Safe Connections Act

CTIA President Meredith Baker said that policymakers must reverse course to change how spectrum is allocated in the U.S., moving away from too much focus on unlicensed and not enough on full-power licensed spectrum. The U.S. has allocated three times as much unlicensed spectrum as licensed, she said during a CTIA 5G Summit Monday. Baker noted the national spectrum strategy's focus on the lower 3 GHz and 7/8 GHz bands. “The studies of these bands have to start immediately and examine all options,” she said.

CTIA and member companies asked that FCC act on requests for waivers for 5G base station radios that work across citizens broadband radio service and C-band spectrum (see 2303100019). CTIA reported on a meeting with aides to Commissioner Brendan Carr, saying they discussed “how Samsung sought to deploy a less intrusive and more energy-efficient mid-band radio more than 600 days ago." Said the filing posted Friday in docket 23-93: “Ericsson also submitted a similar petition that still is not on public notice after more than 400 days. Both requests require a narrow waiver to exceed the 3.7 GHz Service power limits in one specific circumstance: when the radio is being tested.” Samsung Electronics America, Ericsson, Qualcomm and Verizon participated in the meeting.

The 5G cycle is reaching the middle stages, with strong growth over the past two years, Ericsson executives said during a Mobile World Live webinar on Thursday. At the end of 2023, 63% of wireless subscribers in the U.S. were using 5G, which is “remarkable,” especially given the 42% reported a year earlier, said Peter Linder, head-5G marketing at Ericsson North America.

Iowa extended a sunset on the state's small-cells law by a decade until July 1, 2035. Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) signed HF-2175 on Wednesday. Missouri is considering a five-year extension of a similar law preempting local governments on right-of-way access to try to streamline 5G infrastructure deployment.

Competitive Carriers Association President Tim Donovan and others from the group met with aides to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Brendan Carr to discuss broadband mapping and other 5G Fund concerns. They discussed “eligibility issues such as whether eligibility is limited to areas with unsubsidized 5G defined as 7/1 Mbps and 5G Fund eligibility concerns regarding legacy support recipients using federal funds to deploy 4G and 5G networks” and “timing of the trigger to shift from legacy support to 5G Fund support,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 20-32. CCA also raised funding issues.

Developing rules for opening the lower 3 GHz band, a top focus of U.S. carriers (see 2404080063), won’t be easy, Monisha Ghosh, engineering professor at the University of Notre Dame and former FCC chief technologist, said during an RCR Wireless virtual test and management forum Tuesday. Much discussion at the forum centered on the challenges of performance testing in evolving 5G networks.

The FCC Wireline Bureau on Tuesday extended the deadlines for SI Wireless and other carriers to remove, replace and dispose Huawei and ZTE equipment from their networks. The deadline for Si Wireless was extended from May 24 to Nov. 24. “SI Wireless states that it has continued to experience delays in obtaining replacement equipment, in some cases experiencing delays of 4-6 months,” said the notice in docket 18-89: “It also asserts that equipment vendors are focusing on their production of 5G equipment and have reduced or terminated production of 4G LTE equipment, making it more difficult to access 4G-only LTE equipment.” Among the other extensions, the bureau moved the deadline for Bristol Bay Cellular from April 25 to Oct. 25, for Commnet Wireless from four deadlines in July to deadlines in January, for Mark Twain Communications from June 6 to Dec. 6, for Pine Belt Cellular from July 18 to Jan. 17, for Plateau Telecommunications from July 18 to Jan. 18, for Point Broadband Fiber from five deadlines in April and May to October and November, and for Southern Ohio Communication Services, from April 6 to Oct. 6.

Among other objections to an FCC proposal to expand the parts of the 6 GHz band where very-low power (VLP) devices can operate without coordination, and make other changes to the rules (see 2404290035), NAB stressed the importance of protecting broadcasters' use of the band for electronic news-gathering. “Allowing unrestrained VLP operation by millions -- or even billions -- of unlicensed devices amounts to letting the metaphorical ‘genie out of the bottle,’ potentially creating a radio frequency interference environment that cannot be controlled,” NAB said. Sirius XM said its satellite digital audio radio service business “cannot operate without reliable access to the 7.025-7.075 GHz band to uplink programming for delivery to listeners and control its spacecraft.” Proponents haven’t demonstrated a need to expand the bands where VLP devices can operate, Sirius XM said: “The public interest in protecting service to tens of millions of satellite radios -- both subscribed and unsubscribed -- far outweighs any speculative benefit from adding marginally to the spectrum that can be used for outdoor VLP devices.” The Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition said the record “remains insufficient to move forward with the Commission’s proposals at this time.” Comments in favor of changing the rules “were either non-substantive or rehashed information previously submitted to the record,” the group said. The 5G Automotive Alliance said out-of-band emissions limits of -37 dBm/MH are needed to protect cellular vehicle-to-everything operations in the 5.9 GHz band. “The record in this proceeding demonstrates commenters’ well-founded concerns about VLP devices interfering with C-V2X operations and the possible dire consequences of such interference,” the alliance said. Comments were posted this week in docket 18-295.

CTIA told the FCC that U.S. networks are secure in comments on a notice from the FCC Public Safety Bureau on providers’ implementation of security counter-measures to prevent the exploitation of vulnerabilities in the Signaling System 7 (SS7) and Diameter protocols to track the locations of consumers through their mobile devices. Comments were due Friday in docket 18-99. Major carriers emphasized that their systems were updated to address risks. That was also the industry message when the agency asked about Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council recommendations on diameter protocol security four years ago (see 2003120030). “U.S. providers’ commitment to security has resulted in U.S. networks being relatively more secure from legacy SS7 and Diameter risks than networks in other regions,” CTIA said. CTIA explained that technology is evolving. Legacy SS7 signaling is used today only in legacy 2G and 3G networks and Diameter in 4G and non-stand-alone 5G networks and “was deployed to help reduce risks associated with SS7 and is less susceptible to attacks,” the group said. Stand-alone 5G networks use HTTP/2 for signaling. Verizon said it knows of no successful attempts to access network user location data on its network using weaknesses in the SS7 or Diameter protocols since CSRIC’s adoption of best practices in 2018. “As Verizon explained in response to previous public notices relating to SS7 and Diameter security, in interviews with Commission staff, and in its responses to the Letter of Inquiry received from the Bureau” in October 2022 “we have implemented the relevant recommendations issued by the CSRIC and GSMA on signaling security,” the carrier said. As noted in previous filings, “AT&T has employed an aggressive, multifaceted approach to SS7 and Diameter security” and “continues to take significant, aggressive steps to protect the SS7 and Diameter networks including implementation of CSRIC’s working group recommendation,” the carrier said.

CTIA and member company representatives spoke with aides to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, asking that a 5G Fund auction occur only after funding is released for the broadband access, equity and deployment program. This has been a recurring concern for wireless companies (see 2403260052). “Although the wireless industry is making record investments to deploy 5G nationwide, there are some areas where difficult geography or sparse population mean that subsidies will be necessary to support mobile broadband,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 20-32. "While the BEAD program will not directly fund mobile broadband deployment, it is likely to result in the deployment of fiber broadband backhaul facilities and fixed wireless services that will facilitate the expansion of unsubsidized 5G coverage in rural areas."