Spectrum

The government is working to transfer some federally-used spectrum to the private sector to help build mobile broadband networks, including 5G. The National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA) facilitates these transfers, which can be complex and take years. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that NTIA lacks a formal process for planning these transfers. We recommended that it develop one to help address challenges and risks before they arise.

AT&T will shut down its 3G network in February 2022, making way for 5G spectrum and services. But other operators worldwide, whose customers roam onto AT&T, still require the use of circuit-switch fallback, and that’s where Syniverse comes in. On January 25, Syniverse announced, in collaboration with AT&T, the development and deployment of a solution that preserves inbound voice roaming after AT&T phases out its 3G network on February 22, 2022.

Far faster mobile broadband speeds and new services on your 5G-enabled smartphone or a greater risk that your next flight crashes on landing? This should be a false choice in tech-savvy America.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted two orders resolving pending issues associated with white space devices and the white spaces databases. The actions will provide additional certainty to white space device users, manufacturers, and database administrators to enable unlicensed white space devices to operate efficiently and protect other spectrum users, in particular wireless microphone users.

Remember the bit about the 12 GHz band that 5G proponents were using to advance their argument at the Federal Communications Commission? The one about “no federal encumbrances”? That seems to be rising to the top in the wake of all the recent problems associated with C-band spectrum. Granted, the 12 GHz band has its own set of challenges for the 5G for 12 GHz Coalition, which represents Dish Network, among others.

President Joe Biden donned the jersey of Team Delay by making it clear he had pushed for airlines to get more time to account for certain kinds of legacy aviation equipment. “What I’ve done is pushed as hard as I can to have the 5G folks hold up and abide by what was being requested by the airlines until they could more modernize over the years, so 5G would not interfere with the potential of a landing,” Biden said.

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced the appointment of a diverse group of leading technology experts to serve as members of the Technological Advisory Council (TAC). The TAC will hold its first meeting on Monday, February 28, 2022, beginning at 10:00 am EDT via video conference and will be available online. The advisory council provides technical expertise to the FCC to identify important areas of innovation and develop informed technology policies.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued new approvals that allow an estimated 62 percent of the US commercial fleet to perform low-visibility landings at airports where wireless companies deployed 5G C-band. The new safety buffer announced January 18 around airports in the 5G deployment further expanded the number of airports available to planes with previously cleared altimeters to perform low-visibility landings. The FAA early January 19 cleared another three altimeters. Even with these approvals, flights at some airports may still be affected.

The Federal Communications Commission announced winning bidders from its 5G spectrum auction of flexible-use licenses in the 3.45 GHz band. The winning bidder information is available in the Public Notice released by the FCC. Gross proceeds for the auction exceeded $22.5 billion.