Field Tests Will Be Critical to Successful Deployment of Spectrum Bought in Incentive Auction, AT&T Says
AT&T officials explained in more detail the kind of work carriers must do after they buy licenses in the TV incentive auction, in a teleconference with FCC officials, said a filing in docket 12-268. AT&T elaborated on its “First Field…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
Application” (FFA) testing practices, the filing said. “FFA testing is part of a process that necessarily takes place before any new hardware or software is introduced into AT&T’s network, and is especially important prior to introducing a new spectrum band into the network,” the carrier said. “Its FFA process typically follows lab testing by its vendors, then testing in AT&T’s own labs ... [T]hat testing in a live network environment is essential.” CTIA and members have been pressing the FCC to put in place “commencement of service” rules that give licensees the time they need to conduct tests as they get ready to deploy on the 600 MHz licenses they buy in the auction (see 1509230043). “Software testing is especially complex, and includes tests to ensure that the software load is stable, that all features work and that all of the peg counters are operating properly,” AT&T said, noting that problems are identified as tests take place. “Device testing includes evaluations of how the devices interoperate with the hardware and software in the new band as well as in the other bands operating on the network, and is evaluated in various morphologies.”