Spectrum

The Office of Engineering and Technology seeks comment on spectrum policy recommendations that the FCC's Technological Advisory Council (TAC) has made to the FCC through its Chairman and has elaborated on in more detail through several white papers.

The stakeholders the US Government Accountability Office spoke with identified two primary spectrum-related challenges for the internet of things (IoT)—the availability of spectrum and managing interference. Although not considered an immediate concern, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) staff and some stakeholders noted that rapid increases in IoT devices that use large amounts of spectrum—called high-bandwidth devices—could quickly overwhelm networks, as happened with smart phones.

The broadband industry is in the midst of figuring out the impact and implications of the next evolution of wireless, 5G. And the hype machine is in full swing. Some might argue it’s off the charts, especially in comparison to the roll out of previous generations, including 3G and 4G. At last week’s Huawei Global Mobile Broadband Forum (MBBF), held in London, 5G was put into better context, at least for me. MBBF attracts one of the best global carrier speaker contingents of any wireless event.

More than two months have passed since Puerto Rico and the Caribbean were hit by devastating hurricanes. Like so many people and organizations around the world, Microsoft wanted to help. Following our immediate emergency response, we are continuing to work with government agencies and nonprofit partners to help communities to recover. Following an initial donation, we are providing cash, technology, services and telecommunications support to people and organizations working to support the recovery process in the region.

The Federal Communications Commission took additional steps today to make available spectrum above 24 GHz to help ensure American leadership in wireless broadband, which represents a critical component of economic growth, job creation, public safety, and global competitiveness. 

Specifically, the FCC now:

The current media ownership rules limit any one entity from owning too many of the newspaper, radio, and/or television entities within a local market, in order to ensure viewpoint diversity. These rules are under attack. Broadcasters are spectrum licensees, and without some strong public interest requirements on spectrum licensees, we are at risk of losing local, community-centric information.

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.

T-Mobile and Sprint jointly announced that they have ceased talks to merge as the companies were unable to find mutually agreeable terms. “The prospect of combining with Sprint has been compelling for a variety of reasons, including the potential to create significant benefits for consumers and value for shareholders. However, we have been clear all along that a deal with anyone will have to result in superior long-term value for T-Mobile’s shareholders compared to our outstanding stand-alone performance and track record,” said John Legere, President and CEO of T-Mobile US, Inc.