The government and the telecom and technology industries must aggressively begin paving the way for the emergence of 5G LTE, said government officials and network operators. Major carriers have begun rolling out enhanced services to meet growing needs of data capacity, while preparing for the advent of 5G and other emerging technologies, they said Tuesday at a 4G Americas event in Washington. The wireless industry is investing in and creating new network technology to increase speeds and use spectrum more efficiently, said wireless executives. The industry also should work to find ways to make handling the next-generation networks less complex, a service provider said.

Upcoming FCC spectrum auctions will set the stage for wireless tower companies to get more business, said analysts and wireless industry professionals in interviews last week. The terms of recent tower transactions could result in more tower sales, an analyst said. Bringing more spectrum into the market would be an advantage for the wireless tower industry, an economist said.

Short-form applications filed for the AWS-3 auction ran significantly below the numbers in the two past major auctions, 700 MHz and AWS-1 (CD Oct 2 p5). But the news is not all bad for the FCC, which hopes to raise big dollars and make a major down payment on FirstNet, industry officials tell us. AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon all jumped in, as has Dish Network, according to filings at the FCC.

As the FCC looks to expand Wi-Fi capacity, Globalstar’s proposal to use some of its mobile satellite services (MSS) spectrum for terrestrial wireless purposes is a way to improve the efficiency of assigned spectrum, said an American Consumer Institute (ACI) Center for Citizen Research report. The proposal is an opportunity to expand Wi-Fi by providing 20,000 free access points to schools and other institutions, while continuing satellite services, the report said (http://bit.ly/1rdJAht). Some industry officials agreed the Globalstar proposal for the terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) can quickly be put into use. Some wireless operators said a time frame can’t be determined until thorough interference testing is done.

Questions are arising whether the FCC will be able to offer truly “fungible” spectrum blocks in the TV incentive auction, especially given commission plans to allow unlicensed use of the guard bands and duplex gap. Commissioner Ajit Pai raised the issue in his comments on the incentive auction unlicensed rulemaking notice Tuesday (http://fcc.us/1xH1eTa).

The FCC approved two NPRMs Tuesday designed to move the agency several steps closer to a TV incentive auction, still expected to take place next year. The first NPRM seeks comment on how Wi-Fi and other unlicensed transmissions will be able to use the TV spectrum post-auction. A second seeks comment on wireless mics that use the 600 MHz band. The FCC approved both on 5-0 votes.

AT&T, Mobile Future and Verizon each called on the FCC to reject T-Mobile and Sprint petitions a>sking the agency to make major changes to spectrum aggregation rules prior to the TV incentive auction. Sprint and T-Mobile sought changes last month (CD Aug 13 p1).

Representatives of Google and Microsoft urged the FCC to adopt technical rules permitting the use of three 801.11af channels in the 600 MHz band following the TV incentive auction, in a series of meetings with commission officials. The companies elaborated on their arguments in an ex parte filing in docket 12-268. The companies urged that the rules allow the operation of Mode 1 and 2 personal/portable unlicensed devices in the duplex gap, the lower guard band and Channel 37, the filing said (http://bit.ly/1uEzbyS). They argued that a database should be allowed to determine unlicensed device operation based on the device’s location-accuracy capabilities so devices with better accuracy can operate in appropriate locations, rather than preserving the current rule, which mandates that all devices establish location within +/- 50 meters. Unlicensed systems should be allowed to determine areas where devices can operate in the broadcast band using both the database and sensing, Google and Microsoft said.

The FCC must “move cautiously” as it creates service rules for unlicensed use in the 600 MHz duplex gap because of the potentially “complicated and challenging” interference issues that will come up as part of that proceeding, said AT&T Vice President-Federal Regulatory Joan Marsh in a blog post Wednesday. AT&T doesn’t share the FCC’s “confidence that unlicensed devices in the duplex gap in the configuration and at the power levels identified in the order can operate without creating interference to the adjacent licensed allocations,” Marsh said (http://bit.ly/1pkLH2c). FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler circulated a draft order and Further NPRM last week on interservice interference after the incentive auction (CD Sept 11 p4). Filings from Broadcom and Qualcomm provide disparate analyses of unlicensed devices’ ability to operate without interference in the duplex gap, an early indication of the technical challenges that lay ahead, Marsh said. Caution is “essential,” she said. “If interfering services are ultimately permitted in the duplex gap, the adjacent licensed blocks (and their associated paired channels) will not be fungible. They will instead be impaired licenses.” Some license impairments may be unavoidable, especially in border areas, but the FCC should try to avoid interference when possible because introducing it “where it need not exist would be a significant step in the wrong direction,” Marsh said.

The FCC threatened the success of the incentive auction by creating a reserve trigger and violated its congressional mandate to protect broadcasters with its repacking plan, said multiple petitions for reconsideration of the incentive auction order by wireless carriers, broadcast affiliates, low-power TV stations and others.