Spectrum

I look at the agenda for this conference [Caribbean Association of National Telecommunication Organizations (CANTO) 2019], and there are sessions on promoting 5G, artificial intelligence, and machine learning across the region.  There are discussions on creating safer communities where our citizens are protected from risks ranging from natural disasters to cyberattacks.

On June 12, 2019, all five commissioners from the Federal Communications Commission testified at an oversight hearing held by the Senate Commerce Committee. Recently, FCC Chairman Pai followed up on some questions raised during the hearing. His responses to written questions touch on the following topics:

The Federal Communications Commission's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, International Bureau, Office of Engineering and Technology, and Office of Economics and Analytics invite interested parties to supplement the record to address issues raised by commenters in response to the FCC's July 2018 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in GN Docket No. 18-122. The FCC sought comment on several approaches, including auction-based approaches, for making some or all of the 3.7-4.2 GHz band (C-Band) available for terrestrial, flexible use.

A coalition of major trade groups has turned attention to the Department of Energy in order to challenge a Federal Communications Commission proposal they say would threaten grid reliability and heighten outage risks. The groups claim that by opening up a wireless communications band heavily used by utilities to unlicensed use, the DoE needs to step in to help ensure that grid operations are protected. The FCC launched a proceeding in Oct to consider allowing unlicensed operations on the 6 GHz spectrum band.

The White House is pushing Commerce policy director Earl Comstock out of the Trump administration -- the first round of house-cleaning after the 2020 census debacle and clashes over tech policy.

The House Communications Subcommittee held a hearing on spectrum management and House leadership was not pleased with the infighting between the Federal Communications Commission and National Telecommunications & Information Administration over spectrum policy. The most prominent falling-out is over the FCC's recent auction of high band spectrum in the 24 GHz band for 5G and concerns by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of "out-of-band emissions" affecting satellite weather sensing.

Microsoft, Google and the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) are urging the Federal Communications Commission to allow co-channel spectrum sharing in the C-band. The proposal would allow fixed wireless operators to use the same spectrum band as incumbent users, who are comprised largely of satellite operators that use the spectrum for their earth stations. The FCC is currently pondering how it might best make a portion of the C-band, comprised of spectrum between 3700 and 4200 MHz, available for wireless services.

Public broadcasters are reacting with disappointment to a Federal Communications Commission decision that will give cellular providers access to a swath of spectrum previously reserved for use by educational entities. The FCC’s July 10 vote affects the Educational Broadband Service spectrum, a portion of the 2.5 GHz band that the commission designated for noncommercial use in 1962.

T-Mobile, Qualcomm Technologies and Ericsson have completed what they say is the first 5G low-band data session on a commercial 5G modem. The 5G 600 MHz session was conducted at T-Mobile’s lab in Bellevue (WA). The 600 MHz spectrum band is what T-Mobile will use for its nationwide 5G rollout. “This is a key step toward achieving our vision of 5G for All,” said T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray. “This modem will power devices that tap into the 600 MHz low-band spectrum we’ll use to blanket the country with 5G."

The Federal Communications Commission held its monthly open meeting on July 10. We gave a preview of the meeting a few weeks back. There were eight items in total in the action-packed agenda, but we’re going to unpack a few of the actions that are especially relevant to open, affordable, high-capacity broadband in the U.S.