Spectrum

Congress is again kicking the can down the road on several issues important to the US telecommunications industry. A 4,155-page omnibus spending package bill that Congress unveiled is expected to pass in order to keep the government operating. But Congress punted on a long-term extension of the Federal Communications Commission’s auction authority, covering the shortfall for rip and replace funding, and consideration of more mid-band spectrum for wireless use. One tiny blurb of the bill was devoted to the FCC’s

GeoLinks took home $84.6 million of the $234.9 million it won in the Federal Communications Commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) auction for broadband projects in Arizona and Nevada. While its top priority is ramping up those fiber and fixed wireless builds, company President Ryan Adams said it's also keeping its eyes peeled for expansion opportunities from the Southwest to the East Coast which could help it scale over the next decade.

A group of vendors has been working on a CBRS private wireless network for a school in an underprivileged area of Sacramento, California, for a couple of years. And as a result of their trial, the Sacramento City Council recently approved $1.4 million in funding to create a permanent private 5G network for the school and two public housing communities in the city. The vendors involved in the project include Athonet, Federated Wireless, Intel, JMA Wireless, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Megh Computing, and Future Technologies Venture.

There was an interesting phenomenon that happened in September when Starlink launched 49 new satellites. The satellites were successfully deployed by the rocket, but as the satellites were being maneuvered to reach the final orbital slots there was a geomagnetic storm that caused 38 of the satellites to fall back to earth. Space storms happen when radiation affects the magnetosphere that surrounds the earth. The extra energy from the storms can also play havoc with GPS and other space-based communications.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is requesting comment on the implementation of the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund, as directed by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. NTIA seeks broad input and feedback from all interested stakeholders—including private industry, academia, civil society, and other experts—on this grant program to support the promotion and deployment of open, interoperable, and standards-based radio access networks (RAN). Submit written comments on or before 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on January 27, 2023.

Soon after CTIA released its latest study supporting its argument for more licensed spectrum, the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) shot a letter over to lawmakers asking for more shared spectrum, similar to the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) model. Signed by more than 200 companies in the WISP ecosystem, the letter urges lawmakers to support the 3.5 GHz CBRS model for future spectrum bands, such as 3.1-3.45 GHz.

The Federal Communications Commission is the lead U.S.

Fixed wireless access (FWA) is a bright spot for UScellular’s wireless business. UScellular CEO LT Therivel said that the company’s FWA subscriber base is doubling every 18 months.

2022 was an important one for Verizon fixed wireless access (FWA) as the company turned up the service using C-band spectrum and 5G in major metro markets.