Both houses of Congress were expected to vote Monday night on the combined FY 2021 appropriations and COVID-19 aid omnibus bill (HR-133), after Hill leaders reached a deal on the measure, which includes $6.82 billion for broadband and a raft of other tech and telecom policy provisions. HR-133 also includes increases in annual funding for the FCC, FTC, NTIA and other agencies compared with FY 2020. The Senate was, meanwhile, set to hold a revote on invoking cloture on FCC inspector general nominee Chase Johnson after failing a first try Saturday.

Further changes to rules for the 6 GHz band could wait for the next administration, some speculated in interviews last week. Chairman Ajit Pai declined to seek a vote at the Dec. 10 commissioners' meeting and it's unclear if he will do more before he leaves Jan. 20 (see 2011180065).

In its first 100 days, President-elect Joe Biden’s administration should prioritize FCC finalization of rules for opening up access to the 3.45-3.55 GHz, 5.9 GHz and 6 GHz bands, increasing broadband funding and expanding ISPs’ ability to gain access to poles and other critical infrastructure under Communications Act Section 224, the Wireless ISP Association said Wednesday.

Three years after commissioners voted 3-2 to repeal net neutrality regulation from the Obama administration (see 1712140039), FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the results show it was right to act. The FCC may take on a few other issues before he leaves Jan. 20, Pai said Wednesday during an Institute for Policy Innovation webcast.

Increase power levels for 6 GHz devices while requiring standard-power access points (AP) operating with effective isotropic radiated power higher than 36 dBm to “have the capability to cease transmission immediately upon notification” of interference, Nokia asked FCC Office of Engineering Technology staff, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-295. In practice, the higher-power links could operate successfully to maximize the benefits of unlicensed operations in the band while addressing concerns regarding causing harmful interference to fixed service (FS) incumbents,” the filing said. “Various use cases could leverage the higher power APs.”

The New York Power Authority is exploring numerous spectrum bands as it looks to put 150,000 sensor points throughout its network online, CEO Gil Quiniones said Friday on a webinar sponsored by the U.S. Energy Association. Morgan O'Brien, executive chairman of Anterix, said utility interest in the 900 MHz band has been strong. NYPA is the nation's largest public power provider.

CTIA representatives spoke with an aide to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on field tests it did with Southern Co., which found interference from unlicensed low-power indoor and very-low-power outdoor use of the 6 GHz band (see 2011160032). “Unlicensed proponents have thus far rejected incumbent stakeholder proposals to conduct testing with prototype devices within [a] multi-stakeholder group and have declined to provide devices to facilitate testing by incumbent operators,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-295.

The FCC cleared the first device authorized to use the 6 GHz band, allocated in April for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed use (see 2004230059), approving Broadcom's BCM4389 chip. “The Commission cleared the way for such advances with its landmark action earlier this year, making up to 1,200 megahertz of spectrum available for higher powered unlicensed use,” said Chairman Ajit Pai: “Today, we are starting to see the fruits of this work, and consumers will now start to benefit in a big way.” Vijay Nagarajan, Broadcom vice president-Mobile Connectivity Division, said it's a “red-letter day” for Wi-Fi. “We've shipped 100s of millions [of] Wi-Fi 6 devices,” he said: “We look to capitalize on this install-base of devices while also heralding the Wi-Fi Space Age with 6 GHz support.” The chip uses 6025-6985 MHz. “This module may only be marketed and sold to an OEM system integrator that has an agreement with the grantee and has been provided detailed instructions on installation conditions to ensure that the correct firmware is installed,” the authorization states: “Host systems must be intended for indoor use only, outdoor applications are NOT allowed.” Consumers are likely to have 6 GHz devices “in the first half of 2021,” Nagarajan emailed.

The C-band auction set to start Tuesday is expected to bring in $35 billion, with Verizon likely an aggressive bidder and AT&T and T-Mobile active, Citi analyst Michael Rollins wrote investors Thursday. T-Mobile is presumably focused on spectrum below 6 GHz and might want at least 61 MHz of the band, he said. Comcast's and Charter Communications' expanded and extended mobile virtual network operation with Verizon could mean they take an opportunistic approach to buying a national slice of the band, he said. Dish Network might take part, but any incremental spectrum purchases will increase the company’s already big funding needs to build a national 5G network, he said. He said Dish's growing capital needs for its wireless strategy could lead to it trying to monetize its video business and tee up combining with DirecTV, he said. TDS and UScellular will likely seek at least 60 MHz in its current footprint, he said.

Environmentally friendly 5G, “mainstream” virtual reality and ubiquitous Wi-Fi 6E are among trends ABI Research predicted won't happen in 2021. That global 5G subscriptions are forecast to grow 48.4% to 347 million “will strain the environment as a growing number of consumers will be switching over to 5G devices,” said ABI Tuesday: “The transition will potentially create large amounts of electronic waste.” Stakeholders “have not aligned” to enable mainstream VR adoption, it said. Growth will be strong in 2021, “but the user base will not reach levels once thought probable,” where VR competes for time with TVs and smartphones, it said. COVID-19 further accelerated demand for high-efficiency Wi-Fi networks, said the researcher. But residential broadband adoption of Wi-Fi 6E, an extended Wi-Fi 6 network with 6 GHz spectrum “will be minimal in 2021" because broadband service providers only recently started upgrading infrastructure for Wi-Fi 6, it said.