Google urged the FCC to move forward on an incumbent-informing spectrum sharing system operated by DOD for the citizens broadband radio service and adjacent 3.45-3.55 GHz band. “Such a system would notify authorized non-government users when they need to temporarily cease commercial operations in all or portions of the 3.45-3.55 GHz band to protect government operations” and would “avoid spectrum waste” inherent in the environmental sensing capability framework used in CBRS, said a filing posted Friday in docket 19-348.
AT&T could be in a much better position in the C-band auction if it had proceeds from a DirecTV sale to put toward spectrum purchases, New Street Research analyst Jonathan Chaplin wrote investors Thursday. While AT&T has $8.7 billion for spectrum, a $16 billion DirecTV sale would leave it an additional $9 billion for spectrum after paying down debt, he said. That could give it 29% of the available spectrum, instead of 15%, he said. If it can't sell DirecTV at an adequate price, AT&T might have to look at steps such as selling equity, he said. AT&T didn't comment. Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen told investors last month that a DirecTV-Dish deal is “inevitable” at some point (see 2011060043).
The FCC terminated a 2015 proceeding on preserving a vacant channel for use by TV white space devices and wireless mics, said an order Tuesday in docket 15-146. “In light of other actions we have taken during the years since the rules were proposed, coupled with the increased burden that the 2015 proposal would place on the use by broadcasters of spectrum” post-600 MHz incentive auction, the proposal “would not serve the public interest,” said the unanimously voted order. Wireless mic companies sought to keep the docket open after the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau announced its impending closure, while NAB pushed for its termination, the order said. “We continue to support unlicensed white space devices and wireless microphone user operations and continue to believe they serve important interests,” the order said.
Southern Co. asked the FCC not to act now on revised 6 GHz rules, while others sought changes proposed in an April Further NPRM, in filings posted Tuesday in docket 18-295. Chairman Ajit Pai is expected to make clear Wednesday whether there will be a vote at the Dec. 10 commissioners' meeting (see 2011130045). “Take additional time to fully evaluate and consider” concerns that have been raised “before adopting any further rules on unlicensed use of the 6 GHz band,” Southern said in calls with aides to Pai and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. The Open Technology Institute at New America told acting Chief Ron Repasi and others from the Office of Engineering and Technology that the FCC should act. “We urged the Commission to act on Verizon’s Petition for Reconsideration requesting higher power for unlicensed standard-power 6 GHz access points already subject to [automated frequency coordination] control,” Verizon said of a call with OET.
IEE Sensing spoke with FCC Office of Engineering and Technology staff on “the need for an Unattended Child Detection functionality in automobiles in order to prevent deaths by vehicular heatstroke, and how the VitaSense sensor will be able to provide that capability.” The company asked whether it needs a waiver to enable the VitaSense “to operate in the 60-64 GHz band when operations were limited to times during which the vehicle was completely stopped,” per a Monday filing in docket 20-144.
NCTA expressed support for the FCC’s draft 5.9 GHz order (see 2010280064), in calls with aides to the commissioners, except Brendan Carr, and to Office of General Counsel staff. “Although NCTA supported designating the full 75 megahertz of the band for both indoor and outdoor operations, the band-split approach described in the draft Order represents a good compromise that is a win for American Wi-Fi and automotive consumers,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 19-138: “Unlicensed proponents such as NCTA’s members will have access to a contiguous 160-megahertz gigabit Wi-Fi channel … to bring indoor Wi-Fi online quickly to American homes and businesses, with a path to outdoor operations in the future.” Commissioners vote Nov. 18.
CTA and tech companies asked the FCC to act on revised rules for very low-power devices in the 6 GHz band, in a call with Commissioner Brendan Carr. “Appropriate power levels for VLP, specifically 14 dBm [effective isotropic radiated power], which is the minimum power level needed to overcome body loss and channel fading associated with portable operations,” are important, CTA said Monday in docket 18-295. That's “approximately four times less power than permitted for typical smartphones, laptops, and tablets, and five times lower power than already allowed for low power indoor client devices.” Intel, Google, Broadcom, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft officials participated. The Wi-Fi Alliance urged action in calls with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. Verizon spoke with a Carr aide about a petition for reconsideration requesting higher power for unlicensed standard-power 6 GHz access points subject to automatic frequency coordination. Commissioners are expected to consider rules in December (see 2010190040).
The Open Technology Institute at New America is disappointed the FCC didn’t propose to “authorize or require” white space databases to utilize terrain-based propagation models, such as the Longley-Rice irregular terrain model, to “take account of real-world terrain and clutter in the local area where operators request use,” the group told an aide to Commissioner Brendan Carr. OTI supports authorizing fixed devices to use channels immediately adjacent to TV operations, provided they maintain 3 MHz separation from the adjacent TV channel, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 20-36: “Extensive field tests and laboratory measurements by Microsoft have demonstrated that three megahertz of separation between a fixed [white spaces] signal and a TV broadcast channel is sufficient to avoid harmful interference to TV viewers at power levels even greater than 100 milliwatts.”
The citizens broadband radio service offers “bandwidth abundance,” said Preston Marshall, principal wireless architect for Google Wireless, during an Enterprise Wireless Alliance virtual conference Thursday. He's surprised about how fast the band's use has grown despite the pandemic and the amount of interest in private LTE. “It was developed, supported by the cellular industry,” he said: “It’s available to you” and you can buy equipment off the shelf. You can deploy “very rapidly” without “having to develop your own unique, proprietary hardware,” he said. Marshall predicted CBRS will be widely used by startups. “You can start small and you can grow,” he said. The cost of spectrum has “been an obstacle” because it was expensive, he said. Obstacles remain, he said. “We still need to work on how we create seamless roaming and authentication between operators,” he said. “The business models are still evolving -- who pays for what, how much do they pay, what are the methods of managing these transactions," he said. Further work remains on coexistence in a shared band, he said. Equipment makers also need to include the band in more handsets, he said. Mark Gibson, Commscope senior director-business development and spectrum policy, said the biggest surprise was the $4.6 billion raised in the CBRS auction, with more bidders than any previous FCC auctions. Big players like Verizon and Dish Network dominated the auction (see 2009020057), but the cheapest licenses went for as little as $1,100, he noted. It’s “the people’s band” with wireless ISPs and electric utilities bidding in their first spectrum auction, he said.