Spectrum

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will ask the public what spectrum should become available and for what purposes. The NTIA will develop a “spectrum strategy” designed to free up airwaves for a wide variety of uses. The NTIA will rely on multiple streams of public input, including a request for comment and public meetings to inform this strategy. When designing spectrum policy, the government balances the needs of the federal government – including the national security entities – with those of private industry and others.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the cause of mysterious GPS interference that, over the past few days, has closed one runway at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and prompted some aircraft in the region to be rerouted to areas where signals were working properly. The interference first came to light on October 17 when the FAA issued an advisory warning  flight personnel and air traffic controllers of GPS interference over a 40-mile swath of airspace near the Dallas-Fort Worth airport.

As the battle over the use of the 12.2 GHz to 12.7 GHz rages, the 5G for 12 GHz Coalition once again said that the Federal Communication Commission should change its rules and allow terrestrial 5G transmission in this frequency band. Current rules allow for downlink only use for satellite TV. The push for 12 GHz began in October 2020 with a letter to then-FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. Since that time, incumbents AT&T and SpaceX have opposed the shared spectrum use on grounds that terrestrial 5G would interfere with their services, disrupting transmissions to customers.

Total worldwide telecoms revenues from mobile and fixed broadband services will grow 14% between 2022 and 2027 to reach €1.2 trillion ($1.18 trillion). However monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) combined across both mobile and fixed broadband will fall by 4.2% from €7.48 ($7.36) in 2022 to €7.16 ($7.05) in 2027. In mobile markets, it is now evident that 5G will not be sufficient to offset ARPU decline as customers are unwilling to pay more for it.

The largest ever 5G global consumer study to date. The respondents selected for the interview represent the online population aged between 15 and 69 within the surveyed markets, which in total consists of 1.7 billion consumers and 430 million 5G users. The research reveals that the next wave of 5G is underway, with mainstream consumers now adopting 5G in frontrunner markets that launched 5G early on.

Dish Wireless wants to conduct tests using the 12 GHz band to evaluate coexistence in the band – it’s just waiting for the FCC to say yea or nay.

The airline industry has begun petitioning the Federal Communications Commission to make permanent changes to the operation of some 5G networks around airports. At the heart of the issue are 5G transmissions near airports in the C-band spectrum.

Wireless internet service providers (WISPs) have hit a breaking point. With fiber players gaining steam and both public and private funding fueling overbuilds of their territories, the heads of several fixed wireless providers say that they don’t expect WISPs to survive beyond the next five to 10 years—at least not in their current form. WISP executives said they are up against rising construction costs, staffing struggles, spectrum questions, and the impending retirement of long-time CEOs.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced that the items below are tentatively on the agenda for the October Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, October 27, 2022. The Commission will consider:

Verizon is pulling out all the stops to help first responders in the wake of Hurricane Ian, and that includes THOR, the Tactical Humanitarian Operations Response vehicle that acts like a giant Swiss army knife. THOR boasts its own private 5G network and acts as a kind of mobile command center to deliver Verizon Frontline solutions, according to Cory Davis, assistant vice president for Verizon Frontline.