Action on the FCC’s Further NPRM on the 6 GHz band likely has been pushed until later this year, industry and agency officials said, mainly because the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is considering a challenge to the April 2020 rules, filed by AT&T, APCO, electric utilities and other plaintiffs. The Office of Engineering and Technology is also still working through technical questions, officials said.

Despite concerns expressed by some 6 GHz incumbents (see 2103290028), the Wi-Fi Alliance said it has been active in the 6 GHz Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG), in a call with an aide to FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “Some 6 GHz stakeholders wrongly assert that Wi-Fi devices are urgently required to support interference testing,” the alliance said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-295: “But the general issue of unlicensed device coexistence with incumbent services is not within the scope of the MSG’s work,” and the FCC addressed it in its April 2020 order.

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology approved waivers sought by six companies wanting to use the 57-64 GHz band for vehicular safety technologies. The waivers were approved in a single order for Vayyar Imaging, Valeo North America, Infineon Technologies Americas, Tesla, IEE Sensing and Brose North America. OET said granting the waivers, in coordination with NTIA, “will bring immediate relief to the industry and the public in this area.” The technologies all involve detection of children inadvertently left in vehicles in hot weather “and other related passenger safety functions at higher power levels than specified in the rule,” OET said Wednesday. The waivers “will enable important in-vehicle sensing technology to further the auto industry’s goal of saving lives,” Auto Innovators President John Bozzella said in a statement. “The industry is working to reduce pediatric heatstroke fatalities through advanced technology, public awareness efforts, and a 2019 commitment to equip vehicles with rear seat reminder systems by Model Year 2025,” he said.

AT&T, APCO, electric utilities and other plaintiffs said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit should overturn the FCC’s 6 GHz order on the grounds that the regulator never fully addressed the interference threat to band incumbents. “In defending the Order, the FCC and its supporters mischaracterize the basic choice before the FCC,” said a brief (in Pacer) posted Friday in docket 20-1190: “That choice was not whether to allow unlicensed devices to operate in the 6 GHz band at all, but how to mitigate their interference risks. The FCC never faced up to that choice.” Plaintiffs said they challenged the April 2020 order “because it is very likely to result in harmful interference at unpredictable places and times and because, without explanation, it arbitrarily rejects readily available safeguards.”

Southern Co. is having problems getting cooperation from Wi-Fi proponents on 6 GHz interference tests, it told the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology. “Manufacturers and proponents of unlicensed use continue to ignore or reject repeated requests to participate in any field testing and continue to decline ... to provide any prototype or sample devices that could be used in such testing,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-295.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg backed lawmakers' concerns Thursday about the FCC’s November vote to reallocate 5.9 GHz for Wi-Fi and cellular vehicle-to-everything (see 2011180043). He pointed during a House Infrastructure Committee hearing to coming talks within President Joe Biden's administration about an equitable way to address the issue. Lobbyists we spoke with said they expect a formal interagency review soon.

Proponents urged the FCC to allow client-to-client operations in the 6 GHz band, and incumbents opposed the C2C change, in replies posted Wednesday in docket 18-295. This was consistent with initial comments (see 2102230056). “The record in this proceeding supports the need to make the band even more useful by facilitating the applications that client-to-client communications will support,” said the Wi-Fi Alliance. Many opponents seek "to re-litigate the Commission’s sound decision to permit unlicensed device access to the 6 GHz band,” the alliance said. C2C will become the standard worldwide, said Apple, Broadcom, Commscope, Facebook, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intel, Microsoft and Qualcomm. “Peer-to-peer use cases like those that would be facilitated … are standard in other bands for many consumer electronic devices in the United States,” the companies said: “They include onboarding smart home equipment using smartphones, sharing streaming video from one device to another, and sharing files among users or devices quickly and efficiently.” Low-power indoor C2C would “improve the performance of current" uses and enable new ones, the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance said. Comments “overwhelmingly oppose allowing client-to-client communications, and the proponents have failed to provide sufficient technical information to show that such operations would not cause harmful interference to licensed microwave systems,” said utility and public safety groups, led by APCO, the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council, Edison Electric Institute and Utilities Technology Council. C2C would “significantly increase the interference potential to licensed microwave systems,” they said. CTIA urged caution, noting that, working with Southern Co., it did some of the only 6 GHz interference testing. Results “provide prima facie evidence that even devices operating in compliance with the existing rules will cause harmful interference to incumbent users,” the group said. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation said the proposal poses a risk to vehicle-to-everything uses of the band and could also affect the 5.9 GHz band.

The record is “insufficient” to justify changing 6 GHz rules to allow client-to-client communications, NAB said in replies posted Tuesday in docket 18-295. The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology sought comment in January (see 2101110031). Make changes after the FCC and industry have “real-world experiences with unlicensed operations in the 6 GHz band,” NAB said. Southern Co. called for a revamped process for testing interference from 6 GHz devices to band incumbents, in a call with an aide to acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “Southern remains very concerned about the potential for harmful interference to licensed 6 GHz systems,” the utility said.

With the USF contribution factor at an all-time high (see 2103020032), reform must be addressed “head-on,” said FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr during a Free State Foundation event Tuesday. The contribution factor has been “spiraling,” he said.

Pause equipment certification approvals for 6 GHz unlicensed low-power indoor (LPI) access points, CTIA representatives urged in a call with Ron Repasi, chief of the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology. CTIA provided “prima facie evidence” in a recent report "that even 6 GHz LPI operations in compliance with the existing rules will cause harmful interference to incumbent users,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 17-183.