There's broad support for finding more spectrum for mobile broadband, including in the UHF band, as the World Radiocommunication Conference gets ready to start next week in Geneva, the GSM Association said Thursday. “The GSMA is particularly encouraged by the importance that many governments have placed on ensuring flexibility for the UHF (sub-700 MHz) band, which has historically been used for TV broadcasting and is increasingly critical for meeting rapidly growing demand for mobile broadband from citizens and businesses around the world,” said John Giusti, GSMA chief regulatory officer. “The way we view video content is changing and mobile broadband is playing an ever more significant role in providing consumers with video when and where they want it.” New digital broadcasting technologies mean some TV spectrum can be freed up for broadband, said Giusti, former acting chief of the FCC International Bureau. Giusti said GSMA sees movement on the UHF band in the U.S., as well as Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. “By planning ahead now, countries that identify mobile allocations at WRC-15 will ensure they have the flexibility to satisfy future mobile data demand of their citizens,” Giusti said. “The more countries that support a band, the greater the possibility for global harmonisation, offering substantial economies of scale, reducing interference along country borders and delivering cost benefits for consumers.” NAB fired back. “GSMA’s talking points are tired and simply don't reflect any facts on the ground," an NAB spokesman said. "If the GSMA is looking for underused spectrum, it should look at its own bands."
Google, Microsoft and several cable, Wi-Fi and wireless networking industry representatives are pushing the FCC on creation of standards and tests to ensure Wi-Fi/LTE-U coexistence. "LTE-U has avoided the long-proven standards-setting process" and runs the risk of degrading Wi-Fi service, they said in an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 15-105, pointing to CableLabs and Google interference testing. Meanwhile, the LTE-U specification lacks sufficient interference safeguards because of its unconstrained duty cycling, lack of coordination among LTE-U carriers and its impairment to consumer network selection, they said. The solution is for LTE-U backers "to work through internationally recognized, open and transparent standards-setting organizations" to help set those standards and tests, they said. The filing recapped a meeting between FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and representatives of Arris, Bright House Networks, Broadcom, CableLabs, Cablevision, Charter Communications, Comcast, Google, Microsoft, Ruckus Wireless and Time Warner Cable. Broadcom, Google and Ruckus also signed a letter to the FCC last week urging the agency to adopt "straightforward rules of [LTE-U] device eligibility" (see 1510220028). Scott Bergmann, CTIA vice president-regulatory affairs, responded that the wireless industry also relies heavily on Wi-Fi and is "committed" to innovation in unlicensed spectrum. "We should all welcome technologies that will help address the continued increase in consumer demands for wireless broadband anytime, anywhere," he said. "As testing has repeatedly shown, LTE in the unlicensed bands coexists with Wi-Fi and will benefit consumers."
The FCC tried to provide information to carriers and other potential bidders in the forward part of the TV incentive auction during a webinar Wednesday, but it was delayed for half an hour as a result of technical glitches. “These updates, which were adopted by the commission in July of this year, recognize the challenges new entrants face entering the wireless industry, especially into a marketplace in which more than 95 percent of existing customers are served by the four biggest providers,” said Wireless Bureau Chief Roger Sherman, who opened the webinar after the delay. The former designated entity rules were a “byproduct of an earlier time” and hadn't been adjusted since 2006, he said. The rules were approved by the FCC in a 3-2 vote July 16 (see 1507160051). Sherman noted that the filing window for forward auction participants opens on Jan. 14 and closes Jan. 28. “It’s our hope that this webinar will help potential applicants prepare for the world’s first-ever broadcast incentive auction,” he said. The FCC will continue to answer questions as the filing deadlines approach, he said. Wireless Bureau staff offered a quick run-through on the rules and took a handful of questions.
Comcast plans to take part in the broadcast TV incentive auction through NBCUniversal and plans to activate the Verizon mobile virtual network operator "to trial some things and test some things," Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said Tuesday during the company's Q3 earnings call. "We're in a [wireless] test-and-learn mode and I think it's a natural part of the evolution of our company and participation in the mobile space beyond Wi-Fi," Comcast Cable CEO Neil Smit said in response to a question about the company's wireless strategy. Q3 revenue was up 11.2 percent year over year to $18.7 billion, due to factors including a growing high-speed Internet subscriber base and the performance of Hollywood blockbusters like Jurassic World. Roberts said deployment of X1 set-top boxes is at 40,000 per day, with 25 percent of its video subscribers now X1 customers, which is lowering churn and leading to higher revenue per subscriber. While multichannel video programming distributors saw their biggest customer losses ever in Q2, Comcast said it hasn't been a major contributor to that. It reported 69,000 video customers lost in Q2, and 48,000 for Q3. Those 48,000 make for Comcast's best third quarter in nine years, and cable "is now unmistakably taking shares from satellite and TelCo TV is fading fast," Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson Research emailed investors Tuesday. While broadband has driven some of that, Moffett said, so too has "cable's two-way architecture and Comcast's ... user interface and VOD libraries. Cable's improvement in basic video looks sustainable." Though Comcast is buying a majority of Universal Studios Japan, large acquisitions in the U.S. are "unlikely ... under the current administration," wrote analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak of Pivotal Research Group.
