CTIA countered recent arguments by Spectrum for the Future that wireless carriers don’t face the spectrum shortage they claim and don’t necessarily need the lower 3 GHz band to be allocated for full-power, licensed use (see 402260069). CTIA emphasized cable operators' support for the group. “Cable’s reaction to significant loss in market share is to cut off access to the raw material that would supercharge competition -- dedicated licensed spectrum,” CTIA said in a blog post. Cable operators were shielded from competition for decades, “but today, often for the first time, they face a real competitive threat in the form of 5G home broadband,” CTIA said. A study last year found that carriers need 400 MHz of licensed spectrum in the next three years and nearly 1,500 by 2032 “to meet that demand, fully taking into account 5G efficiencies, additional infrastructure and offload,” CTIA noted. The U.S. has allocated just 450 MHz of mid-band for licensed 5G use “with no plans for more,” the group said. A Spectrum for the Future a spokesperson emailed, "Innovative 5G technologies are being driven by a broad range of commercial users, anchor institutions, and technology companies, not the Big Three legacy carriers." Mobile phones lean more heavily on Wi-Fi connection than traditional carrier networks, the spokesperson said. “America must prioritize diversity in spectrum ownership and use cases -- not rely on exclusive licensing models rooted in the technology of the 1990s." CTIA’s "attacks" are "unsurprising given the cable industry’s recent success in bringing new competition and offering substantial consumer savings to nearly 15 million mobile wireless customers,” an NCTA spokesperson emailed. “Casting aspersions at competitors can grab headlines, but cherry-picked facts and misleading assertions do not form the basis of sound policy.”

T-Mobile began offering fixed wireless 5G Home Internet service to customers in Puerto Rico, the carrier said Thursday. “T-Mobile customers in Puerto Rico with an eligible address and a qualifying voice line can now sign up for 5G Home Internet for just $50 a month with AutoPay through their local retail store,” T-Mobile said. The company on Wednesday said its Scam Shield identified or blocked 19.8 billion calls last year, 628 spam calls every second. T-Mobile customers saw a 51% decrease in scam calls from 2022, the carrier said.

The 5G Automotive Association is getting support for a June 2021 petition (see 2106030075) that asks the FCC to reduce by 20 dB the permitted level of unwanted emissions from the unlicensed services that share the 5.9 GHz band. The 5GAA has been at the FCC in recent months urging action on the petition to protect cellular vehicle-to-everything operations (see 2402090049). “Granting the Petition would provide the necessary protection for critical safety services while still providing for robust indoor unlicensed operations,” the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 19-138. “Failure to grant the Petition, by contrast, would impact C-V2X safety communications,” the institute said. “As 5GAA’s Petition highlights, the unwanted emissions levels that the FCC adopted for unlicensed services that neighbor C-V2X in the 5.9 GHz spectrum band place C-V2X’s benefits at risk by subjecting the technology to harmful interference,” said the Wyoming Department of Transportation's filing said. “We support the 5GAA Petition and ask that the FCC promptly grant it,” said Spoke Safety, which is dedicated to protecting bicyclists using C-V2X.

The Wireless ISP Association petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for review of the FCC’s Nov. 20 digital discrimination order on grounds that it’s contrary to law, an abuse of discretion and violates the Administrative Procedure Act, said the petition Wednesday (docket 24-1047). It becomes the 15th such petition consolidated in the 8th Circuit once it’s transferred there under the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation's Feb. 9 order (see 2402120077). The order “undermines” congressional intent “by diverting limited human resources and investment from deployment to compliance with burdensome and overbroad regulations,” said the petition. It imposes a novel disparate-impact test that allows the FCC “to micromanage a host of legitimate business practices, including network buildout decisions, pricing, promotions, advertising, contract renewal, and customer service,” it said. If the order is allowed to stand, the FCC could enforce it “with its full range of tools, including civil penalties,” it said. The order “will deter innovation and investment in broadband,” including among WISPA’s small and rural members who may lack adequate resources to “absorb” the order’s compliance and potential enforcement costs, it said.

