The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology approved commercial operations for Axon Networks' 6 GHz automated frequency coordination system. The approval lets Axon's AFC system manage access to spectrum in the 5.925-6.425 GHz and 6.525-6.875 GHz portions of the 6 GHz band for standard power access points and fixed client devices, OET said Friday (docket 21-352). Separately, OET approved a modification of Comsearch's 6 GHz AFC system.

Cisco Systems continues to lobby the FCC 10th floor regarding its proposal that the commission end rules that prevent use of the 6 GHz band for Wi-Fi on cruise ships. In a docket 18-295 filing Wednesday, it recapped a meeting with an aide to Chairman Brendan Carr, during which it argued that earth exploration satellite services migrating out of the 6 GHz band make obsolete the agency's prohibition on 6 GHz low-power indoor access points on boats to protect EESS. Cisco had similar talks with Commissioner Anna Gomez earlier this month (see 2506170061).

The Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition on Friday asked the FCC to rethink its approval of waivers for Comsearch and C3Spectra, which provide automated frequency coordination systems in the 6 GHz band, to take building entry loss into account for “composite” standard- and low-power devices that are restricted to indoor operations (see 2505200016). The Office of Engineering and Technology approved the waivers last month.

Cisco Systems met with an aide to Commissioner Anna Gomez on the company’s proposal that the FCC end rules that prevent the use of the 6 GHz band for Wi-Fi on cruise ships. The 6 GHz Wi-Fi would enhance “cruise experience and critical ship operations,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 25-133. Cisco made the proposal in April as part of the FCC’s “Delete” proceeding (see 2504140046).

Apple and Meta Platforms representatives met with FCC Office of Engineering and Technology staff on a proposed geofenced variable power (GVP) device class in the 6 GHz band (see 2408270034). They discussed GVP use cases, said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-295. “GVP will help enable a class of body-worn devices that can operate at power levels higher than very low power device power levels within permissible zones,” the companies said. “These higher powers will help address significant body loss that body-worn devices will experience.” Body loss is a form of signal attenuation.

Senate Commerce Committee Republicans released the panel's portion of a budget reconciliation bill Thursday night with language that proposes mandating that the FCC sell at least 800 MHz of reallocated spectrum, as expected (see 2506050064). Some communications industry groups praised the measure, but observers said they expect other stakeholders to criticize it. Lobbyists said they expect that Senate Commerce Democrats will likely vote against the proposal, as party-affiliated House Commerce Committee members did last month when that panel marked up its part (see 2505140062) of what became the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (HR-1).

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, insisted in a brief interview Thursday that a deal he reached Wednesday with top Armed Services Committee Republicans for spectrum language in the chamber’s budget reconciliation package (see 2506040078) remains in place, despite panel member Mike Rounds, R-S.D., indicating new wrinkles emerged. Senate Commerce planned to release its reconciliation language Thursday but hadn’t by our deadline. Meanwhile, the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, National Emergency Number Association and other groups urged Senate Commerce to allocate some future auction proceeds in its reconciliation proposal for next-generation 911 tech upgrades.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, insisted in a brief interview Thursday that a deal he reached Wednesday with top Armed Services Committee Republicans for spectrum language in the chamber’s budget reconciliation package remains intact, after panel member Mike Rounds, R-S.D., indicated that new wrinkles had emerged. The deal ensured the spectrum title would exclude the 3.1-3.45 GHz band and parts of the 7 and 8 GHz bands from possible sale through the entirety of a proposed restoration of the FCC’s lapsed auction authority, which would run through Sept. 30, 2034. Rounds, Communications Subcommittee Chair Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., pushed for exclusions on the 7 and 8 GHz bands.

NAB fired back at the Wi-Fi Alliance and various tech companies for opposing its petition for reconsideration of an order expanding the parts of the 6 GHz band where new very-low-power devices can operate without coordination (see 2505150017). “Both oppositions misstate the nature of NAB’s request in alleging procedural defects,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-295.

Senate Armed Services Committee member Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., is threatening to block Senate passage of its budget reconciliation package if Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and others include spectrum legislative language that doesn’t exempt the 3.1-3.45 GHz and 7 GHz bands from potential reallocation for commercial use. Rounds’ declaration Wednesday night created another potential roadblock for spectrum legislation to make it into a negotiated reconciliation deal, even as House GOP leaders celebrated the lower chamber's narrow passage Thursday morning of their One Big Beautiful Bill Act (HR-1). That measure's spectrum title would restore the FCC’s lapsed auction authority through Sept. 30, 2034, and exempts the lower 3 GHz and 5.9-7.1 (6) GHz bands from reallocation.