Howard Buskirk

Fiber has advantages over fixed-wireless access (FWA), which is why fiber is at the start of a boom cycle, said Gary Bolton, president of the Fiber Broadband Association, during an Informa Tech webinar Wednesday. FWA proponents countered it also has advantages and is cheaper and easier to deploy than fiber. The wireless industry is seeking to make FWA a bigger part of the $42 billion broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program (see 2301230052).

The FirstNet Authority Board picked a new CEO to replace Ed Parkinson, who left last year, members said at the board’s quarterly meeting Wednesday (see 2205040047). FirstNet didn't identify the successor to Parkinson, who took the helm in March 2020 and had the role on an acting basis starting in 2018. The new CEO “has been identified and selected, an offer has been accepted,” said FirstNet Chairman Stephen Benjamin and the announcement will come after security and administrative clearances, he said. The quarterly meeting was streamed from Austin.

Wireless executives don’t think open radio access networks are ready for mass deployment now, but believe that could happen soon, Heavy Reading analyst Simon Stanley said during a Tuesday webinar. Based on a recent Heavy Reading survey, 19% believe ORAN is ready now, and 38% say it will be within the next 12 months, Stanley said. More than 70% see ORAN as likely ready for broad deployment within two years and 17% report they completed their first ORAN or virtual Ran (VRAN) installation, he said.

Gaming was the “starting point” for the metaverse, “but we think this is not the end game,” said Mischa Dohler, Ericsson vice president-emerging technologies, during a hybrid IEEE seminar Monday: “It is really that next-generation internet … that immersive, persistent and active internet. That’s what we’re really trying to build.” Despite disagreements about what the metaverse is, “it is very clear that it cannot exist on its own and requires a lot of tech constituents” including 5G and 5G-advanced, virtual and artificial reality, he said. Consumer surveys show people want the kinds of experiences that are part of the metaverse, he said. “Demand is there,” he said. Dohler said he hates shopping at Costco, but if he had AR glasses that would guide him to the products his family needs, “I would subscribe to this for a lot of money.” 5G is robust enough to allow fully immersive experiences by multiple users using the same access point, he said. “Wi-Fi collapses fairly quickly” and can handle one or two VR connections, but “5G can handle that easily,” he said. The challenge is now less on the device and more on the network to provide extremely low latency, with very low jitter, he said. “We understand now why we need to work towards 6G,” he said.

The FCC has received more than 4 million availability challenges through its online mapping portal, said Eduard Bartholme, deputy chief of the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, during a NATOA webinar Monday. Bartholme demonstrated how the map portal works, in several locations.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) warned that retrofitting radio altimeters (RAs) on commercial aircraft to ensure they're safe from 5G wireless interference may cost airlines at least $637 million. The FAA earlier estimated the cost upgrades at just $26 million nationwide (see 2301100060). Comments were posted this week and last in docket FAA-2022-1647-0001. The FAA proposed in January that passenger and cargo aircraft in the U.S. have 5G C-band-tolerant radio altimeters or install approved filters by early 2024. “It is unfortunate” the FCC and carriers “refused to accept that any limitations on the 5G spectrum signal around airports were necessary to ensure the continued safe operation of commercial aviation,” IATA said: “This is despite the fact that IATA and other industry representatives raised these safety and interference concerns long before the auction of this spectrum. Now, the aviation industry, rather than the FCC or the telecommunications companies, is being told to pay to upgrade its certified radio altimeters. The unfairness of this cannot be overstated.” Carriers didn't file comments in the proceeding. “The wireless industry continues to work collaboratively with all stakeholders and supports the FAA’s schedule for altimeter upgrades," a CTIA spokesperson emailed. Others questioned timing. The American Association of Airport Executives (AAAW) said the FAA must work with other federal agencies, along with the aviation and telecom industries, “to develop a permanent solution that does not rely upon voluntary mitigation measures from telecommunications providers.” AAAW questioned whether the proposed timeline is workable: “While airports are not in the best position to determine the appropriate timeline for retrofitting existing airplanes, comments from air carriers and manufacturers in response to the proposal and over the past several months are clear: the proposed deadlines are unachievable, and FAA needs to extend them to prevent disruptions to the air transportation system.” The Cargo Airline Association said modifying altimeters “is not a quick process,” the group said: “The time it takes to go from the RA/filter modification development all the way to the end-state of equipage on aircraft is multi-layered and an incredibly complex process. The multitude of paperwork approvals and the complexity of the logistics channels have been further hampered by significant supply chain challenges and lack of available parts.”

The FCC appears close to releasing a Further NPRM on authorizing fixed-wireless and Wi-Fi outdoors, at standard power levels, in the 5.9 GHz band, industry officials said. More than 200 wireless ISPs and others have received FCC permission to use the band since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic under grants of special temporary authority (STA), but the Wireless ISP Association pressed the FCC to act on final rules.

Mobile wireless providers are at a “crucial moment,” as 5G launches worldwide, said Jakub Zagdanski, senior economist at GSMA Intelligence, during a Thursday Mobile World Live webinar. “We are kind of rooting the 5G networks and there are many key decisions that need to be made before they are fully grown,” he said. GSMA recently surveyed carriers and found their primary goals are to generate new revenue streams and improve customer experience, he said. “It’s about … retaining customers -- providing the best experiences in order to maximize the revenues,” he said. GSMA’s research underscores the importance of high quality service, rather than focusing on savings, he said. The leading demand of customers is a stable, resilient network, Zagdanski said. Most customers are willing to switch providers if they’re not satisfied and 58% of mobile customers in the U.K. switched in the past five years, GSMA found. “Most of the reasons were quite reactive -- what that means is essentially one single bad experience was potentially the reason that many of the customers started seeking another provider,” he said.

The Wireless ISP Association released a paper Thursday arguing that NTIA’s notice of funding opportunity for its broadband, equity, access and deployment program is biased against WISPs and wireless, and promotes “bad policy.” WISPA is working to overcome NTIA resistance to funding projects that rely partly on using unlicensed spectrum (see 2301230052). By designating fiber as a “priority broadband project” for deployments, NTIA will drive up the cost of closing the digital divide by as much as $60 billion, the paper said.

The major questions doctrine, as laid out in July’s Supreme Court decision in West Virginia v. EPA (see 2206300066), is likely to play an increasingly important role in future decisions on actions by federal agencies like the FCC, experts said Wednesday during an FCBA webinar. In a 6-3 decision, justices didn’t overrule the Chevron doctrine but appeared to further clamp down on agencies' ability to regulate without clear direction from Congress.