The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology on Friday approved tweaks that Continental Automotive wanted in a waiver the company received last year authorizing a tire pressure monitoring system operating in the 315 and 433 MHz bands (see 2312190080). The technical changes will "ensure clarity with respect to the equipment authorization process and implementation of the Order, and in light of the fact that Continental wishes to move forward now,” the company said in May when it sought the waiver (see 2405160024). “We modify two waiver conditions and include a new waiver condition that requires Continental’s device to minimize the amount of time that the device needs to complete the drive cycle calibration and permits shorter silent periods between transmissions for shorter drive cycles that occur prior to the full calibration of Continental’s [tire pressure] sensor,” OET said in an order in docket 22-382: “We find the modifications requested by Continental will provide additional clarity to the existing Waiver Order. Moreover, we agree with Continental that the revised waiver conditions are consistent with the existing record.”
CTIA representatives spoke with aides to FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez about changes the group is seeking to the commission’s draft hearing-aid compatibility order (see 2410090051). The order is set for a commission vote Thursday (see 2409260047). “CTIA reiterated that its members have long been aligned with the goal of achieving 100 percent HAC and are working hard to introduce new and better wireless devices and services for all consumers, including those that use hearing devices,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 23-388.
The FCC continues getting advice supporting and opposing a proposal that would give the FirstNet Authority control of the 4.9 GHz band (see 2408160027). The Harvard Fire-Emergency Medical Services Department endorsed the proposal in a filing posted Friday in docket 07-100. “This action is essential to enhance public safety communications and ensure reliable, mission-critical support for first responders” and the FirstNet Authority “has proven it can effectively manage and deploy the public safety spectrum,” the department said. The Virginia Sheriffs' Association said the spectrum belongs “in the hands of sheriffs and other local entities who know best how to use it.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., “remains supportive” of the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207) “and believes Republicans and Democrats should come together on a robust spectrum package to ensure the U.S. has a competitive edge for 5G, while delivering affordable internet to American families and securing bipartisan national security and innovation priorities,” a spokesperson emailed. S-4207 would restore the FCC’s spectrum auction authority through Sept. 30, 2029, and provide a vehicle for allocating funding for the commission’s lapsed affordable connectivity program and other telecom priorities. Lead sponsor Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is eyeing potentially attaching the measure to an end-of-year package amid attempts to resurrect it after it repeatedly stalled earlier this year (see 2409170066). Schumer’s continued support for S-4207 is important because there was uncertainty about whether he would back a push to attach it to year-end legislation or pivot to prioritize a version of the Proper Leadership to Align Networks for Broadband Act (S-2238) that Senate Commerce amended in July to include funding for ACP and rip and replace (see 2408220041), lobbyists told us.
The Biden administration is moving forward on the national spectrum strategy, in some cases more quickly than is widely recognized, Shiva Goel, NTIA senior spectrum adviser, told the Mobile World Congress in Las Vegas last week. Goel’s comments build on the remarks of NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson at MWC (see 2410090045). “We're hard at work already on lower 3 and 7 and 8 [GHz],” Goel said. “We're bringing lower 37 [GHz] to a close” and “18 GHz is in full swing already, and then there's everything else.” Goel said DOD, which is working with NTIA on the lower 3 GHz study, hasn’t been “secretive” about its “preference for a … solution” based on dynamic spectrum sharing. “We're supporting” DOD “in building a demo of that capability,” but “that doesn't mean we can't also collaborate on other options for the band.” The strategy’s research and development plan is in its final stages, he said. On staffing, “we're getting the agencies together to spot gaps and ways to fill them to make sure we have people in government able to do this work far into the future.” Goel continued: “Our spectrum problems aren't getting any easier.” The relationship between NTIA and the FCC “is as good as I've ever seen it,” said Ira Keltz, the commission’s new acting chief engineer. The No. 1 priority is the