The Alliance for Automotive Innovation highlighted the issues before the FCC most critical for its members in a letter to Commissioner Olivia Trusty, posted Thursday in 18-89 and other dockets. Among the issues cited was the auto industry’s need for more spectrum for cellular-vehicle-to-everything operations. “The current 30 MHz spectrum allocation (5.895-5.925 GHz) does not support advanced use cases, such as the sharing of sensor data between vehicles,” the filing said. The alliance also stressed its opposition to revising the FCC “covered list” to put more focus on connected vehicles (see 2506300052).
AT&T is reportedly exploring a sale of its mobile unit in Mexico, hoping to get more than $2 billion, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing unnamed sources. AT&T agreed to buy Mexican wireless company Iusacell for $2.5 billion in 2014. The deal gave AT&T the Mexican carrier’s spectrum licenses, network assets, retail stores and about 8.6 million subscribers, AT&T said at the time (see 1411070053). AT&T declined comment Thursday.
The National Agricultural Aviation Association is asking the FCC to designate an aviation radio frequency for agricultural operations, allowing air-to-air communications for situational awareness and safety. The FAA has told the group that 122.925 MHz would be “a suitable air-to-air frequency for this purpose,” but authorizing the channel requires FCC action, said a filing this week.
Representatives of the Wi-Fi Alliance met with FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty to support a proposal that the commission authorize very-low-power operations at higher-power spectral density levels in the 6 GHz band. The group also raised concerns about NextNav’s proposal to reallocate the 900 MHz band to support its 5G-based positioning, navigation and timing service, said a filing Tuesday in docket 18-295. The issues raised mirror those discussed in the alliance's meetings in June with aides to the other commissioners (see 2506300040).
The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions and the Linux Foundation this week signed a memorandum of understanding agreeing to “deepen cooperation and accelerate progress toward open, intelligent, and sustainable next-generation network architectures, including 5G and 6G.” The MOU covers joint education and training “on how open source and standards can work together to enable rapid innovation,” as well as information sharing, co-hosted workshops and technical sessions, and joint marketing and communications.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr welcomed his appointment by President Donald Trump to the new White House task force on the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. “The FCC will bring our expertise to bear to meet the spectrum needs and other operational requirements of this historic event,” Carr said Tuesday. “Thousands of wireless devices will be operating simultaneously within the RF spectrum” during the Olympic and Paralympic games, the FCC said. “This includes critical applications such as timing apparatus for events, radio communications for event coordination and security, and broadcast operations that are vital to seamless, world-wide, coverage and the overall success of the Games,” the agency said. “The FCC will work alongside our Federal, state, and local partners, as well as the LA28 Olympic Committee and other stakeholders to help ensure robust, reliable communications.”
Anterix representatives met with FCC Wireless Bureau staff about the agency's 2018 900 MHz freeze and other issues, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 24-99. The representatives “noted that while the FCC has historically frozen bands during a technology transition to preserve a stable landscape and prevent speculative entrants, they understand certain incumbents could have a legitimate, limited need to expand capacity or coverage,” the filing said. “Anterix encourages such entities to contact it and has been able to assist in meeting requirements in those instances.”
AT&T, working with Ericsson and Fujitsu’s 1Finity, said it achieved “a major milestone” by completing the first open radio access network call using third-party radios at the AT&T Labs. “The collaboration between these companies demonstrates the potential of Open RAN specifications as enablers,” AT&T said Tuesday. “By using open interfaces, the successful data call has shown how increased interoperability and flexibility can be realized within network infrastructures.” The call was made using an Ericsson high-capacity RAN processor and 1Finity radios.
President Patrick Halley and others from the Wireless Infrastructure Association discussed the FCC’s moves to streamline wireless siting in a meeting with Commissioner Olivia Trusty, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 19-250. WIA “highlighted the many positive effects that the FCC’s wireless infrastructure reforms have had on wireless deployment and the critical importance of maintaining and strengthening the FCC’s wireless siting rules.”
CTIA called on the FCC to update its rules to spur the deployment of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). “Decades-old restrictions on airborne spectrum use in certain bands, which were put in place when only traditional aircraft existed, limit the ability to use modern communications networks to support UAS operations,” CTIA said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 25-133. Current spectrum regulations “prohibit airborne operations in some bands due to restrictions in either the federal rules themselves or the Table of Frequency Allocations.” But these restrictions didn’t “contemplate the interference-mitigation capabilities of modern wireless network design, nor development of low-altitude air vehicles like drones. Such airborne use restrictions on flexible-use commercial wireless spectrum are outdated, burdensome, and impede innovation, making them ripe for Commission review.”