Howard Buskirk

The Biden administration Thursday directed the President's National Security Telecommunications Committee to explore principles for baseline security offerings from cloud-service providers, with a report expected in May. NSTAC met Thursday and Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser-cyber and emerging technology, asked for the cloud-security report.

A week ahead of Wednesday’s FCC commissioner vote on revised data breach reporting requirements, providers and major industry associations raised concerns about the proposed rules (see 2311220047) and whether they would withstand a court challenge. Filings on meetings with commissioner staff and other FCC officials were posted Thursday in docket 22-21. Only NCTA raised concerns in the docket prior to Thursday (see 2312060037).

T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert and AT&T CEO John Stankey had a similar message at the UBS conference Tuesday. Wireless competition in the U.S. is thriving, but the big carriers' investments are rational as they target higher average revenue per user. Stankey also discussed AT&T's open radio access network strategy (see 2312050049).

AT&T is accelerating its move to an open radio access network, agreeing to spend up to $14 billion on a five-year contract with Ericsson. The carrier expects limited cost savings as it adopts ORAN, AT&T CEO John Stankey said during a UBS conference Tuesday. In addition, AT&T announced it will work with other vendors, though the move was widely seen as a loss for Ericsson rival Nokia.

The U.S. delegation to the World Radiocommunication Conference in Dubai has been quiet two weeks into the long-awaited conference. Steve Lang, the State Department official who replaced now-Commissioner Anna Gomez as delegation head, will not hold a news conference until after the WRC concludes Dec. 15, a spokesperson confirmed.

The citizens broadband radio service is in its early days, but in 20 years or so it will be as mature as Wi-Fi is today, with a similar ecosystem, Jim Jacobellis, senior vice president at private network company Alef, said Monday during a Dense Networks webinar. “You’re going to see CBRS networks in most any city or county that has some level of communications capability,” he said. That will happen in the next five-10 years. "It’s just a matter of when and how they get there," Jacobellis said. The question is where both Wi-Fi and cellular are “not good enough,” he said: “That’s where private LTE and private cellular can come in and save the day thanks to the recent availability of the CBRS band.” In the U.S., CBRS is “the innovation band,” said Jamaal Smith, vice president-sales at managed-service provider Kajeet. “It allows municipalities, universities, to do things that they might not have been able to do with traditional cellular or with Wi-Fi,” he said. Added Eric Toenjes, national market manager-wireless solution at Graybar, CBRS is “in the early stages of adoption,” though some players “are going all in.” Graybar is a distributor of communications and other solutions. Some users are working with companies like Kajeet while others are developing networks on their own, he said.

U.S. technology is “more important than ever” to national security, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Saturday at the Reagan Defense Forum in California. Raimondo was the first Commerce secretary to address the conference, but said she won’t be the last. The U.S. is serious about blocking China and its military from buying computer chips with advanced AI capabilities, she added.

Most commenters supported adding the equipment and services needed to use Wi-Fi on school buses to the FY 2024 eligible services list for the FCC E-rate program as a category one service. Comments were posted Friday in docket 13-184. FCC Republican Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington dissented last month on an NPRM asking about the change (see 2311090028).

The FCC received only three comments as of Friday in response to its August notice asking about spectrum access in tribal and native Hawaiian areas. Comments were due Thursday in docket 23-265 (see 2308040039). During a recent webinar, FCC officials expressed hope for comments that would help in other proceedings (see 2311160057). The United South and Eastern Tribes Sovereignty Protection Fund (USET) urged the FCC to create a tribal window, similar to that before the 2.5 GHz auction (see 2009030012), for other bands. “Since the late 1990s, the federal government has attempted to subsidize telecommunications deployment in Indian Country, but these efforts have not kept pace with ever-changing and advancing technologies, especially in the areas of spectrum management and use,” USET said. USET cited the $22.4 billion 3.45 GHz auction as an example of the challenges tribes face: “The extremely high price point for obtaining spectrum licenses creates an insurmountable barrier to entry for Tribal Nations, especially since federal funds or credit offsets are non-existent or do not adequately provide the financial support required to participate in these auctions.” The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe said tribes need spectrum in areas where local providers have failed to offer service. “This failure is largely due to the lack of a rate of investment as tribal lands generally are less populated and have large numbers of low-income households steering local internet service providers away from tribal communities,” the tribe said. Make the renewal process easier for tribes through “an automatic renewal process for received/granted FCC licenses,” the Makah Indian Tribe said. “Tribes have historically faced a high employee turnover rate that has caused issues in license renewals in which the granted FCC license has lapsed due to the current process guidelines,” the tribe said.

5G mobile subscriptions are expected to reach 1.6 billion by the end of 2023 and exceed 5.3 billion in 2029, Ericsson said Thursday as it released its much-watched mobility report. In Q3, providers added 163 million 5G subscriptions worldwide. The North American region is expected to have the highest 5G penetration rate by year's end at 61%, more than double that in Europe. About 85% of the world’s population is expected to have access to 5G by the end of 2029, the report found. Ericsson also projected cellular IoT connections will reach 3 billion in 2023. In addition, data use is soaring. Mobile network data increased 33% in a year through Q3 and the average smartphone is expected to use 56 GB of data per month at the end of 2029, Ericsson said. “The ongoing surge in data traffic remains a strong driver of demand for mobile networks,” the report said: “Most traffic is generated indoors, where people typically spend the majority of their time. There is, however, a growing need to extend 5G mid-band coverage indoors to ensure a comprehensive 5G experience.” Carriers continue to deploy 5G “despite a weaker global economy and geopolitical uncertainties,” Ericsson found. Globally, about 280 providers have launched commercial 5G services, with more than 40 deploying a 5G stand-alone network. 5G stand-alone “is becoming well established,” which “enables new capabilities such as 5G native voice … and new services like network slicing and user equipment route selection policy,” the report said.