Tech company representatives met virtually with staff from the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology to discuss a path to the certification of standard-power devices operating in the 6 GHz Band, with an approved automated frequency coordination operator. “Industry is excited about 6 GHz Standard Power (SP) operations,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-295: “Along with discussions on the certification of AFC systems, we are working on SP device certification requirements.” Representatives of Broadcom, Cisco, Google, Intel, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Qualcomm were on the call. Verizon, meanwhile, wants further investigation before AFC applications are approved in the band. “Sharing in 6 GHz will only be effective with meaningful” AFC, it said, noting it earlier raised concerns. “We appreciate that OET has since requested supplemental information from the AFC applicants, including inquiry on issues that Verizon identified,” Verizon said: AFC proposals “continue to have gaps that need to be addressed before AFC operations commence, and we strongly urge OET to develop a robust testing regime that will ensure any authorized AFC systems will adequately protect incumbent operators in the band.”

Supporters of a proposal to reallocate the 12 GHz band for 5G think the proposal will likely move forward in coming months, buoyed by responses by FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Brendan Carr to members of Congress last week, as a follow-up to the recent House hearing. Meanwhile, Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen offered a candid assessment of the future of DBS spectrum in a presentation to analysts.

APCO urged the FCC to proceed cautiously in granting requests for special temporary authority for experimental operations in the 6 GHz band, in a call with FCC Public Safety Bureau staff. “Given the risk of interference from unlicensed devices operating on the same channels licensed for public safety microwave links, these applications must be carefully evaluated,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 18-295. “While real-world testing was not conducted prior to adoption of the 6 GHz Order, subsequent testing has confirmed the potential for interference and demonstrated that fundamental assumptions in the Order were incorrect,” APCO said. How and where devices are used “is important for evaluating the risk of interference and should therefore be noted in the applications,” APCO said: “The types, numbers, and locations of user devices should also be specified.”

The aviation safety concerns the FAA and airlines voiced about top U.S. wireless carriers’ use of 5G on the C band “won’t be completely resolved by this summer,” though ongoing “dialogue and collaboration” between all parties means “we’re on a better path” now, said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg during a Thursday Senate Appropriations Transportation Subcommittee hearing. Buttigieg’s assessment of the current situation kicked off a new case of heartburn among some communications sector stakeholders.

The ITU has switched to mostly in-person meetings for its study groups and working sessions as final preparations are underway for the World Radiocommunications Conference next year, said Mario Maniewicz, director of the ITU-Radiocommunications Bureau, at the Asia-Pacific Spectrum Management Conference Tuesday. The conference itself was hybrid, with some speakers participating live in Bangkok and others, like Maniewicz, participating virtually.

Comments are due May 25, replies June 9, on the one part of the agency’s 2020 6 GHz order on which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit asked the FCC for further explanation. The FCC made clear in a notice last month (see 2203110046) it wants comments only on “broadcasters’ experience in the 2.4 GHz band, how that experience relates to the kinds of contention-based protocol operations prescribed for indoor use in the 6 GHz rules, and whether the 2.4 GHz experience warrants reservation of a portion of the 6 GHz band for mobile indoor operations or any other modification to the Commission’s 6 GHz rules.” The main docket is 18-295, said a Monday Federal Register notice.

Acting on the 6 GHz automated frequency coordination system operator approval process is important to “the overall success of the ban,” a representative of Cisco and Hewlett Packard Enterprise said in a call with an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “When assigning channels AFCs should consider all relevant technical parameters, including the appropriate propagation model, confidence intervals, reliability factors, building entry loss, and power,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-295. In December, 14 organizations sought FCC certification to be an AFC system operator in the band (see 2112010002).

The FCC approved 4-0 a notice of inquiry asking questions about standards for receivers. As expected (see 2204190053), the main change from what Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated were questions on encouraging innovation for both receivers and transmitters, added at Commissioner Geoffrey Starks' request. Commissioner Nathan Simington has made the issue one of his top focuses since he joined the FCC.

T-Mobile wants to explore the use of the 6 GHz band in its operations. The carrier sought special temporary authority to run tests to “evaluate additional Wi-Fi 6 capabilities and performance utilizing 6 GHz spectrum” in the Alexandria and Falls Church, Virginia, markets. T-Mobile said in its application it hopes to start the tests now, to run through Sept. 1.

Representatives of Broadcom, Kyrio and the Wi-Fi Alliance asked the FCC to start approving automated frequency control operators for the 6 GHz band, in a call with Office of Engineering and Technology staff. “The next steps are for OET to conditionally approve applicants that demonstrate that their proposed systems would comply with all AFC requirements and begin the trial period,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 18-295: “There’s no reason to delay granting conditional approvals.”