The FCC should act quickly to reallocate the four high-frequency spectrum blocks the agency identified for mobile broadband in an October NPRM (see 1510220057), said representatives of the Information Technology Industry Council and members Ericsson and Intel in a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. ”We reiterated the need for quick action on the four bands identified in the NPRM, and particularly the 28 GHz band,” said a Monday filing on the meeting in docket 14-177. “Expedient action will ensue U.S. leadership in the millimeter wave bands.”
Broadcom officials explained their support for a proposal to allocate the upper 30 MHz of the U-NII-4 band (5895-5925 MHz) exclusively for dedicated short range communications, while allowing unlicensed to share the rest of the band, in meetings with FCC officials. Broadcom met with aides to the FCC commissioners and with Julius Knapp, chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology, said a filing in docket 13-49. In a second filing posted Tuesday, Broadcom said it also met with FCC officials about high-frequency spectrum, particularly a proposal to allocate the 64-71 GHz band for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed use. Broadcom said it met with aides to all the commissioners except Mignon Clyburn.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C Circuit ordered the FCC to respond by Tuesday to broadcaster Mako Communications' emergency request for a stay of the TV incentive auction, in a Friday order. Mako’s request for stay was filed March 10. Court decisions on similar stays requested by Latina Broadcasters and Class A station Videohouse are expected this week, several broadcast attorneys told us. The D.C. Circuit's order for a fast FCC response could be seen as a sign it's sympathetic to the low-power TV position, said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Harry Cole in an email.
The repacking process after the TV incentive auction will be complicated, require “significant resources” and should be the subject of a detailed plan by the FCC, AT&T warned in a letter to the FCC Monday. Joan Marsh, vice president-federal regulatory, said in the letter AT&T isn't commenting on how long the process should or might take. “Execution of large scale projects with complicated requirements like those contemplated by a robust broadcaster repacking plan contain inherent challenges and risks,” Marsh wrote. “We’ve seen this play out time and again, including with the DTV transition -- which took well over a decade to complete and merited three Congressional extensions of time -- and with the 800 MHz rebanding effort,” which started June 27, 2005, with a proposed 36-month time frame, but still isn't complete, she said. “Risks and challenges will abound, including: limits on the availability of necessary equipment; scarcity of skilled personnel necessary for planning, engineering analysis and construction; localized delays driven by weather, local regulations or other external events; and challenges repacking border markets that will rely on predicate action by Canadian and Mexican broadcasters,” Marsh wrote. There's not a “one-size solution” that “will fit all stations or all markets,” she said. Delays or the failure to properly plan or execute a plan could cause “significant” problems, particularly for the wireless industry, which “having spent billions for the spectrum,” will be eager to deploy licenses “as quickly as possible,” she said. “Failure to obtain timely access to the spectrum will have significant impact on the wireless industry, the products and services we provide, our customers and on the broader U.S. economy at large.” Broadcasters and some wireless carriers, particularly T-Mobile, have been at odds over whether the FCC should rethink the current 39-month repacking deadline for broadcasters (see 1602250038). NAB asked the FCC to impose a deadline only after it becomes clear how many licenses will change hands as a result of the auction.
Audio-Technica U.S. countered CTIA's arguments against its reconsideration petition seeking relief from FCC rules on out-of-band emissions (OOBE) limits for wireless mics in the TV band. Instead, A-T said the FCC should approve the European Telecommunications Standards Institute standard without modification. CTIA said in a February filing (see 1602290059) that its opposition was based on “extensive testing information provided by CTIA and its members.” CTIA’s arguments rely on tests by engineering consultant V-Comm “to contend that even more stringent OOBE limits for wireless microphones are necessary to protect 600 MHz licensees from harmful interference,” the wireless mic company said. “A-T disputes this contention, and notes that wireless microphone industry representatives and others have called both the V-Comm methodology and results into question in this proceeding.” The filing was made in docket 12-268.
