Telecom and tech continued responding to COVID-19. Actions included moving to telework and the cancellation or postponement of events, or moving them virtual.

Sprint temporarily closed 71% of its retail locations and cut back store hours in those remaining open, in response to the spread of COVID-19, it said Tuesday. New store hours are Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. and noon-5 p.m. Sunday.

The COVID-19 pandemic is clouding the outlook for the wireless industry in coming months, with the government asking people to stay home and carriers temporarily closing many retail outlets, analysts said. Meanwhile, the FCC gave T-Mobile special temporary authority Sunday to use additional spectrum in the 600 MHz band for 60 days to help it meet increased customer demand for broadband during the pandemic.

With the FCC expected in April to tackle order on the 6 GHz band, CTIA remains committed to licensed use of part of the band, Jen Oberhausen, director-regulatory affairs, said during a Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council teleconference Thursday. CTIA is fighting what some think is a losing battle to get the FCC to reconsider a plan to open all the spectrum for unlicensed use (see 2003050058).

The FCC is expected to approve an NPRM Friday, pushed by Microsoft, which would allow white space devices to operate at higher power levels in less congested areas. There likely won't be major changes from Chairman Ajit Pai's proposals (see 2002060013), industry and FCC officials said in interviews. The biggest change is expected to be inclusion of a footnote, which says channels 36 and 37 issues needs to be addressed separately, they said.

Dish Network for competitive reasons isn't ready to publicly discuss its wireless “go-to-market strategy,” said Chairman Charlie Ergen on a Q4 earnings call Wednesday. “We’re not that stupid to disclose that,” said Ergen.

Likely marquee items for the 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference will include space-to-space satellite links, and big mobile and satellite industry focus on the 6 GHz band, U.S. WRC delegates said at an FCBA event Thursday. Boeing Global Spectrum Management Vice President Audrey Allison said as spectrum use increases, such issues are becoming more contentious.

The FCC is fishing for ideas to incentivize C-band satellite operators beyond costs of moving customers to just the upper portion. That's more complicated since all operators have equal access to the full band, we were told. Momentum is behind the idea of incentivizing incumbents, partly to try to avoid what otherwise is seen as a likely legal challenge to a government move to take back satellite spectrum authorizations.

The 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference was a mixed success for the U.S., FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said, viewing WRC-19 as falling short. Other WRC watchers echoed O’Rielly’s concerns and said questions about ITU process aren’t going away. The conference ended last month after weeks of negotiations (see 1911220014).

Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America, expressed general support for an FCC auction of the C band, in a meeting with FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly. The FCC “has no legal authority to specify or require any incentive or premium payments to C-band incumbents that extend beyond actual and reasonable relocation costs,” Calabrese said in docket 18-122, posted Wednesday. “Congress has twice passed legislation ensuring that when the TV bands at 700 MHz and 600 MHz were consolidated for auction to mobile carriers, local broadcast stations would either receive no windfall … or receive at most incentive payments limited by a competitive reverse auction,” he said: “Section 309(j) is explicit that every dollar bid in a public auction must be paid to the U.S. Treasury except to the extent that eligible incentive auction payments are made subject to the requirements of Section 309(j)(8)(G), which requires a competitive reverse auction.”