NTIA asked the FCC to harmonize rules for the 24 GHz band with decisions made at the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2019. The FCC approved an NPRM 3-2 in December examining changes to the rules, over dissents by Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington (see 2312260043). Reactions have been mixed (see 2402280037). NTIA filed joint comments, posted Thursday in docket 21-186, with NOAA and NASA. The NPRM proposes “an important step to honor our country’s international commitments,” they said. The NPRM “astutely explains” that passive satellite sensors operated by the federal government on frequencies allocated to the earth exploration satellite service “are particularly vulnerable to harmful interference,” the filing said. These passive sensors “are designed to look downward toward Earth and measure the power level of naturally occurring radio emissions from molecules in the atmosphere that occur at specific frequencies. Very sensitive instrumentation is necessary to measure such weak, natural signals.” NTIA said NOAA wants the FCC to apply the Resolution 750 limits to fixed services in the band and not just to international mobile telecommunications, “noting it is unaware of any technical justification for applying different emission limits to fixed systems.” That latter point was opposed by industry. The limits should apply to only mobile base stations and handsets and not other operations the rules allow, including point-to-point operations, point-to-multipoint operations and transportable devices like fixed wireless access customer premises equipment, Qualcomm said. “The Commission distinguishes these types of operations in its Part 30 rules, particularly when it comes to emissions limits,” Qualcomm said: “NTIA’s request to apply Resolution 750 to fixed operations is outside the scope of and inconsistent with the FCC’s longstanding regulatory framework.” Ericsson supported the WRC-19 limits but urged an exemption for indoor small cells “given the interference protection factors inherent in indoor operations and the unnecessary costs the limits would impose on the development and deployment of those systems.” CTIA said the FCC should adopt the WRC-19 recommendations but go no further. The group noted that companies invested $2 billion to buy licenses in the 24 GHz auction. “Beyond the FCC’s already balanced approach, the emission limits adopted by WRC-19 go above and beyond what is necessary to protect passive satellite operations,” CTIA said. “Any suggestions to expand emission limits beyond the WRC-19 agreement would be unnecessary and cause substantial harm to 24 GHz licensees,” the group said. “To avoid undermining licensees’ investment-backed expectations in acquiring 24 GHz band licenses, the Commission should reject proposals that would go beyond implementing the consensus-based decisions made at WRC-19,” T-Mobile agreed.

The Enterprise Wireless Alliance refiled a 2022 petition for rulemaking at the FCC that seeks to modify Part 90 rules to eliminate the assignment of frequencies within the 809-816/854-861 MHz portion of the band to specific pools of eligible entities (see 2210260079). EWA said it resubmitted the petition at the Wireless Bureau's request, and it now includes “proposed rules consistent with the rule changes requested.” Because “all 800 MHz frequencies in this range are subject to identical technical and operational rules, EWA urges that they be classified as General Category and made available to all qualified Subpart S applicants,” says the undocketed filing.

Air Voice Wireless agreed to pay a $150,000 fine and implement enhanced compliance measures to settle an FCC investigation of whether the company failed to provide Lifeline services to all qualifying low-income consumers in keeping with agency rules. “This action will help further the Commission’s goal of providing qualified consumers opportunities and security that essential communications service brings, including being able to connect to jobs, family members, and emergency services,” the Enforcement Bureau said Wednesday.

The National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Radio Frequencies (CORF) stressed the importance of protection for passive scientific use of the 24 GHz band, in comments responding to an NPRM commissioners approved 3-2 in December, over dissents by Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington (see 2312260043). The NPRM seeks to align rules for the band with decisions made at the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2019. Comments were filed this week in docket 21-186. “Observations made by Earth Exploration Satellite Service sensors provide unique data regarding the state of the Earth System, and especially its atmosphere at a given moment in time, which, by their very nature, cannot be reproduced or replicated,” CORF said: “The observation frequencies cannot be modified, because they are largely determined by the physical characteristics of what needs to be observed, for example, specific water vapor lines are the result of the molecular properties of water.” The IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society also stressed the importance of controlling potential levels of contamination from out-of-band-emissions to passive operations in the band. AT&T said the FCC should implement Resolution 750, which the WRC adopted. “The leadership of the United States at WRC-19 resulted in limits that will fully protect passive operations in the 23.6-24.0 GHz band from unwanted emissions from [upper microwave flexible use service] networks in the 24.25-27.5 GHz bands, without unnecessary measures that would impact the roll-out of 5G mobile services,” AT&T said. GuRu Wireless, which is developing a system for wireless power transfer at a distance in the band, counseled caution. “While ostensibly limited in scope to the adoption of the WRC-19 decision, the NPRM here seeks comment on additional issues, such as the adoption of emission limits that are more stringent than the Resolution 750 limits,” GuRu said: “The Commission should avoid regulatory overreach and not expand its initial proposal by making any modifications to emission limits unrelated to UMFUS operations.”

CTIA representatives weighed in on the FCC’s proposed net neutrality rules, arguing in a call with staff from several offices and bureaus that the internet is already “fast, open, and fair due in significant part to the light-touch Title I regulatory framework.” In addition, CTIA raised concerns about the effect on network slicing (see 2401310046). “Proposals to narrow or restrict” non-broadband internet access service data services “would deny the benefits of new technology such as network slicing to broadband users, unduly limit wireless innovation, and undermine American leadership in the mobile economy,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 23-320. “Network slicing will allow wireless providers to offer over a single physical network a series of logically defined virtual networks configured to satisfy use cases currently under development that may include, for example, public safety communications, robotic surgery, smart grids, and communications at crowded events,” CTIA said.

Mobile network operators cut carbon emissions 6% globally from 2019 to 2022, GSMA said in a report released Tuesday. European operators led with a 50% reduction. In North America, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa, emissions fell 20%-30%. “Although operational emissions rose in Greater China and the Asia-Pacific -- the world’s largest and second-largest mobile markets, respectively -- global emissions overall decreased, despite growing data usage,” GSMA said. Achieving the sector’s target to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 requires industry to cut emissions to 45% below 2020 levels by 2030, the group said. “The evidence shows that the mobile industry’s commitment to net zero by 2050 is paying off,” said John Giusti, GSMA chief regulatory officer: “Despite surging demand for connectivity and data, the global carbon emissions of operators continued to fall.”