The North American region is outperforming the rest of the world in the mobile economy, but carriers here need to be sure they maintain their dominance, GSMA said in a report released Tuesday. “The region has seen substantial subscriber growth, early adoption of new technologies (such as smartphones and 4G/LTE) and strong revenue trends,” GSMA said. “The region continues to lead innovation in all areas of the mobile ecosystem, including hardware, access technologies, operating systems and new apps and services that are scaling rapidly and changing how individuals live and work.” The U.S. market could see more growth in the number of subscribers, GSMA said. The North American region had more than 250 million unique subscribers in Q2, equivalent to a penetration rate of 70 percent, GSMA said. That's below the developed market average of 79 percent, “which is closer to the level at which subscriber growth tends to stall in developed markets,” the report said. Penetration in Canada trails the U.S. and offers even more room for growth, the association said. GSMA also took a shot at the FCC for its February net neutrality rules. “There remains considerable uncertainty as to the impact that the ruling will have on the development of new services and applications, particularly in the area of the Internet of Things,” GSMA said. Some services “may require a degree of network prioritization,” while many continue to argue the order will mean less network investment, the group said.
The FCC is wasting time and effort on Globalstar's proposed terrestrial low-power service (TLPS), and should end the proceeding and deny the satellite company's request, Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) said in a filing posted Monday in docket 13-213. It responded to a Globalstar submission last month detailing the company's TLPS test on a college campus (see 1509110018), and said the filing "proves nothing and is as vague and non-transparent as the prior Globalstar demonstrations." Bluetooth SIG called details about Bluetooth testing "almost insulting in their lack of detail and specificity." The group has said its own demonstrations earlier this year show that TLPS interference with Bluetooth could have detrimental effects on Bluetooth devices (see [Ref:1503240047]), and repeated that point now. That it was not asked to take part in this latest TLPS testing, despite having asked to be included, must point to "a real cause for concern that proper testing would expose," Bluetooth SIG said. Globalstar still hasn't made "a coherent case" for why it should be exempt from industrial, scientific and medical radio band regulations, Bluetooth SIG said. In a statement, Globalstar General Counsel Barbee Ponder said the SIG filing contained "nothing new," with the group "forget[ting] the collaborative testing that was done at the Commission in March which showed that TLPS had no perceptible impact on BlueTooth devices. Indeed, BlueTooth has refused to make available the audio files of their hearing aid demonstration that confirms the lack of any such impact. By contrast, we have posted a video of our demonstration showing the compatibility of TLPS with BlueTooth."
The U.S. needs to move now to maintain its mobile leadership, said former White House policy adviser Jim Kohlenberger in a blog post. When South Korea hosts the Winter Olympic Games in 2018 it hopes to show off an early 5G network, he wrote. “Japan aims to follow suit when it hosts the 2020 Summer Olympics, with Europe and China hot on their heels in the race for 5G global leadership.” The U.S. needs to keep up and eliminate barriers to deployment while dedicating more spectrum to wireless broadband, he said. “While dominance in the Olympic pool or on the ski slopes comes with bragging rights, U.S. 5G leadership is one race we cannot afford to lose,” Kohlenberger said. “That’s because this isn’t just a race for achieving blazing fast wireless speeds, it’s about who will shape the foundational technologies of the future and drive the new industries that will propel this global transition.” Now a consultant, Kohlenberger is on the advisory board of Mobile Future.
The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment on the transition period during which existing licensees in the 3.5 GHz shared spectrum band will receive protection within their “Grandfathered Wireless Protection Zone.” Comments are to be due 30 days after the notice is published in the Federal Register, replies 15 days after initial comments are due. The bureau is seeking comment on the “procedures for determining compliance with the Commission’s construction and operation requirements for the band” and “an implementation strategy to ensure that an accurate definition of the Grandfathered Wireless Protection Zone is available to the authorized Spectrum Access Systems,” it said Friday. The commission approved an order creating the new Citizens Broadband Radio Service in the 3550-3700 MHz band at its April meeting (see 1504170055).
Google, NCTA and a handful of Wi-Fi companies are urging the FCC to find a middle ground on LTE-unlicensed. The FCC could let the market take its course or impose command and control regulation, they said in a letter posted Thursday in docket 15-105. “Between these two extremes is a middle-ground path of establishing straightforward rules of device eligibility, encouraging industry to develop appropriate norms of conduct and mechanisms for managing the use of the commons, and then largely staying out of the way as self-regulation and innovation take hold.” This middle ground is “precisely the course the Commission took with respect to the unlicensed spectrum commons under Part 15 of its rules,” they said. Boingo Wireless, Broadcom, Hewlett-Packard and Ruckus Wireless also signed the filing.
Carriers are playing games on their level of interest in 600 MHz spectrum in the buildup to the TV incentive auction, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said at a news conference after Thursday’s meeting. After the commission’s Aug. 6 meeting, Wheeler said pointedly it was up to carriers whether they want to play in the auction (see 1508060028). Sprint since said it wouldn't bid and Verizon this week downplayed its need for additional low-band spectrum (see 1510200058). Wheeler was president of CTIA and has a long history in spectrum auctions. “I think we’ll have a very successful auction,” he said, chuckling, noting the auction starts in just 157 days. “I think what we’re seeing right now is the marketing has begun, everyone is positioning a little bit,” he said. “This is all pre-auction shenanigans that one can expect [to] happen in any kind of a marketplace.” Wheeler said the key goal of the auction is getting more spectrum in play for wireless broadband, not bringing in huge revenue. He was asked about broadcaster concerns that the voluntary incentive auction isn’t really voluntary. “There are no armed FCC agents holding guns to heads,” he said. “You are free to decide whether or not you want to participate.”