and Verizon had to know Netflix was throttling its own transmissions to their subscribers (see 1604050053). An AT&T spokesman said T-Mobile CEO John Legere originally accused AT&T and Verizon of throttling the Netflix transmissions until it became clear Netflix was responsible. “We're not going to comment on this because we're still waiting for Legere's apology for falsely accusing our company two weeks ago,” the AT&T spokesman said. “Legere is obviously correct,” said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America. “There is no way that Verizon and AT&T didn’t notice that Netflix downloads on their mobile network was using a far smaller amount of bandwidth than Netflix downloads on their wireline network.” But Calabrese also said he was frustrated about complaints that Netflix doesn't fall under FCC net neutrality rules. “How Netflix wants to transmit its content, as one of millions of edge providers, is between Netflix and its subscribers,” he said. AT&T and Verizon had to know what Netflix was doing, said Harold Feld, senior vice president at Public Knowledge. “AT&T does seem to be reveling in its role as the offended innocent, falsely accused by T-Mobile of throttling Netflix when it was Netflix deliberately reducing the speed to AT&T's network to avoid giving AT&T subscribers unexpected overages,” Feld said. “I can see the allure. But I wouldn't overplay the role. As just about everyone agrees, this doesn't actually have anything to do with net neutrality.”
Google supports CTIA’s request that the FCC reconsider out-of-band emissions (OOBE) limits for Citizens Band Radio Service devices in the 3.5 GHz band, Google representatives said in a series of meetings at the FCC. Google met with Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai, and aides to the other commissioners, said a filing in docket 12-354. ”Google representatives noted current interest being shown in CBRS by wireless carriers, equipment manufacturers, and chip suppliers, as well as the productive role the Wireless Innovation Forum (WinnForum) is playing in developing consensus among a large and diverse group of CBRS stakeholders,” Google said. There are now 55 organizations developing 3.5 GHz band standards within the WinnForum’s Spectrum Sharing Committee, Google said. Google’s propagation testing shows OOBE requirements “can be relaxed as proposed by CTIA without material increased risk of harmful interference,” the company said. WinnForum members including Google also lobbied the FCC recently on CBRS (see 1604050019).