Elkhart, Indiana, and the Dorchester County, Maryland, 911 Communications Division on Monday became the latest local government units objecting to the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance’s (PSSA) proposal to assign the 4.9 GHz band to FirstNet. The proposal has been highly divisive (see 2408050009). “Many local and regional authorities currently operate point-to-point communications on the 4.9 GHz band, during natural disasters, natural disaster recovery, and other life-threatening emergencies,” said Elkhart Mayor Rod Roberson (D). “The local nature of the 4.9 GHz band is crucial for future preparedness and providing network resiliency to first responders,” the Maryland county said.

Representatives of EchoStar, Public Knowledge and the Open Technology Institute at New America asked the FCC to move forward on handset unlocking rules, approve the use of the lower 12 GHz band for fixed wireless and address a revised spectrum screen. The representatives met with aides to Commissioners Anna Gomez and Geoffrey Starks, said a filing posted Friday in 24-186 and other dockets. “Consumer advocates have long argued that mobile phones should come unlocked by default, allowing users to more easily make choices about the device and service they purchase, as they can for most products,” the filing said: “While the practice of locking users into contracts by handset locking remains common in the U.S., countries including Canada and the United Kingdom have banned the practice entirely.” Most spectrum “is controlled by three nationwide incumbents, leaving new competitors and regional carriers constrained in their ability to provide wireless services,” the groups said of a proposed revised screen. The level of concentration “hampers innovation, raises prices, raises costs for non-incumbent competitors, and harms consumers.”

The FCC sought comment Friday on the future of the 37 GHz band, as expected (see 2407240039). Comments are due Sept. 9 in docket 24-243, per a public notice by the Wireless Bureau. The band is one of five teed up for further investigation in the administration’s national spectrum strategy, though unlike the lower 3 GHz and 7/8 GHz bands, carriers are not targeting it for licensed, exclusive use. The strategy identifies 37 GHz “as a band for further study ‘to implement a co-equal, shared-use framework allowing federal and non-federal users to deploy operations in the band,’” the public notice says. “We find that additional information on potential uses of the Lower 37 GHz band would be helpful in the preparation of the Lower 37 GHz Report,” it adds, noting that the current record is limited. While commenters predicted uses including fixed wireless, point-to-point links, IoT networks, device-to-device operations, augmented reality, smart cities, smart grids and private networks, “they have not provided much detail about implementation of these services in the band,” the FCC says. The notice requests “specific and updated information on the contemplated uses of the band, to include interdependencies of pairing spectrum bands with the Lower 37 GHz band.” The PN also asks about the “feasibility” of aeronautical mobile service operations in the band. “We anticipate that operations offered in the band initially will be point-to-point and point-to-multipoint operations, although other types of operations -- including mobile operations -- may develop later.” The PN asks about the design of a coordination mechanism. It notes that discussions among the FCC, NTIA and DOD are aimed at a two-step mechanism. “In the first phase, an interference contour would be drawn around each existing and potential site based on its technical parameters, including transmitter details such as location (latitude and longitude), equivalent isotropic radiated power, antenna height, and antenna azimuth angle,” the notice says: If the site’s contour doesn’t overlap with any existing registration, “coordination is successful, and registration of the new site may proceed. If there is overlap, there would be a second phase.”

The 5G Automotive Association called for expeditious FCC approval of a long-awaited order finalizing rules for cellular vehicle-to-everything use of the 5.9 GHz band. Representatives of the group met with aides to Commissioners Anna Gomez, Geoffrey Starks and Brendan Carr, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 19-138. 5GAA said that based on Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's statements (see 2407170042), the order “appears to be generally consistent with 5GAA’s most recent advocacy” on C-V2X use of the band. Fremont, California, meanwhile, became the latest city to seek a waiver of the current rules for deploying C-V2X for roadside and on-board units for “a wide range of applications to enhance public safety, efficiency, and overall traffic management.”

Test solutions company Keysight Technologies spoke with FCC Public Safety Bureau staff about the company’s perspective on the agency’s cyber trust mark program (see 2403140034), including ways to make the program “more successful,” a filing posted Thursday in docket 23-239 said. Among the topics discussed were “the role of security test automation to the program,” the importance of “standardized data interchange” and “keeping the cost of the program reasonable," Keysight said.

AT&T agreed it will drop claims that supplemental coverage from space is currently available to its consumers following a challenge from T-Mobile. A National Advertising Review Board panel agreed with the Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Division that AT&T should discontinue the claim, NARB said Thursday: “It was not disputed that AT&T does not currently offer SCS coverage to its cellular customers.” AT&T said while it disagrees with “NARB’s conclusion recommending that the commercial be discontinued or modified,” it “supports NARB’s self-regulatory process and will comply with NARB’s decision,” NARB said.

CTIA representatives met with Chief Alejandro Roark and other officials from the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau on a February Further NPRM on whether the Telephone Consumer Protection Act applies to robocalls and robotexts from wireless service providers to subscribers (see 2404220029). CTIA discussed how the current framework for communications by wireless service providers to their subscribers "at no charge facilitates the sending of service-related communications that help ensure consumers’ safety and connectivity and protect consumers against fraud and scams, among other benefits,” a filing posted Thursday in docket 02-278 said. CTIA raised concerns about proposals in the FNPRM “to change or limit the existing framework, including proposals to carve out certain types of communications or require wireless providers to honor opt-out requests for any type of call or text to any wireless subscriber -- prepaid or postpaid alike,” the filing said.

The move to open radio access networks continues to see mixed results, Dell’Oro Group said Thursday. North America is expected to lead the shift to ORAN and deployment is picking up in Europe after a slow start, it said in a report. “Despite ongoing challenges, most operators will gradually incorporate more openness, virtualization, intelligence, and automation into their RAN roadmaps,” Dell’Oro said. “Open RAN is happening, but this vision that Open RAN will significantly change the vendor dynamics is fading,” said Stefan Pongratz, Dell’Oro vice president-RAN market research: With most of the leading RAN suppliers “committed to the latest O-RAN fronthaul interfaces, the question now is more about the timing and the adoption curve for the various RAN segments.”

Representatives of Public Knowledge and New America’s Open Technology Institute met with FCC Wireless and Public Safety bureau staff on the groups' concerns about giving FirstNet, and AT&T, control of the 4.9 GHz band (see 2407230045). The groups pointed to AT&T’s February wireless outage, the topic of a recent FCC report (see 2407220034). “The network configuration error that shut down the AT&T Network simultaneously shut down access by first responders to FirstNet because FirstNet operates on the same AT&T network and relies on the same device certifications as all other devices connecting to the AT&T mobility network,” a filing posted Thursday in docket 07-100 said. There should be “no doubt that giving FirstNet an overlay license to the 4.9 GHz spectrum means that the 4.9 GHz band will be fully integrated into AT&T’s network, primarily for use by AT&T,” the groups said. The Lincoln, Nebraska, Fire & Rescue Department, meanwhile, said the band should be given to FirstNet. Giving FirstNet control “will enable the deployment of next-generation technologies such as 5G, AI, and IoT, which are crucial for effective emergency response,” the department said.

Representatives of the Edison Electric Institute discussed electric utilities' need for licensed spectrum to support uncrewed aerial systems. Accordingly, they urged that the FCC examine the 4.9 and 5 GHz bands. “Access to licensed spectrum would enable networked operations, expanding drone range and facilitating Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flights,” a filing Tuesday in docket 22-323 said: “This would significantly improve inspection efficiency and enhance security.” EEI representatives met with an aide to Commissioner Nathan Simington, after an earlier session with staff for Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks (see 2407250020).