Howard Buskirk

Commenting on proposed FCC data breach rules (see 2302230038), groups representing the deaf and hard of hearing urged a focus on telecommunications relay service providers. “Overall, rules concerning TRS should account for the unique privacy concerns faced by TRS users, including the possibility that call transcripts could be accessed in a data breach,” the advocates said: “These rules should not include harm-based trigger notification requirements and should not treat cost as a barrier to implementation.” The filing was signed by Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Hearing Loss Association of America, National Association of the Deaf and the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing at Gallaudet University. TRS provider Sorenson Communications said it and other providers should have to report “inadvertent disclosures” of customer proprietary network information. But the FCC should recognize “the legitimate dangers of over-reporting,” Sorenson said: “Many inadvertent ‘breaches’ pose no serious risk to consumers, such as when an employee of a TRS provider inadvertently receives access to CPNI but does not misuse the information. Requiring providers to report such de minimis ‘breaches’ -- essentially false positives -- would serve no helpful purpose.” Provider Hamilton Relay said the commission should keep in mind “how TRS providers are different from common carriers with regard to the services they provide and the information they collect from their customers.” The FCC should also consider “how its proposed rules will align, or potentially conflict, with existing state and federal privacy regimes,” Hamilton said. Comments were posted last week in docket 22-21.

The three largest U.S. tower companies see lots of runway ahead for 5G, based on comments in financial calls as they reported Q4 earnings. American Tower became the last to report Thursday. None of the companies had much to say about COVID-19 pandemic aftereffects or the effects of inflation, big issues in some recent quarters.

CTIA warned the FCC its ability to regulate data breaches of information beyond customer proprietary network information (CPNI) is constrained by law. Other provider groups' filings posted Thursday struck a similar tone. But the Electronic Privacy Information Center said it's time for the FCC to get tough.

Federal agencies need better coordination on AI as the U.S. works toward a national AI policy, said Lynne Parker, former director of the White House National Artificial Intelligence Office, on a Center for Data Innovation webinar Thursday. Experts said the Biden administration should do more to follow up on initiatives started under President Donald Trump. Meanwhile, a new survey by NVIDA found that 95% of industry respondents said they’re looking at or using AI, though most use is at an early stage.

The FCC released the drafts of items scheduled for votes at the commissioners' March 16 open meeting, headlined by new rules for robotexts and a draft NPRM that would create a supplemental coverage from space (SCS) FCC authorization that would let satellite operators use flexible-use spectrum allocated to terrestrial services. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel also proposed rules designed to strengthen Stir/Shaken aimed at blocking more robocalls. The agenda is the biggest for an FCC meeting in many months (see 2302060035).

A new report by the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) recommends “urgent action” and presidential-level focus on cyberthreats. NSTAC members approved the “Strategy for Increasing Trust in the Information and Communications Technology and Services Ecosystem” during a telephone meeting Tuesday. Administration officials said they will soon release an updated national cybersecurity strategy.

The wireless industry faces a significant challenge training the workforce needed for open radio access networks, 5G, 6G and beyond, experts said Tuesday during an RCR wireless webinar. The industry is becoming increasingly competitive and carriers are having to pay “top dollar for top talent” to hire the staff they need, said Shirish Nagaraj, Corning chief technologist. With the transition from earlier Gs to 5G, things are happening “on a much faster timescale,” Nagaraj said. “Networks are getting deployed faster” and industry has to “do more with less,” he said. Staffers need new skill sets like managing the cloud, system integration and working with fiber, he said. Workers need training to make sure they’re focused on“cutting-edge technologies, on new innovations that are leading edge, and it makes for very interesting work," Nagaraj said. Industry needs to cross-train staff and break down “silos,” he said. Corning projects a need for 850,000 fiber technicians this decade, “so this in a tall ask that we have to fill,” he said. Corning has launched two training programs, a fiber broadband technician training working with AT&T, and a registered apprenticeship program, working with the Wireless Infrastructure Association, he said. “There’s a massive, inevitable momentum already happening in the need for secure networks to be built,” said Vishal Mathur, Telecom Infra Project global head-engagement: “We’re driving toward a whole new agenda here in the industry and there’s economic value to chase after.” Governments are driving change, as they seek supply chain diversity and more security in the way networks are built, he said. There has been lots of “proving” and testing of new networks, like those built using ORAN technologies, Mathur said. “Actual deployment” is happening, he said. With ORAN, open-optical and open-Wi-Fi networks “we need more people who understand the product set, understand how to integrate it and test it, understand how to procure it in a multivendor environment,” he said. The move from a single vendor network to multiple vendors requires workers with a “fundamental understanding of what builds up the solutions stack from a technology perspective,” he said. “That’s who we’ve designed fundamental training at the common layer for everyone,” he said. Network and test engineers, and operations staff “need to speak in the same taxonomy and need to understand exactly the same glossary of terms,” he said.

Groups representing small carriers warned of timing problems and financial hardships for their members from proposed rules to more precisely route wireless 911 calls and texts to public safety answering points through location-based routing (LBR), in comments on an NPRM commissioners approved 4-0 in December (see 2212210047). But public safety groups urged the FCC to act as soon as possible. The commission proposed to require nationwide providers to deploy LBR within six months from the effective date of final rules, while smaller carriers would get 18 months.

6G will offer some changes for telecom networks, with more focus on software and AI, but it’s more likely to be evolutionary than revolutionary, experts agreed during Wireless Communications Alliance’s virtual 6G conference Thursday. The questions about 6G have started earlier than for earlier generations of wireless, said Prakash Sangam, principal at Tantra Analyst. “The natural question everybody has is ‘is it too early to talk about 6G?’” he said: “What can 6G do that 5G and 5G-advanced can’t?”

More than 60 countries have moved to open the 6 GHz band for unlicensed use, and allowing standard-powered devices controlled by automated frequency coordination is an “integral part” of the FCC’s 2020 6 GHz order, Alex Roytblat, Wi-Fi Alliance vice president-worldwide regulatory affairs, said during a webinar Thursday. In November, the FCC conditionally authorized 13 AFC providers to operate in the band (see 2211030066). The webinar, by the alliance, the Wireless Innovation Forum and the 6 GHz Multi-Stakeholder Group, examined technical details of AFC system lab testing. Use of AFC offers “enhanced performance, which is achievable with increased power limits,” Roytblat said. “That is why our industry, collectively, stepped up to facilitate enablement of the 6 GHz standard-power operation.” The Wi-Fi Alliance and WInnForum “invested significant resources, thousands of man-hours, to develop a suite of specifications” for AFC, he said: “These specifications are already enabling development of a vibrant 6 GHz AFC ecosystem and I’m confident that the information that we share will assist regulators and other interested parties in validating AFC capabilities and functionalities.” Industry has spent “a good two years of work on just the testing alone,” said Mark Gibson, CommScope senior director-business development and spectrum policy. Wi-Fi in 6 GHz is “transformative,” with billions of devices likely to be deployed in the next few years, “many of which will be under control of the AFC,” he said: “We’re really working hard to get this right out of the box.”