Howard Buskirk

ATIS supported a March petition by the Competitive Carriers Association seeking tweaks to the FCC’s 911 outage reporting rules, approved 4-0 by commissioners last year (see 2211170051). Comments were due Monday in docket 15-80 (see 2306140057). ATIS’ Network Reliability Steering Committee “believes that it is infeasible to comply with the recently-adopted reporting rules” requiring carriers to provide 911 special facilities with all available material information they have about an outage within 30 minutes of discovery, said a filing posted Tuesday. “Until there is notification from a third-party (such as from a vendor or another service provider etc.), originating service providers would not know of an outage or its impact,” ATIS said: “Even after an originating service provider receives notification of an outage, 30 minutes is a challenging deadline. … In this very short window of time, providers likely will not know the root cause, the outage’s extent, or be able to estimate when service would be restored, and in some cases may not be able to identify the affected” public safety answering points. The Boulder Regional Emergency Telephone Service Authority opposed the petition. “If providers are unwilling or unable to monitor their systems and traffic, and timely report outages, then they should authorize or assign third-party network providers on which their services are dependent to provide outage notifications, and supply those third-party network providers the information they need to fully report the impact of the outage,” the Colorado agency said. APCO also opposed the reconsideration petition (see 2306260062).

FCC nominee Anna Gomez likely faces a relatively easy road to confirmation after avoiding any real trouble during her Senate Commerce Committee confirmation hearing last week (see 2306220067), industry officials and others told us. Gomez was careful throughout the panel, never committing outright to voting for reclassification of broadband as a Communications Act Title II service, while also stressing the importance of FCC oversight. Some observers questioned whether the Senate would be able to confirm any Democrat to the fifth FCC seat if the Gomez nomination fails.

The FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council approved three reports Monday, during a final, hybrid meeting under the current iteration, including on the use of virtualization technology to promote more reliable and secure 5Gm supply chain security and the use of hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) in 5G. Officials said the group approved 10 reports during its tenure.

More than three years after a 6 GHz Further NPRM was approved in April 2020 (see 2004230059), the FCC hasn't acted. Speculation in 2020 was that the agency could act before the end of the Trump administration (see 2012180057). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit largely upheld the 2020 6 GHz order 18 months ago (see 2112280047).

FCC nominee Anna Gomez faced tough questions Thursday on net neutrality, data privacy, the Standard General/Tegna deal and how she would balance her current role leading the U.S. delegation in preparing for the World Radiocommunication Conference if she's confirmed to the FCC. The Senate Commerce Committee nomination hearing saw Commissioner Geoffrey Starks hit by many of the same questions on his nomination for a second term on the FCC. Commissioner Brendan Carr, also being renominated, and Fara Damelin, nominee for FCC inspector general, faced fewer questions.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is sending a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel seeking a record refresh on streaming media services and “the changing landscape of media," she said Thursday during a Senate confirmation hearing for FCC nominees (see 2306220067). In 2014, former Chairman Tom Wheeler circulated a proposal (see 1410280053) to change the definition of a multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) to be technology neutral. “I’m very concerned about the decline of local news,” Cantwell said at the hearing. “The FCC started a proceeding to examine this issue but has been stalled for nearly a decade,” she said: “You can’t have an FCC that’s stalled over the complexity -- we have to resolve this issue.” The three commissioner nominees said they support reopening the proceeding. In the nearly 10 years “since the FCC launched the proceeding, the video service landscape has changed dramatically,” the letter says: “However, today when viewers have more options for what content to watch (and which platform to watch it from), local broadcasts remain the recognized expert and dominant source for local news for many Americans.” As consumers recognize, “streaming platforms have drastically changed their ability to access local broadcast content,” said NAB President Curtis LeGeyt. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., also raised the issue during the hearing, citing a Wall Street Journal opinion piece Thursday by former Commissioner Robert McDowell. A loophole in FCC rules “allows networks to take control of local stations’ distribution rights, negotiate ‘on their behalf’ with streaming services, pocket fees for others’ content, and leave stations with much less money than if they had cut their own deals,” McDowell wrote: “Stations are given a ‘choice’ to accept the networks’ terms or risk losing network programming, which could put them out of business.”