Representatives of Samsung met with various FCC officials to discuss the company’s interest in high-frequency spectrum, said a filing posted Friday in docket 14-177. Samsung officials, including John Godfrey, Samsung Electronics America senior vice president-public policy, and Robert Kubik, Samsung Electronics director-public policy, engineering and technology, met with aides to Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Ajit Pai, the company said. “The parties discussed Samsung’s support for the Commission’s proposal to make spectrum above 24 GHz available for 5G,” it said. “Samsung noted its support for establishment of a regulatory framework for provision of mobile services in the 28 GHz (27.5-28.35 GHz), 39 GHz (38.6 to 40 GHz), and 37 GHz (37 to 38.6 GHz) bands. Samsung also urged the Commission to make development of a regulatory framework for the millimeter wave spectrum bands a priority.”
LTE connections climbed to 1.1 billion worldwide based on data by Ovum, with North America contributing 237 million connections, 5G Americas said Tuesday. The data is from Q4. Sixty-nine commercial LTE networks were deployed in the U.S. and Canada, the group said. “It is no surprise that LTE has become the standard mobile technology for the North America region and continues to flourish as more consumers are adopting the technology year after year,” said Chris Pearson, president of 5G Americas, in a news release. “The rapid increase in LTE connections, not only in North America but worldwide, is leading the industry on the right track to the commercial standardized deployment of 5G in 2020 and beyond.”
CTIA posted an infographic demonstrating the U.S. is the leader in 4G LTE, the group said. With 219 million active LTE subscribers, more than half of U.S. connections are 4G LTE and 99.5 percent of the population is covered, CTIA said. Consumers see average throughput speeds of 10-30 Mbps, and sometimes higher, the group said. “Even though the U.S. is larger and both the nation and individual states are more geographically diverse than most countries, we have made great strides in rolling-out next generation networks."
Deere asked the FCC to act on its waiver request from last summer that would allow the company to install TV white space devices manufactured by Koos on agricultural equipment (see 1508210035). Deere asked for a waiver to permit operation of fixed white spaces devices installed on non-fixed, off-road agricultural equipment, including tractors, self-propelled harvesting machines and sprayers. “This operation will make possible real time data gathering and monitoring of equipment and sensor status, dealer inventory tracking, as well as collecting agronomic data pertaining to the status of soil, planting, harvest, fertilizer, insecticide application and moisture levels,” said a footnote to a letter Deere sent to the FCC. “Armed with this real-time, specific information, commercial agricultural producers will be able to significantly improve the efficiency of their operations and streamline work processes, materially increasing crop yields and reducing costs associated with lengthy machine and labor downtime necessary to wait for equipment diagnostics, and repair, offloading and reloading, field management instructions, etc.” Deere said the FCC sought comment and there was no opposition to the proposal. Deere is comfortable with conditions NAB proposed, the company said. “While this Request remains pending, Deere has been unable to earmark the internal product development, financial and personnel resources that will be needed to make this innovative operation a reality,” Deere said in the letter. “The proposed product development is but one of many technology innovations that Deere is pursuing to meet present day and future needs of the agricultural community and rising worldwide demand for food.” Deere’s filing was posted Wednesday in docket 15-184.
Device interoperability in the lower 700 MHz band is now a fact of life, AT&T said in a report to the FCC reflecting the state of play as of Jan. 10. AT&T reached an agreement with small carriers in September 2013, pushed by then acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn (see 1309110036). The 28-month update was one of the commitments AT&T made then. “At this point, it is incontrovertible that the FCC’s goal of promoting interoperability in the Lower 700 MHz spectrum by creating a robust Band 12 ecosystem has been accomplished,” AT&T said. In the 28 months since an FCC order was adopted, “carriers have increasingly deployed 700 MHz A block networks that rely on Band 12 devices,” the report said. T-Mobile aggressively rolled out extended range LTE on low-band 700 MHz A-Block spectrum, “which is now live in over 300 markets covering 185 million Americans” and U.S. Cellular “through its partner King Street Wireless has enabled LTE on 700MHz Band 12 in over 100 markets nationwide,” AT&T said. The report was posted in docket 12-69.