The 1,200 MHz of spectrum the FCC opened for Wi-Fi at 6 GHz is spurring action by regulators worldwide, experts told the Fierce Wireless Wi-Fi Summit Tuesday. Raghuram Rangarajan, Amazon engineering leader, told us adoption of the band will happen quickly. Wi-Fi 7, with 320 MHz channels, is a few years away, speakers said.

Refrain from acting to curb 6 GHz unlicensed use, the Wi-Fi Alliance urged the FCC in a filing posted Monday in docket 18-295: The need “was significant pre-pandemic and has only increased with hundreds of millions of Americans relying on Wi-Fi."

Reject calls for a pause in equipment certifications for 6 GHz unlicensed low-power indoor (LPI) devices until more testing is done (see 2101270037), CTA wrote Thursday in FCC docket 18-295. “This misguided proposal threatens the important role the Commission’s equipment-certification process plays in advancing U.S. technological innovation, far beyond the context of this 6 GHz proceeding,” CTA said. “CTA members and other equipment manufacturers of all kinds, using bands across the radiofrequency spectrum, depend on a predictable, reliable and timely FCC equipment certification process."

Global adoption of 5G and "increasingly complex technical requirements" are driving a multiyear industry transition that “plays to our strength,” said outgoing Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf on a fiscal Q1 call Wednesday. See quarterly materials here. Strong demand for 5G handsets, and growth in RF front-end, automotive and IoT, drove a record 62% year-over-year increase in revenue to $8.2 billion for the quarter ended Dec. 27. Profit jumped 165% to $2.5 billion, but “the strong performance and outlook would have been even stronger had we not been supply constrained,” said Mollenkopf.

Pause additional equipment certifications for 6 GHz unlicensed low-power indoor (LPI) devices “until rigorous testing is conducted to demonstrate that unlicensed devices can coexist with incumbent fixed-microwave licensees in the 6 GHz band,” 6 GHz incumbents said in a letter to FCC commissioners. “Such action is necessary to satisfy Congress’s recent directive to the FCC to provide a report on progress towards ‘ensuring rigorous testing related to unlicensed use of the 6 gigahertz band’ and is the only prudent course given recent showings in the record that LPI devices pose a significant interference risk,” said a Wednesday posting in docket 18-295. The Utilities Technology Council, Edison Electric Institute, American Public Power Association, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, American Petroleum Institute, American Water Works Association, American Gas Association, National Public Safety Telecommunications Council, International Association of Fire Chiefs and APCO signed. “The FCC reviewed an extensive and detailed technical record over multiple years and correctly decided that the risk of harmful interference from indoor Wi-Fi devices to fixed link operations in 6 GHz is insignificant,” an NCTA spokesperson responded: “The recent call by fixed link incumbents to stop the 6 GHz equipment certification process does not change the facts and is another attempt to relitigate settled issues and unnecessarily delay the substantial benefits of Wi-Fi 6E and more for American consumers at a time when they rely on Wi-Fi more than ever before.”

Southern Co. representatives spoke with aides to all five commissioners about its concerns about 6 GHz rules, said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-295. The FCC “authorized unlicensed low power indoor operations in the 6 GHz band without any testing having been conducted whatsoever,” the utility said. “Manufacturers and proponents of unlicensed use have consistently ignored or rejected repeated requests to participate in any field testing (and continue to do so), and manufacturers continue to decline to provide any prototype or sample devices that could be used in such testing even though some parties have already received certification for unlicensed 6 GHz devices and many have already begun marketing efforts.” Commissioners approved rules and a Further NPRM 5-0 in April (see 2004230059).

Ajit Pai, who leaves the FCC Wednesday, had one of the busiest conclusions to a chairmanship in recent history as he closed out many items. That was deliberate, Pai said in an interview. We’re “sprinting to the finish," he said Friday evening. Pai said all the big things he wanted to do he started in his first three years. “We didn’t want to leave significant items lingering out there for the last year,” he said: “Things can fall through the cracks before you know it.”

The Ajit Pai FCC had success in opening spectrum bands for 5G because it was willing to take on other agencies, Commissioner Brendan Carr told an American Enterprise Institute webinar Thursday, less than a week before Pai leaves and a new administration begins. There was a lot of noise about fights with DOD over Ligado and with other agencies, he said. “These disputes have always been there, but prior [FCCs] kept it below the headline level because they didn’t want to take on the fight,” he said.

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology seeks further comment about 6 GHz rules, specifically whether to allow client-to-client device communications, said a Monday notice in docket 18-295. OET said unlicensed proponents requested the change. “We invite comment on whether the Commission should permit 6 GHz … client devices to directly communicate when they are under the control of or have received an enabling signal from a low-power indoor access point,” OET said. “Commenters should explain how they define an enabling signal, what characteristics it must have, how it is similar or different from signals, such as beacons, that access points already used to connect with client devices, and the degree to which an enabling signal would tether a client device not under the direct control of an access point to that access point,” it said. Dates will be set in a Federal Register notice. Commissioners approved new 6 GHz rules and a Further NPRM 5-0 in April (see 2004230059).

CTIA, AT&T, Southern Co., UScellular and Verizon representatives spoke with FCC Office of Engineering and Technology staff on a recent report raising 6 GHz interference concerns (see 2011160032). “This report is the first field test assessment of how untethered low power indoor and very low power devices in the 6 GHz band would affect incumbent Fixed Service links and shows there is a significant and material risk of harmful interference to incumbent Licensees,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-295.