proposed spectrum pipeline and the FCC’s Spectrum Steering Team, which he co-chairs, is hard at work, Keltz said. “We've got plenty of staff at the commission completely engaged in all the activities that are going on.” The top priorities are the lower 3 and 7.8 GHz studies, but the FCC is also focused on 37 GHz, he said. “There's still a ways to go” on the strategy, said Will Johnson, Verizon senior vice president-federal regulatory and legal affairs, “but there [are] also things to celebrate.” The wireless industry knows it will need about 1,500 MHz of mid-band spectrum over the next 10 years, and the pipeline “still remains fairly uncertain,” Johnson said: “We know some bands that are being studied. … But in terms of knowing which bands are actually going to make their way all the way through to commercial use, to auction, we're pretty far from having that kind of clarity at this point.” Luciana Camargos, GSMA head of spectrum, called for more leadership from the U.S. During the World Radiocommunication Conference last year, the U.S. message was that it didn’t want international mobile telecommunications in the 6 GHz band, but it failed to offer alternatives, Camargos said. The U.S. “didn't even support the new agenda item” looking at 4, 7 and 15 GHz, she said: “To me, that's very relevant. … If you don't support looking forward, how can you lead on this?” Keltz said the FCC understands wireless industry concerns about a spectrum pipeline. "We need high-powered dedicated spectrum," he said: "I think we need a little of everything. ... We need to make sure that our unlicensed industry has spectrum they can use." CTIA and GSMA co-sponsor MWC.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said the FCC should avoid taking the steps proposed in an AI NPRM. Commissioners approved the NPRM 5-0 in August. Conversely, consumer groups supported the proposed rules. Comments were due last week and posted Thursday and Friday in docket 23-362.
With Hurricane Milton recovery efforts continuing, the FCC extended the Lifeline program to storm victims, telecom companies expanded efforts to restore service, and NAB pointed to AM radio as an antidote to online misinformation about relief efforts.
Financier BIU can't show any FCC error in how the agency handled a private contractual dispute between BIU and satellite company Spectrum Five, the respondent commission said Thursday as it urged denial of BIU's petition for review (see 2409100005). In a docket 24-1189 brief Wednesday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the FCC said its Enforcement Bureau's denial of BIU's request that the agency reopen Spectrum Five's complaint against Intelsat was in line with the agency's "long-standing practice of non-involvement in private contractual disputes." The FCC said BIU has given no reason why it can't pursue its contract claims in state court, which is the proper forum. The commission said that while BIU alleges that Spectrum Five's Intelsat complaint was withdrawn due to fraud, the fraud allegations "hinge on the contested interpretation of loan agreements that the Commission properly refrained from resolving."
The 11th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court this week scheduled oral argument for Dec. 18 in Atlanta on a case that a group representing lead generators and their clients brought seeking to overturn the FCC’s robocall and robotext order (see 2407230036). That date is exactly one year after the FCC approved the order 4-1, with Commissioner Nathan Simington dissenting (see 231208004). The 11th Circuit said it will identify the three-judge panel that will hear the case in early December (docket 24-10277).
Groups representing the deaf and hard of hearing urged the FCC to add a paragraph to the draft hearing-aid compatibility order teed up for a vote at the commissioners' open meeting Oct. 17 (see 2409260047). Representatives also spoke with an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel about the draft order, according to a filing posted Thursday in docket 23-388. The order should say the agency “will continue to monitor consumer and technology trends for Bluetooth and telecoil coupling to reevaluate their benchmarks, taking into consideration consumer preferences and trends, changes in the marketplace, and developments in research and technical standards pertaining to hearing aid compatibility.” The order should also commit to update benchmarks “as needed to reflect changes,” beginning “four years from the effective date of this order, and continuing on a regular basis thereafter,” the groups said. “The addition of the proposed language to the Report and Order would underscore the Commission's commitment to a forward-looking, flexible policy that impacts people with hearing loss.” Those signing the filing were the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the Hearing Loss Association of America, Deaf Equality, TDIforAccess and Communication Service for the Deaf.