T-Mobile has a buy one, get one free offer on the LG Wing 5G smartphone, arriving Nov. 6. The dual-screen phone works on 600 MHz and 2.5 GHz 5G spectrum, in addition to T-Mobile’s LTE network, said the company. It has a 6.8-inch, 2220 x 1080 main OLED display and a second 3.9-inch OLED screen, enabling two apps to run concurrently. A 64-megapixel camera headlines the triple camera array. The BOGO offer is available to new and existing customers for $41.67/month over 24 months, said the carrier.

The FCC must consider the effect of allowing electronic newsgathering (ENG) operations by very-low-power (VLP) unlicensed deviceuse in the 6 GHz band, NAB said in a filing posted Friday in docket 18-295. The FCC is expected to consider revised rules for the band in December (see 2010190040). “This is not merely a theoretical concern,” NAB said: Broadcasters covering the "spontaneous vigil" in front of the Supreme Court the night Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died "were directly in the crowd itself, with little or no physical distance between their equipment and mourners. Had members of the crowd been carrying VLP devices, those devices could easily have caused interference to these ENG operations.”

The potential for the 5.9 GHz band to give Wi-Fi and auto safety a major boost as the pandemic continues has been proven, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and other speakers said during a WifiForward virtual event Wednesday. The event came the same day the FCC posted its draft order, unveiled by Pai Tuesday (see 2010270065).

Qualcomm began sampling its next-generation Immersive Home Platforms, successor to its mesh networking platforms, said the company Tuesday. Its Wi-Fi 6 and 6E products are due in the market next year, it said. For consumers who lack a mesh network, the Immersive Home Platforms ensure “high-performance” gigabit connectivity is available anywhere in a home, emailed Nick Kucharewski, general manager-wireless infrastructure and networking. FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly called Qualcomm’s Wi-Fi 6E announcement “great news” and a “massive game changer.” With some more work by the FCC this year, “we can expand unlicensed opportunities in band even further,” he tweeted. Pending FCC certification, consumers will get the benefits of Wi-Fi 6E in mobile, at home and in the enterprise, said Kucharewski. Tri-band Wi-Fi 6 platforms are designed to simultaneously leverage all three spectrum bands to support 2.4 GHz IoT-class devices and current legacy 5 GHz media devices and to enable “congestion-relieving migration” of node-to-node backhaul traffic from 5 GHz to the 6 GHz band, Kucharewski said.

The FCC approved a 5G Fund as expected Tuesday, with partial dissents by Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks (see 2010230056). Commissioners also approved revised TV white spaces rules 5-0, raising additional questions in a Further NPRM, including on the use of the Longley-Rice irregular terrain model for looking at interference (see 2010220048).

Enable portable operations in the 6 GHz band for immersive 5G services, Broadcom, Intel and Microsoft asked FCC Office of Engineering and Technology staff. “Enable communication between client devices when they are within range of an authorized 6 GHz Low Power Indoor Access Point,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 18-295. “The record clearly demonstrates that such operations would not increase the risk of harmful interference because clients would operate at the same power level as a client device communicating with the nearby access point … and only within that access point’s service area.” Commissioners may vote on changes in December (see 2010190040).

The FCC is expected to approve an order making further changes to wireless infrastructure rules in what could be a 3-2 vote Tuesday, with opposition possible from Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks, industry and FCC officials said. The order appears to have moved little since Chairman Ajit Pai circulated it, officials said. On a second wireless item, changes appear likely to the TV white spaces order, also set for a vote, with the FCC likely to seek comment on changes sought by Microsoft, officials said.

The FCC is expected to vote on an order opening the 5.9 GHz band for Wi-Fi and cellular vehicle-to-everything in November and an order on proposed further changes in the 6 GHz band in December, regardless of what happens in the Nov. 3 election. Chairman Ajit Pai likely will have broad support for the changes even if Joe Biden is elected and FCC control shifts to Democrats in January, agency and industry officials told us.

Require further testing before approving rules for the 6 GHz band, as proposed in a Further NPRM (see 2007280033), Southern Co. said in a call with an aide to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. Southern cited “the need for actual testing of unlicensed devices to evaluate their effect on licensed incumbent operations under real-world conditions prior to authorizing any expansion of unlicensed operations in the 6 GHz band,” in a filing posted Friday in docket 18-295. “Efforts are underway by incumbents to try to set up and conduct testing that could help inform the Commission and all stakeholders, but these efforts are hampered by the inability to obtain prototype or pre-market devices for testing.” Tech companies spoke with Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel on the importance of rules ensuring “6 GHz devices meet consumers’ expectations by enabling mobile use -- including both mobile [automatic frequency coordination]-controlled devices as well as very-low-power devices.” Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Qualcomm were participants. The companies had a similar call with Commissioner Brendan Carr (see 2010090038).

AT&T questioned a CableLabs study that argued the FCC can safely make additional changes to its 6 GHz rules proposed in a Further NPRM (see 2008270021). The study “suffers from significant flaws and mischaracterizations and provides no sound legal or engineering basis for Commission decisions in this docket,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 17-183. “The use of low-power indoor radio local area network devices without Automated Frequency Control constitutes a serious threat of harmful interference to 6 GHz Fixed Service at the power levels permitted in the 6 GHz Order -- a threat that would be exacerbated by the doubling of power proposed in the 6 GHz FNPRM,” AT&T said.