Incompas asked the FCC for more certainty on secure telephone identity revisited (Stir) and signature-based handling of asserted information using tokens (Shaken) rules, urging tweaks to rules on appeals when a provider’s service provider code is revoked. The FCC has a role to play in considering appeals, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 21-291. Incompas “would prefer the Commission set a time limit on its review period.” Commissioners vote this coming Thursday (see 2107150066).
The International Association of Fire Chiefs supports a petition by the Alliance for Automotive Innovation for partial reconsideration of reallocating the 5.9 GHz band (see 2106030075), said a filing posted Wednesday in FCC docket 19-138. Intelligent transportation system apps “have significant potential to reduce the frequency and severity of unimpaired motor vehicle crashes,” IAFC said: “By reallocating a majority of the spectrum reserved for ITS use, the Report and Order threatens to undermine the deployment of these life-saving technologies.” IAFC noted questions raised by Congress and the Department of Transportation.
SpaceX said Viasat’s request the FCC deny its Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction long-form application is “the latest of many anti-competitive attacks” and a “misguided effort to insert itself” in the review process, in a letter posted Tuesday in docket 19-126 (see 2107210053). SpaceX welcomes staff review “rather than the sideshow in which Viasat would prefer to indulge.” Viasat didn’t comment.
The 5G Automotive Association urged officials from the FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology to act on a public notice on a streamlined waiver process for cellular vehicle-to-everything roadside units. A “thoughtfully designed” process “would provide road and infrastructure operators an opportunity to accelerate the deployment of C-V2X safety services to travelers,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 19-138. The notice should “reflect the realities of C-V2X technology,” they said. Qualcomm and Ford were represented.
The FCC authorized $311 million in Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction support for 48 providers, the agency said Monday. Long-form applicants must submit a letter of credit for each state in which they received authorization and an opinion letter from outside legal counsel by 6 p.m. EDT Aug. 9. “This is a significant down payment on broadband deployment,” said acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The FCC offered 197 winning bidders, including Cox, Frontier, LTD Broadband and Starlink, the opportunity to default on bids for areas already served without penalties after groups raised concerns (see 2012210026). A list of areas where winning bidders opted not to pursue buildout was also released. The areas will “immediately become available for other broadband funding opportunities” and defaulting bidders are “subject to enforcement penalties as warranted.” The Wireline Bureau denied petitions to waive the June 7 deadline to receive eligible telecom carrier designation from AB Indiana for its bids in Florida, and LTD Broadband for California, Kansas and Oklahoma. Both “failed to engage in good faith efforts to pursue and obtain” the designation, the order said, and the bureau plans to release a public notice finding both providers in default. Free Press Research Director Derek Turner said in a statement it’s "encouraging that Acting Chairwoman Rosenworcel wants to get this right" and the FCC "seems determined to do the due diligence" that then-Chairman Ajit Pai "skipped to ensure that federal money actually connects real people ... to affordable services.”
Tech companies fired back at Southern Co report from last month, warning of interference from low-power indoor unlicensed devices for electric utility operations in the 6 GHz band (see 2106240075). “We were disappointed to see that, more than a year after the Commission’s unanimous decision to authorize unlicensed low-power indoor devices in the 6 GHz band, Southern continues to focus its efforts on undermining that decision,” the companies said, posted Friday in docket 17-183: “The result of this approach is yet another set of advocacy-driven tests.” Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Hewett Packard Enterprise, Intel, Microsoft and Qualcomm filed. Southern declined comment.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation (AAI), Qualcomm and Ford backed a 5G Automotive Association petition for partial reconsideration of reallocating the 5.9 GHz band (see 2106030075), but Wi-Fi advocates opposed AAI and 5GAA recon petitions, in filings posted Thursday and Friday in docket 19-138. AAI agrees with 5GAA the FCC should revise its out-of-band emissions limit “to ensure that lifesaving [vehicle-to-everything] technology can function optimally, without the risk of harmful interference, in the upper 30-megahertz segment of the 5.9 GHz band,” it said: “The limit adopted in the Order fails to account for the difference in measured signal levels when using [root mean square] rather than peak power evaluations, is even more permissive than the limits proposed by unlicensed advocates, and threatens to imperil the functioning of critical V2X applications.” The limits “will harmfully interfere” with cellular-V2X and “are not needed to support robust and reliable … unlicensed services” in the band, Qualcomm commented. “Promptly approve the service rules for C-V2X proposed by 5GAA.” Ford agreed with 5GAA that “in multiple respects, the Order’s choice of unwanted emission limits fails to satisfy the Commission’s obligation under the Administrative Procedure Act to fully consider all the relevant facts and to articulate a reasoned explanation of how those facts support its decisions.” The alliance’s petition doesn't “warrant consideration,” the Wireless ISP Association countered. Rather than identifying “any material error or omission,” the group “relies on vague speculation about possible future actions by DOT” or by Congress,” WISPA said. The Wi-Fi Alliance opposed both recon petitions: The 5.9 GHz order “correctly recognizes that additional spectrum is necessary to not only meet, but to keep ahead of current connectivity demands, while also preserving spectrum access for intelligent transportation services.” NCTA and New America’s Open Technology Institute with Public Knowledge, opposed both petitions (see here and here).
President Claude Aiken and others from the Wireless ISP Association spoke with FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks to oppose any FCC symmetrical speed mandates. “Consumers typically use at least eight times more download bandwidth than upload bandwidth,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 20-34.
ClearCaptions asked FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff to clarify that rules for video messages apply to voicemails captioned by IP captioned telephone service providers, said a filing posted Friday in docket 03-123. The IP CTS provider said it “plans to offer a VoIP service” allowing users to access voicemails from a mobile application and desk phone. ClearCaptions backed an IP CTS rate freeze (see 2105270058).