The Open Technology Institute at New America encouraged the FCC to move quickly to allow automated frequency control in 6 GHz, in a call with an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. “It would be a costly and unnecessary opportunity loss for consumers and the economy if the Commission takes several years to certify AFCs, as it [did] to certify the then-novel TV Bands Databases and Spectrum Access Systems,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 18-295. The group also expressed concerns on T-Mobile’s pending shuttering (see 2109210040) of its CDMA network.

AT&T urged the FCC to issue a “Knowledge Database document … well prior to the November deadline for submission” of 6 GHz automated frequency coordination proposals (see 2109300069), in a call with Office of Engineering and Technology staff. The document would identify “specific parameters within each of the propagation models mandated by the 6 GHz Order to be used by all AFC system operators,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 18-295. “Setting comprehensive AFC parameters now would be far more efficient from an administrative perspective and thus would speed the certification.”

Wi-Fi 6, now about 2 years old, should start getting wide adoption among ISPs starting by year's end, with it becoming relatively commonplace in households toward Q2, said Patrick Moreno, Zyxel Communications product marketing manager, during a webinar Thursday. He said many providers remain "in the discovery phase" about Wi-Fi 6. He said the latest generation of Wi-Fi has speeds 30% to 40% faster than Wi-Fi 5 and increased capacity for more connected devices, plus lower latency for time-sensitive applications. He said Wi-Fi 6 routers will be backward compatible for Wi-Fi 4 and 5. A variation -- Wi-Fi 6E, which came out earlier this year -- adds the 6 GHz band, which will help alleviate congestion in the crowded 2.4 GHz band and the starting-to-crowd 5 GHz band, Moreno said. He said 6E gateways and extenders are in development.

The FCC 3.45 GHz auction appears to be in some danger of not closing, which would mean a failed auction, though nothing will be certain for some time, experts said Thursday. The auction stood at $4.25 billion Thursday after the last of four rounds. It moves to five rounds Friday. A week in, the C-band auction had hit $10.5 billion on the way to an $81 billion record. The 3.45 GHz auction has to exceed a $14.77 billion reserve price to close.

The Biden administration is looking past 5G to 6G, said Evelyn Remaley, NTIA acting administrator, at the Americas Spectrum Management Conference Wednesday. She's “very optimistic” about opening the 3.1-3.45 GHz band for 5G and sees industry support for developing a national spectrum strategy. Others cited the importance of the C-band and issues that must be addressed after the record-setting auction.

The FCC remains focused on opening the 3.1-3.45 GHz band for 5G, acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel told the Americas Spectrum Management Conference Tuesday. Other speakers said the U.S. is making progress on 5G, but it's a time of uncertainty and change on spectrum policy. Promoters had planned an in-person event but took it virtual with the rise in COVID-19 infections.

Emergency communications have improved since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, including the launch of FirstNet, but problems persist, said Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), chair of the House Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery Subcommittee, during a virtual hearing Thursday. The Homeland Security Committee panel heard from first responders who warned of funding shortfalls and that many areas are falling further behind as technology advances.

The Wireless Innovation Forum warned of potential problems with data in the universal licensing system, which is to be used for locating fixed microwave links in 6 GHz under FCC rules for automated frequency control. “There are inherent issues with the ULS and some of the data contained in it,” including blank, conflicting and uncollected data, WInnForum said. Members of the forum reported on a call with FCC staff, in filings posted Wednesday in docket 18-295.

Infrastructure companies should view Wi-Fi not as a threat but a way of making networks more efficient, said Kevin Robinson, Wi-Fi Alliance senior vice president-marketing. The Wireless Infrastructure Association conference where he spoke Tuesday was both in person and streamed from Orlando. Wi-Fi and 5G compete with each other but more often work together to “deliver more value to the end customer,” Robinson said. When data is shifted from a smartphone to Wi-Fi, it means “a better user experience” for those still on the network, he said.

MediaTek’s new Filogic series of chipsets, targeted for broadband routers, mesh systems, enterprise access points and retail routers, has Wi-Fi 6 and 6E support, and “ushers in a new era of smart Wi-Fi solutions” with “extreme” speeds, low latency and peak power efficiency, said the chipmaker Thursday. Devices using Wi-Fi 6 connections in the 6 GHz band “are designed to make use of wide 160 MHz channels and uncongested bandwidth” for rendering “multi-gigabit, low latency Wi-Fi,” it said. The Wi-Fi Alliance picked MediaTek as the Wi-Fi 6E test bed in January, said the company.