Howard Buskirk

NCTA reiterated in reply comments this week the group’s advocacy of giving wireless providers six months to unlock handsets after they’re activated, not the FCC’s proposed 60 days (see 2409110019). While a handset unlocking mandate will be good for competition, the FCC should keep in mind the risk of fraud, NCTA said. “It typically takes a mobile wireless provider longer than 60 days to determine accurately whether a handset is subject to fraud or trafficking,” the group said: Comcast has described “why it can take five months or longer to confirm that patterns of missed bill payments and extensive periods of non-usage, the primary indicia of handset fraud, are attributable to trafficking.” Comments were posted in docket 24-186. In another filing of note, the American Financial Services Association (AFSA) agreed with comments that the FCC lacks legal authority to impose a mandate (see 2409240038). “An FCC mandate to unlock handsets before the installment plans are fully paid off would impinge on state law terms of service and financing agreements providers have with customers,” AFSA said. A mandate would also interfere with agreements between carriers and financial institutions “that offset some of the … financial risks associated with financing handsets for customers,” the group said: “Those agreements necessarily require wireless providers to lock handsets to the wireless provider’s service until the installment plan is paid off.” The Cloud Communications Alliance supported a 60-day requirement but said immediate unlocking would be even better. “As the record reflects, requiring unlocking has not impeded the offering of discount pricing plans for mobile devices either in the United States or in other countries,” the alliance said. “The unlocking requirements applied to Verizon have not prevented the company from offering discounts and, as it states in its comments, an industry-wide unlocking standard will not eliminate discount pricing.”

“Shoveling more spectrum” into the pool of available frequencies for unlicensed use won’t necessarily mean faster Wi-Fi speeds, Richard Bennett, High Tech Forum founder, said during a Georgetown University Center for Business and Public Policy webcast Wednesday. Bennett, who worked on the initial Wi-Fi standard, also questioned whether 6 GHz is taking off as a Wi-Fi band. It's expected he will lay out his arguments in a paper next week.

The FCC lacks legal authority to impose handset unlocking rules on carriers and hasn’t done the economic work needed to justify a proposed 60-day unlocking mandate, the Phoenix Center said in reply comments about an NPRM commissioners approved 5-0 in July (see 2407180037). Republican attorneys general from five states said a mandate would be “a significant federal agency overreach.”

The White House is focused on 6G and wants the U.S. to lead the world, Caitlin Clarke, special assistant to President Joe Biden, said during the 6G Symposium Tuesday in Washington. “We need to think about where we need to be now, before the technology is in place -- we cannot catch up,” Clarke said. Other speakers warned that the U.S. is falling behind (see 2409230053).

The 7/8 GHz band will be a key band for 6G in the U.S., Veena Rawat, senior spectrum adviser to GSMA, predicted at the 6G Symposium on Tuesday (see 2409240032). An examination of additional bands for international mobile telecommunications was approved as an agenda item for the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2027, and 7/8 GHz is on the list, noted Rawat, who chaired the WRC in 2003. The reason for that agenda item is "the need for additional spectrum for 6G has been established,” she said. The 7/8 GHz band is “complex,” with government users, fixed satellites, meteorological satellites and other users. “Fixed you can work with,” she said, adding U.S. government users include DOD, NOAA and the FAA. Studies of 7/8 GHz are underway ahead of the WRC, Rawat said. “You need to know what your newcomer is, what are the characteristics of [the user], what are the parameters.” She added, “That’s the discussion we are having right now.” The studies will focus on protection of incumbents, not 6G, and the conditions under which the band can be shared, she said. Another band ITU is considering, with less promise, is 14.8-15.35 GHz, she said. “It’s good to discuss 14 GHz … but it’s kind of upper mid-band.” Rawat noted that the 600 MHz is being used for 5G worldwide, though not in the Americas, except in Mexico and Brazil. 7/8 GHz is among the bands the national spectrum strategy is studying and has been a top focus of carriers (see 2403120056). However you look at it, 7-24 GHz is “busy” in the U.S., said Tommaso Melodia, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Northeastern University. There is fixed wireless and fixed satellite, radiolocation services, radio astronomy and earth-exploration satellites use “and some of these services have pretty strict interference requirements,” he said. Open radio access networks and the ability to “observe” the network and use algorithmic controls will "potentially be an enabler for spectrum sharing.” ORAN can also enable sharing of information “between different systems, between even different technologies” and use increased data “to make decisions.”

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s office pulled a draft order on robotexts and robocalls from the agenda for the commissioners' open meeting Thursday and returned it to circulation. The FCC issued a notice late Tuesday that the item was deleted from the agenda. Some observers warned last week of potential opposition from Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington over First Amendment concerns, though they noted commissioners have traditionally embraced additional robocall rules as one of the FCC's top consumer items.

5G is a success story for the U.S. and is changing how people communicate, even though they may not always recognize it, Umair Javed, CTIA general counsel, said during the 6G Symposium Monday. Javed emphasized that the U.S. should make spectrum available at the same level as it is in other countries. Meanwhile, FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks warned the next 18-24 months are “an absolutely critical period for 6G.”

NTIA urged the FCC to defer action for now on NextNav's proposal that would reconfigure the 902-928 MHz band, "enabl[ing] a high-quality, terrestrial complement” to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services (see 2404160043). NextNav, meanwhile, defended the proposal but agreed testing is needed. Other commenters objected to the proposal, reflecting concerns raised in initial comments (see 2409060046). Replies were due Friday in docket 24-240; many were posted Monday.

Lawyers for Maurine and Matthew Molak slammed an FCC pleading asking the 5th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court to reject the couple’s challenge seeking review of a commission order from July that lets schools and libraries use E-rate support for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots and wireless internet services (see 2408300027). The FCC said the challenge wasn’t ripe because the commission had yet to address a petition by the Molaks seeking reconsideration of the order (see 2409130063).

The FCC is getting lots of advice on potential changes to its draft order tackling robocalls and robotexts, set for a vote on Thursday (see 2409050045). Republican Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington have mentioned concerns about the order but aren't necessarily expected to dissent on what is usually considered a top consumer priority, industry officials said Friday.