Howard Buskirk

The U.S. wireless industry invested $39 billion in infrastructure, and “America leads the world in 5G availability,” but leadership is in doubt unless more spectrum is allocated for industry to keep up with demand, CTIA President Meredith Baker said Tuesday at the start of the Mobile World Congress in Las Vegas. The U.S. is falling behind many other countries on mid-band for 5G, she said. Baker urged special focus on reallocating the lower 3 GHz, 4 GHz and 7 GHz bands for 5G.

The FCC added a section on cybersecurity and supply chain risk management to the final Further NPRM on a 5G Fund. That was the biggest change from the draft, based on a side-by-side comparison. Commissioner Geoffrey Starks highlighted the additional security questions when the FNPRM was approved by commissioners last week (see 2309210035). The FCC also released comment deadlines -- Oct 23, for initial comments, Nov. 21 for replies. The FCC is seeking comment on “whether to require 5G Fund support recipients to implement cybersecurity and supply chain risk management plans as a condition of receiving … support,” the notice said. It notes a similar requirement in the FCC’s enhanced alternative connect America cost model order (see 2307240064). The FNPRM now asks about requiring submission of plans that reflect the latest version of the National Institute of Standards and Technology “Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, and that reflects an established set of cybersecurity best practices, such as the standards and controls” established by the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency or the Center for Internet Security. “Would it be appropriate for 5G Fund recipients to submit to [Universal Service Administrative Co.] their updated cybersecurity and supply chain risk management plans within 30 days of making a substantive modification thereto, as Enhanced A-CAM recipients must?” the FNPRM asks: “What are the differences (if any) between 5G Fund recipients and Enhanced A-CAM recipients that might warrant different approaches to ensuring cybersecurity?” The FNPRM was in Monday’s “Daily Digest.”

5G is growing in Europe, but the region is falling behind parts of the Americas and Asia, a GSMA official said during a Mobile World Live webinar Monday. Europe is “lagging in terms of customers willing to upgrade to 5G,” said Radhika Gupta, GSMA Intelligence head-data acquisition.

Two years after AT&T filed it at the FCC, the commission sought comment Friday on a petition asking for a rulemaking on mid-band spectrum screen covering 2.5-6 GHz (see 2109010069). Comments are due Oct. 23, replies Nov. 8, in docket 23-319. The Wireless Bureau and the Office of Economics and Analytics “first seek comment on AT&T’s request that the Commission initiate a rulemaking proceeding,” the notice said: “We then seek comment more broadly on whether we should recommend that the Commission, in the context of initiating a rulemaking, propose other changes to its mobile spectrum holdings rules and policies.” Among other questions asked is whether the spectrum range highlighted by AT&T is broad enough and whether the commission should undertake a “case-by-case review of long-form license applications rather than adopt ex ante limits.” The notice asks “whether and how we should recommend to the Commission that it propose additional amendments to its mobile spectrum holdings rules and policies, in light of evolutions in technology and market dynamics.” It asks about changes to FCC rules or policies to promote competition and ensure “there is sufficient spectrum available for multiple existing mobile service providers as well as potential entrants.” Should the FCC update the spectrum included in that screen, “or adjust the approximate one-third trigger for the spectrum screen that the Commission currently applies?” the notice asks: “How should the Commission address spectrum aggregation as new bands become available? ... We seek comment on whether the Commission should consider spectrum weighting and, if so, what specific weighted factors should be considered.” AT&T urged the FCC to consider a screen similar to those already established for high- and low-band spectrum. “We believe that such a tool would assist the Commission in identifying spectrum aggregations that may cause competitive harm by allowing a licensee to hold so much mid-band spectrum in a given market that it becomes impossible for others to compete effectively,” AT&T said then. Last year, AT&T asked the FCC not to award T-Mobile 2.5 GHz licenses it won in an auction based on its rival’s mid-band holdings (see 2211210085).

NTIA is “near the finish line” on release of a national spectrum strategy (see 2301090035), Scott Harris, NTIA senior spectrum adviser, told the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee Thursday. Harris said the agency doesn’t view the strategy as an end point.

The FCC approved a Further NPRM on launching a 5G Fund, as expected (see 2309200048). Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel noted that because of improved data the agency now knows that 14 million homes and businesses in the U.S. don’t have mobile 5G coverage today. Commissioner Nathan Simington concurred at the FCC's Thursday open meeting, complaining about how the FNPRM proposes to allocate funding.

The FCC seems likely to adopt the 5G Fund Further NPRM largely as proposed by FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel (see 2308300062), industry officials said. Only the Rural Wireless Association raised questions at the FCC or asked for changes tied to preserving some legacy support (see 2309120044).

The FCC can’t take the same approach on robotexts as it does on robocalls, said Wilkinson Barker’s Matt Gerst, representing CTIA, during an FCBA webinar Wednesday. Other industry speakers said the FCC’s attack on robocalls since 2017 appears to be paying dividends, though work remains.

DOJ sided with Dish Network, against T-Mobile, over whether Dish should get more time to buy 800 MHz spectrum, filing Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, which is handling T-Mobile’s buy of Sprint (see 2308170065). The government supports giving Dish until April 1 to buy the spectrum, or pay a $72 million fee for walking away from the deal (see 1907260071). Dish asked for an extension through June 30.

An expected FCC order on the 2020 Further NPRM on the 6 GHz band likely won’t go as far as Wi-Fi advocates hoped (see 2308070060). Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is now expected to seek changes only permitting very-low-power (VLP) devices to operate anywhere without location awareness or automated frequency control, industry experts said. The order is expected to delay a decision on a second part of the FNPRM, on increasing the power at which low-power indoor (LPI) access points may operate.