As Hurricane Milton approaches Florida, the FCC Wireless Bureau on Tuesday approved waivers for Federated Wireless and Google of rules that require environmental sensing capability systems to protect federal incumbents in Florida in the citizens broadband radio service band from harmful interference. The waivers are similar to those the companies received during other recent storms (see 2409260035).

The Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure (CERCI) warned that some commenters may not understand what’s at stake if the FCC agrees to a Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA) proposal giving FirstNet, and AT&T, effective control of the 4.9 GHz band. “AT&T/PSSA want the FCC to allow FirstNet to use the 4.9 GHz band so that the band is effectively added to AT&T’s spectrum portfolio,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 07-100. They would also “prohibit new local public-safety licensees in the band and force existing public-safety licensees to surrender spectrum so that AT&T can use the 4.9 GHz band to serve not only public safety but also AT&T’s commercial customers,” CERCI charged. The BWI Business Partnership, meanwhile, withdrew September comments opposing FirstNet use of the band (see 2409120013). “After further investigation into this matter, we realized that we were operating on an incomplete set of facts regarding this regulatory proceeding and a mistaken assumption regarding the proposal,” the group said.

The American Radio Relay League requested a waiver of the commission’s Part 97 rules to communicate with military stations as part of Pearl Harbor Day commemorations Dec. 7 and 8. ARRL said it made the request on behalf of the Battleship Iowa Amateur Radio Association. “The frequencies and time periods selected will not impact any public or private communications, government or non-government,” said an undocketed filing posted Tuesday. The FCC Wireless Bureau approved a similar waiver last year (see 2311270044).

The Mobile Satellite Services Association has inked an agreement with GSMA that will see the two "explore cutting-edge approaches" to integrating direct-to-device and IoT services via mobile satellite service satellites, they said Tuesday. Their collaboration will revolve around 3rd Generation Partnership Project standards. “Our collaboration with MSSA is based on the shared objective of reaching new benchmarks for global connectivity," GSMA Chief Technology Officer Alex Sinclair said. "By combining our strengths, we are laying the foundation for a future where satellite and terrestrial networks are fully integrated to provide unparalleled service and coverage.”

T-Mobile sees limited potential for dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) in carrier networks, Egil Gronstad, senior director-technology development and strategy, said Tuesday. During an Ookla webinar, Gronstad said T-Mobile views its early move to launch a 5G stand-alone (SA) network as critical. It examined DSS and found the efficiency is “pretty bad,” he said. DSS has been “hyped a lot … and we also had high hopes for it.” T-Mobile decided “very early on” that it wanted to make a “quick pivot to SA.” He added, “We drove the chipset and ecosystem very hard from the very beginning to support SA.” Almost all the devices on T-Mobile’s network are SA-capable. That has allowed the carrier to “quickly refarm spectrum from LTE to 5G." Gronstad thought T-Mobile’s major competitors would have done more to move to SA by now. T-Mobile has also worked hard on voice-over new radio (NR), which is voice on a 5G network. “Voice-over NR was a fairly large undertaking -- almost as large as voice-over LTE back in the day.” Vendors tell T-Mobile “just a handful” of operators are moving to voice-over NR globally “and we are five years into the 5G journey,” Gronstad said. “There is a lot more to be done still.” T-Mobile considers high-band spectrum for 5G a “failure.” The carrier didn’t fall “for this millimeter-wave trap,” which was “mostly set up by academia.” Verizon “took the bait and banked on millimeter-wave.” Gronstad also underscored the importance of handset makers enabling the use of new technology in their phones. The pro versions of Apple’s new iPhone 16 support power class 1.5 and uplink multiple-input and multiple-output, “which was music to my ears,” he said. “We have been working so hard to try to get the flagship handset vendors to support this.” Those additions will improve coverage capacity and throughput, he said.

T-Mobile on Tuesday announced the launch of 5G On Demand, allowing faster launch of private 5G networks. The offering is “a complete, portable 5G private network and services solution that includes setup, teardown and network management,” the carrier said. “This new solution makes it easier and more efficient than ever to deploy 5G private networks virtually anywhere, providing all the necessary infrastructure to support data-intensive applications.” T-Mobile said the offering will be commercially available by the end of the year.

The American Petroleum Institute supports rule changes for the citizens broadband radio service band to make it more usable by API members, the group said in comments on an August FCC NPRM (see 2408160031). “In many cases without the ability to build reliable wireless infrastructure, these company operations would lack the communications necessary to operate effectively,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 17-258: “In general, API members have seen benefits from the existing availability of CBRS spectrum and support the Commission’s endeavor to make the use more friendly to enterprise and small business usage.” The deadline for initial comments on the NPRM had been Monday, but the Wireless Bureau recently extended it to Nov. 6 (see 2409270026).

At the request of T-Mobile, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Friday delayed the dates for filing briefs in the carrier’s appeal of the FCC's 3-2 April decision (see 2404290044) fining the carrier for allegedly not safeguarding data on customers' real-time locations (see 2407090019). T-Mobile’s initial brief was due Monday (docket 24-1224). Under a revised schedule, the initial brief is now due Nov. 25, respondent’s brief Dec. 26 and petitioner’s reply brief Jan. 16.

The Georgia Department of Corrections indicated in a Monday filing at the FCC that its system designed to enable correctional facilities to disable contraband wireless devices appears to be working as hoped. During the quarter ending Sept. 30, “there were (0) erroneously disabled devices requiring reversal as the result of a disabling request submitted” by the department, said a filing in docket 13-111.

Spectrum is critical to national security and the development of trusted technology, the Center for Strategic and International Studies says in a new paper. The security of the U.S. “as a market democracy is at stake,” CSIS argues. The U.S. is “currently in danger of falling behind China in mid-band licensed spectrum, which supports wide-area coverage and is essential for bringing mobile services and technologies to every part of the country,” the paper argues: “This shortfall poses a grave threat to the security of U.S. and allied network infrastructure.” CSIS stresses the importance of global harmonization of spectrum and scale for a trusted supply chain. China understands the importance of licensed spectrum for wideband networks and has set aside 2.5 times more mid-band spectrum for licensed use than is available in the U.S., CSIS says. The U.S. “is becoming a mid-band spectrum ‘island,’ operating largely outside the core globally harmonized spectrum bands,” CSIS warns. “If this trajectory continues, the U.S. technology ecosystem will be confined to a U.S.-only spectrum ‘dialect’ that lacks global influence and scale.” CSIS highlights the importance of the 7/8 GHz band as “a key opportunity” for the U.S. “to champion future harmonized capacity that can bolster its domestic wireless capabilities and support economies of scale for its trusted vendors.” That band has been a primary target of wireless carriers in the U.S. CSIS said it plans a second part to the paper, which will cover sharing in the lower 3 GHz band, the other top target of carriers. CTIA said it and its members support CSIS's conclusions.