FCC commissioners approved an order 4-0 incorporating 2019's American National Standards Institute standard into its rules and making it the exclusive testing standard for determining hearing aid compatibility after a two-year transition. The FCC sought comment last year (see 2001300041). The agency now extended the volume control deadline, to coincide with the start of the standard, and made technical changes. The order was released Monday in docket 20-3. “We improve accessibility by updating our … rules to ensure that people with hearing loss have access to the newest devices built with the latest technical developments and standards,” said acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel: “This action is especially important right now with the deployment of 5G underway. It is imperative that this new service is built for all.”
It’s too early to say what will “formally define” 6G wireless, but Qualcomm Technologies “will be there just like we’ve been for every mobile technology leap as we continue to drive longer-term research across core wireless disciplines and a growing mix of adjacent technologies,” blogged Vice President-Engineering John Smee Monday. It’s working to enable 5G for “a broader set of industries” beyond mobile broadband, he said. Qualcomm R&D teams expanded their over-the-air test beds to “support enhanced and new features” in industrial and automotive applications,” he said. It continues to “optimize” 5G for industrial IoT, such as supporting ultra-high reliability communication and time-sensitive networking, he said. Qualcomm will show at this week’s MWC Shanghai for the first time “how sidelink communications between devices can deliver broader coverage and higher capacity for IIoT applications,” he said: It’s showcasing how sidelink can complement “wide-area 5G” for advanced automotive applications, such as navigation based on high-resolution 3D maps.
Ericsson launched three new radios in its massive multiple-input, multiple-output portfolio and expanded its radio access network compute portfolio, said the company Monday. “After the first rollouts of 5G networks, now is the time to scale up 5G by leveraging Massive MIMO to a much larger extent,” said Per Narvinger, head-product area networks.
CTIA representatives deemed it important to “continu[e] to expand the spectrum pipeline,” in calls with aides to FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Brendan Carr, said a filing posted Monday in docket 19-348. “CTIA identified the 3 GHz band as a 5G priority band, which would enable device, network equipment, and chip manufacturers to build to globally harmonized, international specifications.”
UScellular may have spent $1.46 billion in the C-band auction, suggested a footnote in its Friday investor presentation accompanying Q4 results. Executives on a quarterly call declined to comment, saying the footnote was intended only to provide “context.” After Dec. 31, “UScellular committed to purchase wireless spectrum licenses for approximately $1,460 million inclusive of associated costs, subject to regulatory approval,” the footnote said. Companies are barred from commenting on auction results until 10 business days after they're announced by the FCC. Winners must make 20% deposits. A UScellular spokesperson didn’t comment.
Satellite services in the 12 GHz band are "some of the most promising, if not the only, technologies" that could quickly close the U.S. digital divide, and allowing widespread terrestrial 5G services in the band could undermine those services, OneWeb representatives told aides to acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, said an International Bureau filing Wednesday.
Tower Semiconductor’s 2020 mobile business grew more than 20% year on year, “due to a combination of increased market share, overall market recovery and the beginning of a transition to 5G handsets, said CEO Russell Ellwanger on a Q4 investor call Wednesday. “Growth was broad-based and included ramps of our newest 200-millimeter and 300-millimeter technologies as well as very strong demand for existing offerings.” Tower’s mobile forecasts “are strong for 2021,” said Ellwanger. The chipmaker expects that 5G handsets, which require 30% to 50% more RF content than 4G phones, “will increasingly replace older models over the next few years, creating a sustained opportunity for growth in this market,” he said. Ellwanger doesn’t deny the semiconductor industry is in the midst of “a very strong demand environment” that can make keeping up the supply “sometimes challenging,” he said.
T-Mobile, working with the Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners and the Georgia Institute of Technology, announced Wednesday the creation of the 5G Connected Future incubator program in suburban Atlanta's Gwinnett County. T-Mobile deployed both of its 5G offerings across Peachtree Corners, it said: “Here developers will build and test new 5G use cases.”
Globalstar and Xcom Labs signed a deal for Globalstar to use Xcom's capacity-boosting and scaling techniques in deployments of its band n53 for 5G, Globalstar said Wednesday. The partnership also gives Globalstar access to Xcom's expertise for future commercial and regulatory efforts, Globalstar said.
Affordable direct satellite connectivity to mobile devices, "one of the moonshot objectives" of the satellite industry for years, is feasible, and there's sizable work going on to adapt some 5G standards to non-terrestrial networks, blogged Northern Sky Research analyst Lluc Palerm Monday. "That the same off-the-shelf device that connects to a terrestrial station will be able to close the link with a satellite is no minor feat," said Palerm. "The good news is that major chipset manufacturers are embracing this opportunity."