NTIA is focused on increasing spectrum efficiency and sharing as it seeks a "balanced" approach to making government frequencies commercially available, said Administrator David Redl Thursday. The agency historically has moved incumbent government users to other bands to free up spectrum for industry, but that's expensive and time consuming, and is becoming more difficult as demand grows and obvious relocation candidates dry up, he said in a speech to the Media Institute Thursday, largely echoing his comments at an FCBA retreat (see 1805070001 and 1805060001). NTIA is relying on technological advances to improve efficiency and share spectrum, and it's making progress in overcoming the complex challenges, he said. The 3.5 GHz band (3550-3700 MHz) for the citizens broadband radio service could be a model for sharing, he said, with NTIA engineers working to certify systems necessary for military radar and commercial users to coexist. Asked about cybersecurity and Chinese threats, Redl said NTIA is working to bring other agencies together on possible executive branch comment or reply in the FCC national security rulemaking due June 1 and July 2 (see 1804180053). He hopes an NTIA botnet report will be released soon, which will emphasize the need for multifacted government and industry actions to address problems that can't be solved by any individual party -- themes he noted were in a January draft (see 1801110006 and 1802160042). Asked about the EU general data protection regulation taking effect May 25, he said NTIA is seeking to ensure access isn't restricted to the Whois database of online domain name ownership, which he said is vital to U.S. stakeholders. Redl said in his speech the U.S. must continue to fight for transparent multistakeholder policymaking and standards development, and against efforts to move the ITU into internet-related and cybersecurity issues. Redl expanded on his internet and cybersecurity views in a speech Thursday at a National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee meeting.
The main wireless carrier associations and other groups said they met with FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly on the latest discussions on the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band. O’Rielly, overseeing a rewrite of the CBRS rules, urged stakeholders to negotiate (see 1802130041). “The parties continued to discuss their respective positions regarding the geographic licensing areas for Priority Access Licenses in the 3.5 GHz band,” said a filing in docket 17-258. “The parties also continued to reiterate the importance of the 3.5 GHz band to serving a variety of business cases and deployment plans.” Officials from the Competitive Carriers Association, CTIA, General Electric, NCTA, NTCA, the Rural Wireless Association and Wireless ISP Association attended. The principals met O’Rielly in April (see 1805010052).
An auction of priority access licenses (PAL) in the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band may not happen until late next year, Mark Gibson, senior director-business development at CommScope, told the National Spectrum Managers Association Wednesday at its annual meeting. Fletcher Heald attorney Mitchell Lazarus warned the FCC is making more decisions based on politics rather than engineering.
The U.S. is moving toward creation of a national spectrum strategy that would predict spectrum trends and allow companies to do a better job of planning, said DOD spectrum chief Fred Moorefield at the National Spectrum Management Association annual conference Tuesday. “I think you'll see that coming out of the White House soon." He noted the Pentagon will update its own spectrum road map and action plan.
The American Petroleum Institute can't support a proposal last week by the Wireless ISP Association and others on the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band because it would allow only two census-tract-sized priority access licenses (PALs) in each market (see 1805100062). The better proposal would provide four census-tract licenses in each market and four wide-area licenses, API said. “This would not only achieve a fair compromise with the large wireless carriers, but would allow at least 40 megahertz of CBRS spectrum for oil and gas industry entities and other industrial and critical-infrastructure operators to self-provision their own geographically-targeted private wireless … networks at their facilities throughout the United States,” API said Monday in docket 17-258. Meanwhile, Key Bridge Wireless and Fairspectrum, two prospective spectrum access system (SAS) administrators in the band, said census-tract PALs shouldn't be a concern. “Large mobile carriers now complain that licensing PALs according to census tracts is unworkable,” the two said. “While others have forcefully corrected these claims, we write to emphasize that no SAS administrator has claimed that incorporating census tracts into the SAS is too difficult and no SAS administrator has asked the Commission to change the size of PAL areas.”
Census tracts are likely to be a battleground in licensing the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band, with the CBRS Coalition proposal explicitly including census tract licenses (see 1805100062), experts and insiders told us Friday. A rival plan from CTIA and the Competitive Carriers Association involves county-based and metropolitan statistical area licenses (see 1804230064). CTIA and CCA didn't comment Friday. The CBRS Coalition proposal contains a mix of licensing areas for everyone, emailed Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld. "That is what a compromise is," he said. "It means everyone gets something." Parties who don't think census tracts are usable "don't have to bid on them," he said. That the CBRS Coalition is made up of interests ranging from small mobile carriers to electric co-ops points to the difficulty of getting them all on the same page, so the coalition's proposal was its bottom line, not a starting point for talks, said a Coalition member executive. The FCC might be able to come up with a third position, but that seems unlikely, the executive said, saying it's also unlikely CTIA and CCA can or will modify their position.
Chairman Ajit Pai has canceled most of the meetings she had scheduled with him since she returned to the FCC last year, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said Thursday during a news conference. Earlier in the week, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, who's leaving, said she was unable to regularly schedule meetings with Pai (see 1805070036).
The CBRS Alliance, promoting the future use of the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band, Tuesday launched the OnGo brand and a certification program for CBRS devices. Last month, the alliance unveiled network and coexistence baseline specifications. “I would compare this to Wi-Fi,” CBRS Alliance President Dave Wright said in an interview. “Everybody knows what Wi-Fi means. It’s a very versatile brand. It applies to all kinds of different applications of a technology and use cases.”
Charter Communications is testing of use of the 3.5 GHz spectrum in fixed wireless applications in some markets and mobility applications in others, like Tampa, it blogged Friday. It said the testing will help prepare for its mobile wireless service launch, expected in the middle of this year (see 1804270033). It said it has 200 citizens broadband radio service small cellsites deployed in Tampa in a variety of settings, and it's considering how the CBRS band could be part of its wireless operations. Charter said it plans ubiquitous wireless connectivity through a mix of Wi-Fi 4G, LTE and 5G
Members and staff of ACT|The App Association told FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly 5G is critical to the internet economy. ACT “encouraged the Commission to support wireless broadband infrastructure buildout by streamlining regulations for small-cell deployment, which will enable more efficient densification of today’s networks and the deployment of advanced wireless infrastructure,” said a filing in docket 17-79. “Members depend on strong connectivity.” The association is tracking the future of the citizens broadband radio service band: “The 3.5 GHz band is particularly useful for wireless broadband connectivity because it can extend the reach of wireless broadband services.”