North America is leading the world in the uptake of 5G with 41% of subscribers signed up for the new generation of wireless at the end of last year, according to the Ericsson Mobility Report, released Wednesday. Ericsson projected a 25% compound annual growth rate in mobile network data traffic through 2028. “Managing this growth while improving the mobile user experience requires continued network evolution,” the report said: “Notably, 5G mid-band build-out is proving to be more energy-efficient and cost-effective compared to the expansion of 4G networks.” 5G subscriptions are increasing in every region of the world and forecast to reach 1.5 billion by the end of 2023. Some 240 commercial 5G networks have been launched so far, Ericsson found. India is having the fastest growth anywhere. Following the launch of 5G in October, “the 5G market is witnessing huge network deployments under its Digital India initiative,” the report said: India reached 10 million 5G subscriptions by the end of 2022 and 5G is projected to account for about 57% of mobile subscriptions there by the end of 2028. Paroma Sanyal, co-leader of the Telecom, Media and Internet practice at the Brattle Group, said Wednesday new numbers from Ericsson show Brattle potentially underestimated growth in an April report commissioned by CTIA (see 2304170009). That report said without new spectrum bands allocated for licensed use, the U.S. could face a 400 MHz deficit by 2027 and 1,400 MHz by 2032. “We thought a 23% CAGR was quite high, but now they’re projecting even higher,” said Sanyal, former chief economist at the FCC Wireless Bureau, during a Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy webcast. She said what the data flow will look like remains unclear. “We have seen so much fixed wireless deployment under 5G, so it’s not just the mobile network,” she said. There will probably be a lot more “data hungry” apps in use, she said. Improved spectral efficiency won’t be enough to keep up with projected data demand, she said, adding that while people say you can put in more towers, “there’s a physical limit to how many towers you can put in, how spectrum can be reused because of interference issues. So there’s always physical limit to what else you can do.” At least 64% of the projected demand needs to be satisfied by increased spectrum availability, she said. Sanyal predicted that once FCC auction authority is restored the lower 3 GHz band will be the next target for full-power licensed use.

Open radio access networks are starting to hit their stride, executives said during a TelecomTV summit Wednesday. Speakers said the outlook has changed in just more than a year.

Several groups supported T-Mobile’s proposed buy of Mint Mobile (see 2303150032) in filings at the FCC. While the review of acquisitions is “important, both from a national security and competition standpoint, the current administration’s posture has been far too extreme,” National Taxpayers Union said, posted Wednesday in docket 23-171. “This case should not warrant an excessive review process or lawsuits,” the group said: “In this case, at just north of $1 billion in value, this is not a blockbuster acquisition by the broader acquisitions market and even by T-Mobile’s standards, which just closed the Sprint acquisition only three years ago for $23 billion.” The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation said the FCC should “narrowly tailor” its review to “the purposes of Section 214" of the Communications Act, which governs foreign ownership. T-Mobile is partly owned by Germany’s Deutsche Telekom. “Because this proposed merger presents little chance of consumer harm and a strong probability of consumer benefits, the Commission should approve it as consistent with the statute and recent Commission precedent,” ITIF said: Protecting the public interest “is only an intelligible principle when it is in service of the Commission’s statutorily prescribed authority. It is not a freewheeling grant to go on a generalized policymaking expedition.” Silicon Harlem also supported the transaction. “Carefully consider the potential positive impact this transaction can have on expanding affordable wireless access and promoting digital equity,” Silicon Harlem said. “By approving this acquisition, you would send a clear message that the FCC is committed to fostering the inclusion of historically underserved communities in the digital economy,” the group said. New York’s Capital Region Chamber also filed in support, citing the “connectivity challenges that rural communities continue to face.”

The rollout of next-generation 911 to public safety answering points remains at the top of the agenda for the National Emergency Number Association and its members, CEO Brian Fontes said in an interview. NENA's annual meeting is this week in Grapevine, Texas. Fontes warned against a "patchwork" of service across the U.S.