Automated frequency coordination (AFC) in the 6 GHz band doesn’t need to be complex to be effective, tech companies told the FCC. Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Qualcomm and Ruckus signed a letter, posted Friday in docket 18-295. The companies argue AFC should be reserved for standard-power devices operating indoors and outdoors. “Unnecessarily burdensome AFC requirements could greatly increase the cost of AFC implementations, delaying the availability of AFC-controlled devices, limiting innovation, and driving up costs for consumers,” the companies said: “Our companies strongly support the Commission’s long history of light-touch, technology-neutral and innovation-friendly decision-making, especially with respect to unlicensed operations.” Rules should be targeted and concise and “emphasize security and robust interference protection," they said.

The COVID-19 pandemic comes as Ajit Pai enters what is likely to be the homestretch of his time as FCC chairman. Pai has sketched out an ambitious agenda for the rest of 2020, but no one knows how long the pandemic will last. Industry officials agree it will likely slow work on at least some items due to refocusing on coronavirus-related orders. The crisis offers Pai a chance to write a new legacy, they said.

Technology-neutral regulation is critical to efficient use of the 6 GHz band, Qualcomm officials said in calls with an aide to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, Chief Technology Officer Monisha Ghosh, and Office of Engineering and Technology staff. “Licensed spectrum deployments rely on time synchronization to support advanced techniques for efficient spectrum use, and, in unlicensed spectrum, time synchronized access is a key enabler to supporting advanced techniques that use coordinated, highly flexible, spatial sharing to provide more predictable access, and thus, improved throughput and latency,” Qualcomm said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 18-295: Under their proposed rule, “time-synchronized access does not disadvantage any user, including those using devices employing asynchronous access.”

Tech companies said very-low-power devices, which don’t require automatic frequency control, are critical as the FCC looks at Wi-Fi in the 6 GHz band. VLP devices can be used for augmented- and virtual-reality, headphones, game controllers, keyboards, hearing aids and other applications, said Apple, Broadcom, Facebook and Google in a filing posted Thursday in docket 18-295. “The VLP device class would ensure that the 6 GHz band supports a class of technologies that our companies see as central to the next generation of wireless innovation -- personal area networks,” the companies said: “Not only are higher powers unnecessary for these devices, they are counterproductive because personal area devices are smaller and battery-driven, requiring extreme energy efficiency.” The four and other companies, including Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Qualcomm, proposed “a simple rule to identify a class of fixed client devices for certification purposes” in a second filing. CTA spoke with aides to Pai about the band: “CTA has a keen interest in ensuring the availability of spectrum needed to enable the widespread adoption of connected devices and services.”

In a key early test of the FCC’s ability to wrap up big items in a coronavirus world, commissioners are expected to vote in April to allow Wi-Fi to share the 6 GHz band (see 2003050058). The Office of Engineering and Technology hadn’t completed work on the order before FCC staff was ordered to telework last week, but most industry and FCC officials said they still expect the order to be ready for a vote at the April 23 meeting, though questions remain difficult.

SiriusXM representatives opposed a wireless industry push for the FCC to license and sell the upper 6 GHz band, in meetings with aides to all commissioners expect Chairman Ajit Pai. The company uses 7.025-7.075 GHz frequencies as the only feeder link it has to transmit programming to satellite digital audio radio service satellites and control them. “The Commission licensed this spectrum to SiriusXM in 1997 as an essential element of its SDARS systems that are relied on by tens of millions of Americans, including for critical emergency information,” the company said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-295. The Wi-Fi Alliance also took a shot at the CTIA proposal. “It is remarkably ironic that, at a time when so many Americans are relying on low-cost Wi-Fi for bandwidth intensive telework, tele-school, tele-medicine and other accommodations necessary to meet the national COVID-19 crisis, CTIA argues that the Commission overestimated the need for unlicensed spectrum,” the alliance said: The current crisis “highlights how Americans have come to rely on Wi-Fi connectivity to conduct their lives.” CTIA has "consistently recognized the need for both licensed and unlicensed spectrum, and supports making the lower portion of the 6 GHz band available for unlicensed use,” responded Scott Bergmann, senior vice president-regulatory affairs: “The record in the FCC’s proceeding simply does not support moving forward with all 1,200 MHz of spectrum in the band at this time, and we’ve therefore asked for the FCC to preserve its options regarding the upper portion of the band.” Bergmann said contrary to some comments, CTIA is not asking that DOD has to move out of the upper 6 GHz band.

FCC plans to vote in April to allow Wi-Fi to share the 6 GHz band (see 2003050058) are in doubt because of complications from the coronavirus, Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel said during a New America teleconference Tuesday. Most FCC staffers have been telecommuting since last week.

Protect the 7.025-7.075 GHz band from harmful interference as it moves forward on a 6 GHz order, expected in April, SiriusXM representatives told the FCC. The frequencies offer “the sole feeder link spectrum available to and used by Sirius XM to transmit programming to Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service satellites and control those spacecraft,” the company told International Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology staff in a call, says a filing Monday in docket 18-295. CTIA urged the FCC to explore licensing spectrum in the upper part of the band (see 2003050058). “Sirius XM emphasized that proponents of possible licensed use of the Upper 6 GHz Band have ignored the fact that SDARS feeder links cannot be relocated to other spectrum or use a different transmission medium,” the filing says.

CTIA said claims in docket 18-295 that it opposes Wi-Fi in the 6 GHz band, and that more licensed mid-band spectrum isn’t needed for 5G, aren’t true. “Members are eager to make use of and benefit from additional unlicensed capacity and wider unlicensed channels in the lower 6 GHz band,” CTIA said in a filing posted Monday. The wireless industry also supports “consideration of licensing in the upper portion of the band,” the group said. A licensed spectrum gap will continue even with planned auctions, CTIA said. The Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition said the FCC should allow unlicensed operations in the band only with automated frequency control. “No one has yet proposed a methodology that has been proven accurate in estimating propagation loss in the clutter environments where much unlicensed use is likely to occur,” the coalition said.

The FCC should ignore a push by CTIA for licensed use of part of the 6 GHz band (see 2003120065), NCTA said in a filing posted Friday in docket 18-295. “The United States needs more unlicensed spectrum in the near term and cannot afford to delay unlicensed access to half of the 6 GHz band in order to consider an ill-conceived, last minute push by CTIA to auction the upper frequencies,” NCTA said. “Next-generation Wi-Fi technology is here: NCTA’s members have debuted Wi-Fi 6 access points, leading smartphone manufacturers have incorporated the technology, and the market expects a deluge of new Wi-Fi 6 devices in the near term.” CTIA didn't comment.