Monica Alleven

The Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition (FWCC) says a study backed by the likes of Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Intel, Qualcomm and others is badly flawed and should not be relied upon to allow for an array of unlicensed devices in the 6 GHz band. Earlier in 2018, representatives from Apple, Broadcom, Cisco Systems, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Facebook, Google, Intel, MediaTek, Microsoft and Qualcomm met with Federal Communications Commission representatives where they presented a study, prepared by RKF Engineering Solutions, that analyzed sharing between unlicensed operations in

The US can still win the race to 5G—but it’s got to pass some significant reforms like those being considered by the Federal Communications Commission to make it happen. That’s the message from CTIA (a large wireless industry trade group) President and CEO Meredith Attwell Baker, who’s calling 2018 the year for action, because, as she puts it, “The stakes are huge.” Baker said she wholeheartedly agrees with Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri’s assessment of the situation, where the US and China are neck-and-neck when it comes to 5G.

Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure paid a visit to the office of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai and others to talk about eliminating barriers to Sprint’s 4G and 5G deployments, among other topics. Sprint referenced barriers that Sprint and others in the industry face as part of their efforts to deploy 4G and 5G services. Sprint urged the commission to quickly address the regulatory obstacles that make the densification of wireless networks so difficult.

Verizon’s Ed Chan didn’t exactly spill the beans about where Verizon will launch commercial 5G residential broadband services next year—that would be rather peculiar if he did—but he did give a few insights into the decision-making process.

While the claws are coming out, both pro and con, over network neutrality once again, one analyst says the Federal Communications Commission’s proposed order to repeal the 2015 Open Internet Order will be a catalyst for 5G. Peter Rysavy, president of Rysavy Research and a FierceWireless contributor, says the proposal put forth by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai will hasten the deployment of 5G network technologies and catalyze wireless network innovations. The proposal will be considered by the full commission at its Dec. 14 open meeting.

Always one to pride itself on its technological achievements, Verizon isn’t taking any smack from T-Mobile, saying the operator made up claims about Verizon's technical achievements, many of them related to LTE Advanced. "They were very clearly misrepresenting Verizon's deployment and the leadership that we have taken in this new technology innovation and rollout," said Verizon spokeswoman Karen Schulz. To be sure, T-Mobile stands by its remarks.

Instead of sailing balloons around the world to deliver internet access, engineers at Alphabet's Project Loon will send small teams of balloons to form a cluster over specific regions where people need internet access—a discovery that will help reduce the costs of operating a Loon-powered network. In a post on its Google+ page, the Loon team explained that when they started a pilot test in 2013, they thought they’d need a continuous stream of balloons around the world such that, as one balloon drifted away, another would be ready to take its place. Their main task would be to manage the balloons’ paths during their round-the-world journeys just enough to get them to drift over their internet test locations in roughly equal intervals—so as one balloon moved out of range, another would move in its place.

Things are looking up for Globalstar these days, with several former critics now supporting its revised proposal for providing Terrestrial Low Power Service (TLPS) and the Federal Communications Commission circulating a new proposed order among commissioners. After years in the making, Globalstar reversed course and on Nov 9 submitted a revised plan, asking for permission to use its 11.5 megahertz of satellite spectrum at 2483.5-2495 MHz to offer low-power terrestrial broadband services, dropping plans for a 22 MHz Wi-Fi Channel 14. Nearby 2.5 GHz spectrum holder Sprint was among those who expressed support for the revisions. Since then, the Wi-Fi Alliance, NCTA, CableLabs and Entertainment Software Association (ESA) have said Globalstar’s latest revisions appear to satisfy their objections.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) is calling on global industry leaders, policymakers and academia to coalesce in a neutral forum to move 5G forward. The purpose of the IEEE 5G Initiative is to engage professionals worldwide to work to solve the challenges associated with 5G and lay the foundation to realize its many opportunities, according to the organization. Volunteers from both industry and academia are being sought as several working groups are being established.

“5G is not only evolutionary, providing higher bandwidth and lower latency than current-generation technology; more importantly, 5G is revolutionary, in that it is expected to enable fundamentally new applications with much more stringent requirements in latency and bandwidth," said Ashutosh Dutta, co-chair of the 5G initiative and lead member of the technical staff at AT&T. “5G should help solve the last-mile/last-kilometer problem and provide broadband access to the next billion users on earth at much lower cost because of its use of new spectrum and its improvements in spectral efficiency.”

[Commentary] AT&T is likely going to win the right to provide the nation’s first broadband network dedicated to public safety. FirstNet hasn’t officially announced anything yet, and no doubt it needs to let court proceedings run their course. But ultimately, it means AT&T could win a 25-year contract to use 20 megahertz of 700 MHz beachfront spectrum and $6.5 billion for designing and operating the nationwide network for federal, state and local authorities, with the right to sell excess capacity on the system.

It’s anybody’s guess what the incoming administration in Washington, D.C., will mean for the organization and its lofty goals. FirstNet has come a long way, and it’s still got a long way to go. But finally hearing a likely winner emerging is encouraging after FirstNet’s long-fought battle.