Apple representatives urged FCC Office of Engineering and Technology staff to consider bufferbloat excess buffering of packets as it considers how to measure broadband performance. “Considering both throughput and bufferbloat when measuring broadband performance would improve understanding of consumers’ real-world experiences,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 12-264.
The top four network broadcast affiliate groups said streaming services should be required to disseminate emergency alert system messages, while a wide range of opponents from NPR to NCTA contend that’s not necessary or practical, in replies filed by Monday’s deadline in docket 15-94. Streaming services “are not ill-equipped to distribute EAS information, and no wholesale reconfiguration of Internet-based programming distribution technology would be needed,” said affiliate groups for Fox, CBS, ABC and NBC. “Requiring streaming services to create this infrastructure and solve these technical challenges would be infeasible in many cases, and costly and unduly burdensome in others, especially when EAS alerts already are delivered widely through traditional broadcast and wireless means,” said NPR. Requiring this would be “technically impracticable” and “produce little, if any, benefit,” said MPA, the Digital Media Association, Digital Content Next and Internet Association. Streaming is too vague a term, said the Information Technology Industry Council. “The difficulty of defining an unbounded term such as 'streaming' makes any effort to bring streaming services into the EAS untenable.” Comtech sided with affiliate groups, saying it's “absolutely imperative” to enable such alerts and conceding it would involve “significant technical challenges.” Instead of new alerting requirements, the FCC should consider convening a multistakeholder working group to study “the alerting ecosystem as a whole” and how to best to reach consumers, said NCTA.
NTIA rules for the connecting minority communities pilot take effect Tuesday, says that day's Federal Register. The $285 million program provides grants to historically Black colleges or universities, tribal colleges and minority-serving institutions to purchase broadband services and facilitate remote learning. A notice of funding opportunity is expected Tuesday.
The FCC said Friday it’s rescheduling its June 29 virtual open radio access network showcase to July 14-15 and adding a day “to accommodate the large number of interested participants.”
The FCC plans a virtual listening session June 22 at 2 p.m. EDT with tribal leaders and outreach partners on the emergency broadband benefit, said a public notice Friday.
Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council CEO Robert Branson said Thursday that the emergency broadband benefit program and closing the digital divide are the major areas the FCC should be focusing on. Branson succeeds Maurita Coley (see 2105240079). There's “a groundswell of support” for making the EBB permanent, he told a virtual meet and greet, and MMTC should push for it whenever there’s opportunity. He said broadband infrastructure and the digital divide are among MMTC priorities, along with access to capital and privacy.
The Wi-Fi Alliance, NCTA and others opposed a 5G Automotive Association request to stay the FCC order reallocating the 5.9 GHz band (see 2106030075), in filings posted Thursday in docket 19-138. “5GAA fails to demonstrate that cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) operators face any actual harm,” the alliance said. 5GAA bases its request on arguments the FCC “considered and ruled on,” with many “simulation parameters” that 5GAA member Ford “submitted over a year ago,” NCTA said. “5GAA claims that the Commission must give proper weight to a technical study it did not submit during proceeding, the Order’s [out of band emissions] limits for indoor unlicensed use are not stringent enough, and that a root mean square (RMS) measurement is an inappropriate means to calculate OOBE level,” said Public Knowledge and New America’s Open Technology Institute: “A stay would significantly harm the public interest by preventing the dissemination of new technology that furthers connectivity and increases wireless capacity.” Altice USA also opposed the stay. 5GAA didn't comment.
Boeing representatives spoke with an aide to Commissioner Brendan Carr on the company’s push for an NPRM on service rules enabling use of the 5030-5091 MHz band for unmanned aircraft systems, “The lack of access to licensed spectrum for UAS command and control is not merely a hypothetical problem that will be felt once UAS technologies are deployed at scale, but a real, ongoing problem that is impacting the industry’s ability to develop these systems today,” Boeing said in a filing posted Wednesday in RM-11798.
All four FCC commissioners will speak at the Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment’s June 24 virtual meeting, said an agenda in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. Commissioner Nathan Simington’s remarks will be prerecorded; others will speak live. All working groups will also deliver a report “on activities and deliberations during the 2019-2021 two-year charter,” it said. ACDDE WGs are Access to Capital, Digital Empowerment and Inclusion, and Diversity in the Tech Sector.
Aviat, Comsearch, Ericsson and Nokia, which want to use lighter antennas for 5G wireless backhaul in the 70/80 GHz band, urged the FCC to act on rules, in a call with acting Chief Joel Taubenblatt and other Wireless Bureau staff. Comments support the change, though there were questions about Aeronet’s proposal for endpoints in motion, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 20-133. The FCC took comment last year (see 2009080037). The advocates asked to separate issues regarding Aeronet. “Smaller antennas with lower minimum gain will not be more sensitive to potential interference caused by emissions from Aeronet’s proposed services compared to fixed service antennas currently on the market, nor will a rule change allowing lower minimum gain result in more interference into Aeronet’s proposed services,” they said.