The FCC will take on two consumer issues at the commissioners' Oct. 17 open meeting: the georouting of calls to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and rules requiring all wireless handsets to be hearing-aid compatible, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Wednesday. The meeting is the last before the Nov. 5 elections. Drafts will be posted on Thursday. A draft order would require all U.S. wireless carriers to implement georouting within 30 days of the effective date of the rule for nationwide providers and 24 months after the effective date for smaller ones, said a news release. Telecom trade groups have asserted carriers are voluntarily implementing 988 georouting and the agency doesn't need to mandate it (see 2407300050). The release refers to two carriers, which the FCC confirms are Verizon and T-Mobile. “Last week, our country’s largest wireless carriers began phasing out the old system of routing 988 calls, which was based on the area code and prefix of your phone number, regardless of your actual location,” Rosenworcel said: “They are replacing it with a system that uses so-called ‘georouting’ technology to make sure wireless 988 callers are connected with counselors in their local community.” Some 80% of calls to the 988 Lifeline "are done through wireless phones, and many people have phone numbers with different area codes from where they live, work or visit,” said Ulf Ewaldsson, T-Mobile president-technology. “Georouting ensures that those seeking help will reach the available crisis center nearest their location for support. It’s about making sure help is there when and where it’s needed most.” The FCC sought comment in a December NPRM (see 2312130019) on how to implement a 100% HAC standard. While the wireless industry largely supported recommendations in the NPRM, groups representing the deaf and hard of hearing urged tweaks (see 2402270066). “We’re making smartphones more accessible to consumers with hearing loss,” Rosenworcel said. “After a reasonable phase-in period, the 48 million Americans with hearing loss will be able to choose among that same mobile phone models that are available to all consumers,” she said. Commissioners will also consider an adjudicatory matter from the Media Bureau. Such items are released at the meeting after they are approved.
“Shoveling more spectrum” into the pool of available frequencies for unlicensed use won’t necessarily mean faster Wi-Fi speeds, Richard Bennett, High Tech Forum founder, said during a Georgetown University Center for Business and Public Policy webcast Wednesday. Bennett, who worked on the initial Wi-Fi standard, also questioned whether 6 GHz is taking off as a Wi-Fi band. It's expected he will lay out his arguments in a paper next week.
The 7/8 GHz band will be a key band for 6G in the U.S., Veena Rawat, senior spectrum adviser to GSMA, predicted at the 6G Symposium on Tuesday (see 2409240032). An examination of additional bands for international mobile telecommunications was approved as an agenda item for the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2027, and 7/8 GHz is on the list, noted Rawat, who chaired the WRC in 2003. The reason for that agenda item is "the need for additional spectrum for 6G has been established,” she said. The 7/8 GHz band is “complex,” with government users, fixed satellites, meteorological satellites and other users. “Fixed you can work with,” she said, adding U.S. government users include DOD, NOAA and the FAA. Studies of 7/8 GHz are underway ahead of the WRC, Rawat said. “You need to know what your newcomer is, what are the characteristics of [the user], what are the parameters.” She added, “That’s the discussion we are having right now.” The studies will focus on protection of incumbents, not 6G, and the conditions under which the band can be shared, she said. Another band ITU is considering, with less promise, is 14.8-15.35 GHz, she said. “It’s good to discuss 14 GHz … but it’s kind of upper mid-band.” Rawat noted that the 600 MHz is being used for 5G worldwide, though not in the Americas, except in Mexico and Brazil. 7/8 GHz is among the bands the national spectrum strategy is studying and has been a top focus of carriers (see 2403120056). However you look at it, 7-24 GHz is “busy” in the U.S., said Tommaso Melodia, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Northeastern University. There is fixed wireless and fixed satellite, radiolocation services, radio astronomy and earth-exploration satellites use “and some of these services have pretty strict interference requirements,” he said. Open radio access networks and the ability to “observe” the network and use algorithmic controls will "potentially be an enabler for spectrum sharing.” ORAN can also enable sharing of information “between different systems, between even different technologies” and use increased data “to make decisions.”
The White House is focused on 6G and wants the U.S. to lead the world, Caitlin Clarke, special assistant to President Joe Biden, said during the 6G Symposium Tuesday in Washington. “We need to think about where we need to be now, before the technology is in place -- we cannot catch up,” Clarke said. Other speakers warned that the U.S. is falling behind (see 2409230053).
The FCC lacks legal authority to impose handset unlocking rules on carriers and hasn’t done the economic work needed to justify a proposed 60-day unlocking mandate, the Phoenix Center said in reply comments about an NPRM commissioners approved 5-0 in July (see 2407180037). Republican attorneys general from five states said a mandate would be “a significant federal agency overreach.”
Lawyers for Maurine and Matthew Molak slammed an FCC pleading asking the 5th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court to reject the couple’s challenge seeking review of a commission order from July that lets schools and libraries use E-rate support for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots and wireless internet services (see 2408300027). The FCC said the challenge wasn’t ripe because the commission had yet to address a petition by the Molaks seeking reconsideration of the order (see 2409130063).
5G is a success story for the U.S. and is changing how people communicate, even though they may not always recognize it, Umair Javed, CTIA general counsel, said during the 6G Symposium Monday. Javed emphasized that the U.S. should make spectrum available at the same level as it is in other countries. Meanwhile, FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks warned the next 18-24 months are “an absolutely critical period for 6G.”
NTIA urged the FCC to defer action for now on NextNav's proposal that would reconfigure the 902-928 MHz band, "enabl[ing] a high-quality, terrestrial complement” to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services (see 2404160043). NextNav, meanwhile, defended the proposal but agreed testing is needed. Other commenters objected to the proposal, reflecting concerns raised in initial comments (see 2409060046). Replies were due Friday in docket 24-240; many were posted Monday.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s office pulled a draft order on robotexts and robocalls from the agenda for the commissioners' open meeting Thursday and returned it to circulation. The FCC issued a notice late Tuesday that the item was deleted from the agenda. Some observers warned last week of potential opposition from Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington over First Amendment concerns, though they noted commissioners have traditionally embraced additional robocall rules as one of the FCC's top consumer items.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will decide, without oral argument, a case alleging that the FCC has an “affirmative legal obligation” under Sections 552 and 553 of the Administrative Procedure Act “to make its proposed and final rules readily available to the public without charge,” despite the process known as incorporation by reference (IBR), the court said Friday (docket 23-1311). IFixit, Public Resource and Make Community brought the challenge (see 2406050031). They charged that the FCC violated the APA when the commission failed to provide proper notice and comment protocol as it amended rules incorporating four equipment-testing standards (see 2311090002). “When IBR was adopted in the pre-Internet era, its purpose was to save the cost of reproducing in the Federal Register what are often voluminous technical standards that have been adopted by federal agencies as substantive rules, and hence are the law, apparently on the assumption that most of those who needed the standards already had access to them,” plaintiffs said in a June reply brief (see 2406050031): “Now that the FCC and every federal agency has a website on which they can, and do, post all of their rules not subject to IBR, there is no longer a cost justification rationale for IBR.” The court decided on its own motion, that oral argument will not assist … in this case,” the order said. “Accordingly, the court will dispose of the petition for review without oral argument on the basis of the appendix submitted by the parties and the presentations in the briefs.”