Get more information on critical 6 GHz transmissions before approving sharing with Wi-Fi and other unlicensed users, the National Spectrum Management Association filed, posted Thursday in docket 18-295. “It is critical for the FCC to assess the extent to which current operations in the 6 GHz band support mission-critical services, and the operational and network growth criteria for those services, as a fundamental starting point for assessing the feasibility of introducing additional services into the band,” NSMA said: That "should take the form of either an FCC Fixed Service Database enhancement, or an audit or a functionally equivalent official study finding.” Require use of a testbed to study sharing “under realistic conditions,” the group said. The agency is studying how the band can be shared with Wi-Fi (see 1909090057).

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr visited an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico to speak with RigNet CEO Steven Pickett and others about the offshore network. The company discussed the importance of protecting its 6 GHz microwave network. “As the FCC considers the unlicensed use of 6 GHz spectrum, we have stressed that this would create network interference and could endanger offshore crews and other LTE users in the Gulf,” Pickett said, it recounted Wednesday. “The Gulf should be excluded.” Ex-FCC official Jamie Barnett, now RigNet senior vice president-government services, also met with Carr. T-Mobile, which has a Gulf 4G LTE network with RigNet, also participated.

NTIA put a relatively unexplored spectrum band on the table Tuesday for potential sharing, between federal incumbents and other users -- the 7.125-8.4 GHz band. It's in “early stages” of considering a feasibility study of future sharing there, Charles Cooper, associate administrator in the Office of Spectrum Management, told the first meeting of the reconstituted Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee.

Ericsson CEO Borje Ekholm and colleagues met with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on 5G and pressed for FCC action on the C band that many stakeholders want for fifth-generation wireless use. "Not only is timing important, but Ericsson would like to see enough spectrum in the band made available to serve multiple operators with 100 MHz channels," the company asked the agency: "Reconsider its proposal to devote the entire 6 GHz band to unlicensed use." The executives "highlighted its commitment to its U.S. customers as they roll out 5G products at an increasing rate,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 18-122. It noted its new 5G smart factory in Lewisville, Texas (see 1909190042).

Widespread 5G will mean many more Americans will have another choice of broadband provider, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr told the Americas Spectrum Management Conference Wednesday. Carr said the FCC needs to continue its push to get the rules right for broadband deployment. But Carr didn’t discuss next steps or comment on regulatory changes sought by CTIA and the Wireless Infrastructure Association, which the FCC put out for comment (see 1909130062).

Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., isn't backing down from his push to enact the FY 2020 funding bill for the FCC and FTC with report language on spectrum policy matters, despite pushback from Senate Commerce Committee leaders (see 1909230065). The funding bill report, which the Senate Appropriations Committee advanced last week, would pressure the FCC to hold a public auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band. It also addresses the debate over opening up the 6 GHz band for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed use (see 1909190079). Senate Commerce Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., asked Senate Appropriations to remove the report language because it impinges on Commerce's jurisdiction. Kennedy told reporters he talked with Wicker about the concerns but hasn't actually read the letter. “I stand by” including the C-band and 6 GHz language in the bill report “and I intend to fight to keep it in,” Kennedy said. “Last time I checked, the FCC was under the jurisdiction of” Senate Appropriations Financial Services. “This is taxpayer money we're spending” and “if the FCC decides not to do” a public auction of the C-band spectrum, “they have a moral and a legal obligation to explain precisely to the American people, in plain English, why they want to do a private deal.” He previously criticized the C-Band Alliance's proposal for a private auction (see 1907190051).

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., oppose “telecommunications policy provisions” the Senate Appropriations Committee included in its report on the chamber's version of the FY 2020 FCC-FTC budget bill, including language to shape FCC spectrum policy. Senate Appropriations voted unanimously last week to advance the FCC-FTC bill with report language to pressure the FCC to hold a public auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band (see 1909190079). Senate Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee Chairman Roy Blunt, R-Mo., meanwhile, is sticking by his decision to maintain CPB's annual funding at $445 million in its draft FY 2020 bill (see 1909180058).

The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 31-0 Thursday to advance to the floor its Financial Services FY 2020 budget bill with report language to pressure the FCC to hold a public auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band. The measure, which the Financial Services Subcommittee cleared Tuesday, would allocate $339 million to the FCC and its Office of Inspector General and $312.3 million to the FTC (see 1909170060). The House-passed equivalent (HR-3351) allocated the FCC the same funding level but gave the FTC $349.7 million -- $37 million more than Senate Appropriations proposes (see 1906260081).

With rival estimates of cost and feasibility of fiber distribution to replace satellite C-band use before the FCC, experts told us there are issues about how fast such fiber could go up and about ongoing expenses. Being switched to fiber could force many small cable operators out of business, some fear.

The Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition (FWCC) fired back at August tech company filings pressing for radio local access network operations in the 6 GHz band, a key band for Wi-Fi (see 1909090057). “These submissions are part of the proponents’ ongoing, as yet unsuccessful, effort to establish that certain 6 GHz unlicensed RLANs can operate free of automatic frequency control, without causing harmful interference to Fixed Service (FS) receivers,” the coalition filed, posted Monday in docket 18-295: “Our analyses have shown the opposite: that uncontrolled RLANs at any useful power are statistically certain to cause harmful interference to the FS. For that reason, they cannot lawfully be authorized.”