The new Coalition for Coordinated Sharing filed a petition for rulemaking at the FCC Tuesday, asking the agency to develop rules to open the 10-10.5 GHz band for point-to-point use on a shared basis. “It is becoming increasingly difficult to find greenfield spectrum below the 12 GHz spectrum band to connect tower sites, enterprises and devices,” the group said in a news release: “Sharing spectrum in the 10 GHz band represents the most viable means to solve congestion and meet consumer demand for more robust broadband and IoT services with incumbents.” The coalition's members are the Wireless ISP Association, Cambium Networks, the Open Technology Institute at New America and Public Knowledge. An official with the coalition told us it builds on a 2013 proposal by Mimosa asking that the band be set aside for outdoor and long-distance backhaul links at the power levels allowed under Part 90, subpart Z, of commission rules. The commission took comment in 2014 (see 1404150034). CTIA previously supported use of the 10 GHz band for licensed use (see 2011030051). Bipartisan lawmakers in the House and Senate urged an exam of the band in 2015 (see 1503030029). The coalition said sharing would be easier than the sharing in the citizens broadband radio service band, similar to the frequency coordination being developed for the 6 GHz band. “Over the last several years, the Commission has made thousands of megahertz of spectrum available for last-mile service,” the group said. “While those allocations have created significant public benefits, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the need for more point-to-point spectrum to relieve congestion in other bands and help meet the increased demand for fixed broadband service,” it said: “This is particularly true in rural areas and for other applications where devices are not proximate to available or affordable fiber.” The spectrum is currently occupied by DOD and possibly other federal incumbents in many areas, said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America. “Using a geographic coordination system, this underutilized band could also accommodate shared use with broadband providers in many rural, tribal and other underserved areas,” he said.

Incumbent users of the 6 GHz band asked the FCC to work with a new 15,500 Wi-Fi 6E access point network at the University of Michigan to do real world tests of the Wi-Fi standard, which incorporates the 6 GHz band. “The current unlicensed 6 GHz rules relied almost exclusively upon simulations and data provided by CableLabs -- measurements based on devices using the Wi-Fi 5 standard or older standards, as the Wi-Fi 6 standard for high speed and wider bandwidths was not certified until September 2019,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 19-295: “Unlicensed proponents’ own data demonstrate that since 2018, when those measurements were taken, wireless data rates have increased three-fold and the density of Wi-Fi access points has increased four-fold.” The filing was signed by the Utilities Technology Council, the Edison Electric Institute, the American Public Power Association, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and the Enterprise Wireless Alliance.

CommScope met with acting Chief Ron Repasi and other staff of the FCC Office of Engineering about the company's plan for geolocation of standard power access points in the 6 GHz band, said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-295. CommScope said it also discussed automated frequency control testing and certification.

6G isn’t the next step after 5G, but similar to 4G there will be an interim stage -- 5G advanced -- speakers said during a GSMA webinar Thursday. GSMA also released a white paper on 5G-advanced. Experts forecast increased use of new technologies like integration of sensing and communication (ISAC) and unified time frequency-division duplexing (UDD). Upcoming 3rd Generation Partnership Project Release-18 will be “the inaugural release” for 5G-advanced, GSMA said.

In an updated report, Analysys Mason said the U.S. “continues to trail leading countries in available licensed mid-band spectrum, a trend expected to continue for the foreseeable future if no action is taken,” said CTIA, which commissioned the report released Tuesday: “The U.S. lags the top three studied nations -- Japan, the United Kingdom and France -- by 530 MHz on average. In five years, the U.S. will continue to lag, trailing the future top three countries by 415 MHz on average.” The report stresses the need for licensed spectrum in the 3-7 GHz range. It notes that only two countries plan to make more unlicensed spectrum available in the next five years and both will continue to trail the U.S. “The U.S. is also an outlier as the only country to make unlicensed spectrum available between 3.3 GHz and 4.2 GHz,” the analysis said. The U.S. targeted 6 GHz for unlicensed use, and China is considering licensing the band. “The FCC made great progress with recent mid-band spectrum auctions, but this study shows there is more work to be done,” said CTIA President Meredith Baker.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s announcement Monday the FCC will launch a notice of inquiry on 12.7-13.25 GHz was a surprise to advocates of using 12.2-12.7 for 5G, but doesn’t necessarily have negative implications for a long-awaited order on the lower part of the spectrum range. The most substantial objections are likely to come from broadcasters, though fixed service, satellite and other links are in the band.

Experts said repeatedly at the ForumGlobal 6G conference Friday that planning needs to start now for the next generation of wireless beyond 5G. Speakers agreed regulators around the world will have to look at additional bands and put increased emphasis on more dynamic sharing.

The FCC shouldn’t provide further flexibility for unlicensed 6 GHz devices without a requirement for automated frequency coordination and there is no need for the FCC to address the issue quickly, AT&T said in a filing posted Monday in docket 18-295. AT&T said it disagreed with arguments by NCTA and CableLabs (see 2208160038). “There is no time urgency to act on the proposals to raise the LPI [low power indoor] power limit or to authorize VLP [very low power] operations because it is now apparent that the use cases supporting those proposals can be realized under AFC control,” AT&T said: “Instead of approving higher LPI power devices -- which evidence indicates will harm [fixed service] components of vital telecommunications networks, including Public Safety and Critical Infrastructure systems -- the Commission should opt for the more prudent path of gaining real world experience with how these types of … applications interact with FS microwave links using AFC. Requiring AFC control has no or little cost to manufacturers of LPI and VLP devices given technology developments that already offer multiple means of connecting unlicensed devices using AFC controls.” NAB also countered the NCTA filing. “NAB’s current proposal is to reserve just 55 MHz of the 6 GHz band exclusively for licensed mobile use until real-world data is available to justify the removal of such reservation,” broadcasters said: “This would effectively serve as a pilot program to test the coexistence of unlicensed operations and licensed mobile operations and address our ongoing concerns regarding the potential for harmful interference to licensed mobile operations in the 6 GHz band. Contrary to NCTA’s assertion, we ask neither for a permanent reservation of spectrum nor a wholesale review of unlicensed operations in the band in the future.”

Intel and Broadcom demonstrated Wi-Fi 7 at over-the-air speeds of more than 5 Gbps, they said Thursday. The trial used an Intel Core processor-based laptop with Wi-Fi 7 connected to a Broadcom Wi-Fi 7 access point. The companies called Wi-Fi 7 the platform for "the next 10 years of wireless experiences" requiring higher speeds, lower latency, improved reliability and greater capacity. The next-generation Wi-Fi standard uses wider 320 MHz channels in unlicensed 6 GHz spectrum, higher order 4K QAM data modulation, simultaneous connections across multiple bands with multilink operation and improved channel utilization efficiency with multiresource unit puncturing, they said. Wi-Fi 7 will enable new product classes, including augmented and virtual reality, “ultra-high-definition” 16K media streaming and more responsive and reliable gaming, while supporting large numbers of connected devices on the network, they said.

Encina Communications fired back at a tech company filing last month challenging Encina’s proposal to use Part 101 frequency coordination procedures as an alternative to automated frequency coordination (AFC) in the 6 GHz band (see 2208150040). “The filing … is a mere smokescreen and should be disregarded as an attempt to divert attention from the indisputable fact that after two years the industry multi-stakeholder group ... has failed to date to resolve the FCC’s acknowledged technical and operational issues associated with the [AFC] system,” Encina said in a filing posted Monday in docket 18-295.