Seven 6 GHz automated frequency coordination (AFC) systems have completed the testing and public trial phase of certification but are waiting for the FCC to release the AFC certification public notice, the Wireless Innovation Forum said Tuesday in a monthly update. The forum said it’s also still waiting for Federal Register publication of the FCC’s Further NPRM proposing a geofencing system for very-low-power (VLP) operation above 14 dBm equivalent isotropic radiated power in the 6 GHz band (see 2310190054). Revised VLP rules take effect March 8, the forum noted. “The WInnForum 6 GHz committee is continuing to work on additional items to support AFC certification and future operation as well as reviewing the FNPRM in consideration of possibly commenting,” it said: “The Data Task Group is looking at data requirements to support VLP geofencing. The AFC Test and Certification [Working Group] is working to ensure all test specs are current.”

David Zumwalt, who became president of the Wireless ISP Association in June 2022, told us during an exclusive Communications Daily Q&A that the NTIA’s broadband, equity, access and deployment program shouldn’t be used to inject artificial competition into markets that WISPA members already serve. WISPA has fought to have BEAD fund projects that rely partly on using unlicensed spectrum (see 2302090063).

APCO representatives raised concerns about Wi-Fi in the 6 GHz band in a meeting with FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez. The expanded use of unlicensed devices in the 6 GHz band “presents a substantial threat of interference to public safety,” said a filing Wednesday in docket 18-295. “Real-world testing has raised doubts over the technical assumptions underlying the Commission’s decision to open the band,” APCO said. A 6 GHz multistakeholder group “failed to meaningfully address interference concerns or otherwise provide value beyond consensus that incumbents should perform baseline testing of their systems in anticipation of interference,” APCO said: “Public safety agencies lack the resources to promptly detect, identify, and eliminate interference from unlicensed devices, and viable alternatives to support mission critical communications in the event 6 GHz becomes untenable have yet to be identified.”

The FCC should address the remaining issues raised in a 2020 Further NPRM on the 6 GHz band, Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America, urged during a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Anna Gomez. “In particular, I explained why the authorization of a somewhat higher maximum power level … for indoor-only use is particularly crucial for digital equity and inclusion, for continued U.S. leadership in next generation Wi-Fi, and for virtually all consumers, businesses and community anchor institutions,” he said, according to a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-295.

The FCC will continue updating Congress about the affordable connectivity program's status in hopes of convincing lawmakers for money to keep it running, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel told reporters Thursday after the commissioners’ open meeting (see 2401250064). The FCC expects the initiative will exhaust its $14.2 billion allocation in April. The Wireline Bureau said earlier this month it would freeze new enrollments Feb. 8 as part of the program's wind-down process (see 2401110072).

NTIA is expecting detailed comments from federal agencies this week about the proposed implementation plan for the national spectrum strategy (see 2311130048), Scott Harris, NTIA senior spectrum adviser, said during an FCBA webinar Wednesday. NTIA has shared with the agencies its initial thoughts, he said. Next, it will prepare “a full draft” implementation plan, which it will also share, and “kick off” interagency meetings seeking “government-wide” consensus, Harris added.

CTIA asked the FCC to avoid making decisions that could complicate future licensed use of the 7/8 GHz band, in response to an NPRM on implementing 2015 and 2019 decisions by the World Radiocommunication Conference (see 2311290040). The U.S. “is well positioned to lead the world in licensed use of the 7/8 GHz band and to help define the ecosystems that will develop in this potentially globally harmonized tuning range,” said a Monday filing in docket 23-120. CTIA noted that delegates to WRC-23 decided to study 7/8 GHz for international mobile telecommunications. “Making licensed spectrum available in this band domestically will give the United States an early foothold for influencing the global mid-band IMT market,” CTIA said. In addition, the band is “a critical opportunity for economies of scale with the 6 GHz band, where global counterparts are planning to utilize as much as 700 megahertz in the upper portion of the band for 5G,” the group said: “International efforts to advance the 7/8 GHz band for 5G and beyond are consistent with the Administration’s clear direction” in the national spectrum strategy, “which calls for a whole-of-government effort to fast-track an in-depth study of these frequencies for wireless use.”

The U.S. attained generally positive results at the World Radiocommunication Conference, but 6 GHz band issues remain, Steve Lang, the State Department official who headed the U.S. WRC delegation, told an American Enterprise Institute event Monday. In contrast, other speakers argued WRC wasn’t a clean U.S. win.

The Electric Power Research Institute briefed the FCC about the analysis it used that led to file challenges to various public trials of 6 GHz automated frequency coordination (AFC) systems (see 2312220043). EPRI submitted test vectors consisting of locations along fixed-service system centerlines "with line of sight to an FS receive station,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 21-352. “The AFC operator response for each test vector was compared to a free space path loss (FSPL) calculation,” EPRI said: “Locations where it was found that the AFC operator assigned co-channel maximum power spectral density (PSD) was more than 3 dB in excess of the maximum PSD based on the FSPL calculation were included in the challenge letter.” EPRI understands the metrics it used were different from those the FCC specified, the filing said.

Cable operators not providing 100/20 Mbps speeds and fixed wireless access operators will be among the broadband equity, access and deployment program's biggest beneficiaries, speakers said during a Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers/Light Reading webinar Thursday. In addition, installers and equipment providers can anticipate "a very busy [next] four years," Morgan Lewis communications lawyer Andrew Lipman said.