Reports T-Mobile is seeking partners for a fiber joint venture aren’t new or surprising, but doing so likely makes long-term strategic sense for the carrier, New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin told investors Tuesday. Reports suggest T-Mobile could invest up to $4 billion in the venture, he said. Last year, T-Mobile quietly launched a “very limited” fiber internet pilot in New York City to supplement fixed wireless coverage (see 2108110056), covering buildings in Manhattan. “We have argued for some time that in the long-run T-Mobile (and others) will need a terrestrial network,” Chaplin said. “First, the product market for fixed and mobile is converging. T-Mobile is accelerating the convergence with the tremendous success they have had with FWB [fixed wireless broadband]. FWB is capacity limited, and so they will need terrestrial broadband offering at some point,” he said. “Second, the industry will burn through spectrum below 6 GHz over the next 5-10 years and will need to start using millimeter wave spectrum. Deploying this spectrum without a terrestrial network will be extremely costly, leaving T-Mobile at a disadvantage to carriers with a terrestrial network.”

Companies provisionally approved as automated frequency coordination providers in the 6 GHz band could complete tests by early next year, industry experts told us. The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology conditionally authorized all 13 applicants still before the commission to begin the testing process (see 2211030066). Experts note the use of AFC is particularly important because it could have implications for sharing in other bands.

Speakers at a Utilities Technology Council virtual event Thursday issued a warning about the risks still posed by unlicensed use of the 6 GHz band and said utilities may have to take other steps to protect critical communications. The FCC, meanwhile, conditionally authorized 13 automated frequency coordination providers to operate in the band. Industry officials said last month the FCC appeared close to taking the next steps on AFC (see 2210170075).

NAB has concerns about the FCC’s recently launched proceeding on the potential for expanded use of the 12.7 GHz band (see 2210270046), NAB said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 22-352. NAB officials met with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. As the notice of inquiry “acknowledges, broadcasters currently use spectrum in this band for Broadcast Auxiliary Services (BAS) operations,” NAB said: “As the Commission knows, protection of licensed mobile operations can pose particular challenges -- yet licensed mobile BAS operations are critical to broadcasters’ ability to cover live events and breaking news.” NAB hopes the FCC will “reserve just 55 MHz of the 6 GHz band exclusively for licensed mobile use until real-world data is available to justify the removal of such reservation.” A set-aside “would effectively serve as a pilot program to test the coexistence of unlicensed operations and licensed mobile operations and address our ongoing concerns regarding the potential for harmful interference to licensed mobile operations in the 6 GHz band,” the group said.

The Wireless Innovation Forum and Wi-Fi Alliance submitted documents to the FCC, after a meeting at the agency last month on a “joint roadmap of deliverables” for automated frequency coordination certification in the 6 GHz band. The groups filed a new revision of the “’Function Requirements for the US 6 GHz Band Under Control of an AFC System’ Specification” and “Version 1.0 of the AFC System Test Harness,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 21-352.

Broadcom and Intel executives gave the first demonstration of the next generation of Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi 7, to all four FCC commissioners and staff, said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-295. “Wi-Fi 7 is the next generation of wireless technology, and will deliver higher capacity, lower latency, and higher reliability to consumers around the world,” the companies said. “Intel and Broadcom demonstrated links between Broadcom access points and Intel laptops, over an 80-megahertz Wi-Fi 6 channel in the 5 GHz band, a 160-megahertz Wi-Fi 6E channel in the 6 GHz band, and a 320-megahertz Wi-Fi 7 channel in the 6 GHz band,” they said: “The Wi-Fi 7 channel achieved 5 Gbps throughput, an enormous increase over already-fast Wi-Fi 6 technologies. The demonstration also showed that this performance is now a reality between different devices developed by two of the world’s leading technology companies -- confirming that the FCC’s forward-looking 6 GHz decision has already produced a thriving ecosystem.” The officials urged the FCC to do what's needed to allow automated frequency coordination in the 6 GHz band (see 2210170075).

Southern Co. told the FCC it agrees with AT&T arguments on the need for changes to rules for the 6 GHz band, countering arguments by NCTA and CableLabs (see 2209120027). “Southern agrees that the Commission should not provide further flexibility for unlicensed 6 GHz devices without an automated frequency coordination requirement and, despite claims by NCTA/CableLabs to the contrary, agrees that increasing the permitted power level of low power indoor devices poses a substantial harmful interference risk to primary, licensed fixed microwave incumbents,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-295.

Verizon took a hit on Wall Street Friday after announcing the loss of 189,000 wireless consumer postpaid phone customers Q3, partially as a result of raising prices. Consumer wireless postpaid churn was 1.1%. Verizon’s share price was down as much as 6% and closed down 4.46% at $35.35. Chief Financial Officer Matt Ellis warned that pricing pressure would continue into Q4.

Major tech players met virtually with an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to urge FCC action on 6 GHz and the companies’ “plans and preparations for Standard Power Wi-Fi operations” in the band. They discussed the “costs and complexities that Standard Power operations, in conjunction with an Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) system, introduces to their companies’ solutions and their customers’ deployments, and that fact that AFC coordination is completely inappropriate for the Low Power Indoor and potential Very Low Power modes of operation in the 6 GHz band,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-295. The companies also discussed “indoor Standard Power operations and the use of an industry specified Building Entry Loss (BEL) [measure] when applicable." They urged the agency to complete the standard power device updates “to the 6 GHz unlicensed equipment approvals … as soon as possible utilizing the test products that have been developed within the Wi-Fi Alliance.” Companies on the call were Cisco, Extreme Networks, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Juniper Networks.

The FCC appears close to releasing a public notice on testing and public trials prior to certifying automated frequency coordination providers in the 6 GHz band, industry officials said. The PN is reportedly in Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s office, though it could be sent back to the Office of Engineering and Technology for further work. A decision on rules for very-low-power devices in the 6 GHz band appears further off.