The wireless industry’s need for spectrum for full-power, licensed use will be reduced by the 800 MHz “pipeline” in the reconciliation package approved by Congress this summer, CTIA President Ajit Pai said Thursday, but eventually the industry will need more. He also called on the FCC to take another look at how the 6 GHz band is allocated.
Verizon wasn’t interested in the spectrum that AT&T is buying from EchoStar, Sowmyanarayan Sampath, CEO of Verizon Consumer Group, said at a Bank of America financial conference Wednesday. Verizon is very happy with its spectrum position, he said. AT&T announced last week an agreement to buy EchoStar spectrum for $23 billion (see 2508260005).
While 5G network slicing has gotten the most attention, it hasn’t proved to be successful in most cases, and fiber slicing may have more promise, said Nick Saporito, executive director at GFiber Labs, during a Fiber Broadband Association webinar Wednesday. Also at the event, FBA CEO Gary Bolton said early indications show that fiber will play an important role in the restructured BEAD program.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Wednesday circulated two items targeting programs created under the Biden administration to fund Wi-Fi hot spots and Wi-Fi on school buses. Commissioner Anna Gomez immediately indicated she opposed cutting the programs, which have long been lightning rods for Republican objections.
Incarcerated people’s communications service (IPCS) providers and some public safety groups are leaning on the FCC not to rescind a Wireline Bureau order delaying some prison-calling deadlines until April 1, 2027. In a surprise move, the bureau postponed implementation deadlines that took effect in January and had been approved by commissioners last year (see 2506300068).
EchoStar is asking the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to require the FCC to change rules in the AWS-3 auction order that commissioners approved in July (see 2507240055). In the order, the FCC rejected arguments by EchoStar, parent of Dish Network, that the agency should use the same designated entity (DE) rules in the reauction that it employed in the original (see 2507220033).
New Environmental Health Trust (EHT) President Joe Sandri said he wants to popularize the idea that, similar to how cars are marketed based on their safety, wireless services and devices can be sold based on their safety in terms of RF exposure. Sandri was a longtime telecom executive who headed FiberTower, which was bought by AT&T, and IDT Spectrum, which Verizon ultimately absorbed. “I know a lot … from the perspective of an industry player,” he said. He was picked for the top job at EHT in August.
Automakers were united in raising concerns about an FCC proposal to update its “covered list” of unsecure companies to reflect a January finding by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security on connected vehicles (see 2505270059). Many groups have already opposed the proposal (see 2506300052). In filings Thursday and Friday, four automakers weighed in separately in docket 18-89, arguing that the proposal works against the Trump administration's goal of reinvigorating U.S. auto manufacturing.
Meeting the goals of the budget reconciliation package to make 800 MHz of spectrum available for auction (see 2507070045) won’t be easy, especially with 3.1-3.45 and 7.4-8.4 GHz exempted from potential reallocation, warned Joe Kane, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation's director of broadband and spectrum policy. Kane spoke with former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly in a new webcast, part of a series for the Free State Foundation.
The Department of Commerce's Office of Inspector General (OIG) released summaries of two reports Thursday that were sharply critical of actions by the FirstNet Authority. One found that some FirstNet officials worked to block an OIG investigation, while the second found incidents of retaliation against a FirstNet employee who cooperated with OIG.