Amtrak asked the FCC to change the rules under which its Wi-Fi network operates so it can offer more robust service along its key Northeast Corridor (NEC). To keep up with customer demands, Amtrak is building a private trackside network along the NEC providing dedicated capacity in the UNII-3 band for Amtrak's Wi-Fi and other broadband-related services, Amtrak told the FCC in a petition. The network could achieve download speeds “measureable in hundreds of megabits per second,” but only if it can use the 5.1 GHz U-NII-1 band in addition to the spectrum it's using, the 5.725-5.825 GHz U-NII-3 band, Amtrak said. “The UNII-1 band could provide Amtrak with a second 80 MHz channel that takes advantage of the IEEE 802.11ac standard and that also assures consistency of coverage in a cost efficient manner,” the railroad said. But under FCC rules non-fixed operations in the UNII-1 band are limited to an output power of 250 mW with antenna gain up to 6 dBi. “Were Amtrak to operate at this power level, it would have to construct three times as many trackside stations to achieve the coverage it already achieves in the 5.8 GHz band,” Amtrak said. “This would dramatically increase Amtrak's capital costs, delay network deployment and otherwise undermine the business case for Amtrak's” network. Amtrak asks instead that it be allowed to operate in both bands under the same technical specifications. The requested waiver “poses no meaningful risk of aggregate interference to Globalstar's satellites in U-NII-1 band,” Amtrak told the FCC. “Even without the requested waiver, Amtrak estimates that it will need to construct less than 800 trackside stations to cover the entire NEC, which is de minimis when compared with, for example, the thousands of outdoor Wi-Fi access points that are or will be deployed in the U-NII-1 and U-NII-3 bands across the entire country.” Globalstar didn't comment.

Obama administration pushback to the Senate’s Mobile Now drafts last year targeted core bicameral and bipartisan spectrum proposals from Capitol Hill. Federal officials successfully killed attempts to provide financial incentives to federal agencies to relinquish spectrum and a mandate to free up a higher amount of spectrum, largely through criticisms never made public but shown in emails that Communications Daily acquired through a Freedom of Information Act open records request to NTIA. Emails also show the administration’s hand in adding language on bidirectional sharing and its objections to spectrum leasing language, which surprised some we interviewed who saw the critique.

New High Performance User Equipment (HPUE) technology will help Sprint make optimal use of its extensive 2.5 GHz holdings, the carrier said Tuesday. Use of HPUE extends 2.5 GHz coverage by up to 30 percent to nearly match the performance of mid-band 1.9 GHz spectrum, Sprint said in a news release. “HPUE is an incredible innovation that will dramatically improve the performance of our high-band spectrum and deliver an even better experience for the millions of customers on the Sprint network whether they’re streaming videos, playing games or using apps, both indoors and out,” said Chief Technology Officer John Saw. The 3rd Generation Partnership Project certified HPUE Dec. 6 as a new power class, Sprint said. The company said it tested the technology with China Mobile, which is also deploying HPUE.

The FCC Wireless Bureau approved waivers, on a limited basis, allowing General Communication Inc. to use the 6425-6525, 6525-6875 and 6875-7125 MHz bands to substantially increase the capacity of the company’s rural broadband system. “GCI has demonstrated that it would be unduly burdensome to lay fiber underground in extremely rural areas of Alaska or to use other spectrum, such as the 11 GHz band, to increase its capacity; and that for the provision of wireless backhaul in the Upper 6 GHz band, GCI has no reasonable alternative to using the 6 GHz band with the requested channelization and other modifications,” the bureau said in a Friday order in docket 16-209. The waiver applies only to an already listed group of sites. “If GCI expands its network in the future, GCI should attach a similarly detailed waiver request to each site-based application,” the order said. “Assuming these sites are similarly situated to those for which GCI has been granted waivers, we anticipate a similar waiver would likely be appropriate.”

The Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition (FWCC) supported a request by Mimosa Networks that the FCC add 80, 160 and 320 MHz channels to the 21.2-23.6 GHz band. FWCC said the FCC should go even further and add 100, 150, 200, 300 and 400 MHz channels as well. The group also said it was renewing a “long- standing request” for automated federal coordination and conditional authorization throughout the entire 23 GHz band. That band is critical to wireless backhaul, the FWCC said. Wider channels would “serve the public interest by allowing backhaul operators to handle more capacity and offer faster data rates. ... Allowing wider channels can also result in more efficient spectrum utilization,” FWCC said, quoting language from a 2012 FCC order on the 6 GHz and 11 GHz bands. “The same is true here,” the coalition said. The filing was in docket 10-153.

Microsoft is claiming "a profound negative impact" on video game consoles like its Xbox 360S from Globalstar's proposed broadband terrestrial low-power service (TLPS). Those assertions could mire the proceeding before the FCC for months, satellite industry consultant Tim Farrar told us Wednesday. "Things were coming to a head one way or another -- either to move forward or say nothing will happen this year -- and this likely ensures the latter." Nintendo also raised red flags about possible TLPS interference (see 1607060042). Globalstar rebutted Microsoft's concerns.

Six wireless technology companies launched the CBRS Alliance to “develop, market and promote LTE-based solutions” in the new 3.5 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service band, they said Tuesday. The six companies are Access Technologies, Federated Wireless, Intel, Nokia, Qualcomm and Ruckus Wireless. “In February, the companies announced their commitment to build an ecosystem of industry participants and make LTE-based solutions in the CBRS band widely available,” said an alliance news release. “The Alliance will work towards LTE CBRS field trials in the second half of this year and is developing an official certification process towards successful deployments of CBRS infrastructure.” The FCC approved an experimental three-tiered access and sharing model made up of federal and nonfederal incumbents, priority access licenses and general authorized access users for the shared band (see 1608120057). The FCC still must approve the first spectrum access system administrators and environmental sensing capability operators that will make the complex sharing arrangement work.

The next World Radiocommunication Conference doesn’t happen until 2019, yet major deadlines loom, CTIA General Counsel Tom Power said Tuesday at the first meeting of the FCC WRC Advisory Committee (WAC). The first big deadline is the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL) meeting starting in late November, said Power, WAC chairman. “The U.S will be presenting our preliminary views on the items for the WRC agenda,” he said. “Obviously, it means we, and the working groups, all have a lot of work to do between now and then.”

The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment Thursday on an application by Alaska’s General Communication Inc. for waiver of channelization and other limitations so GCI can use 6 GHz spectrum for wireless backhaul. The company sought authorization to deploy common carrier fixed point-to-point microwave service using 60 MHz channels across the three upper 6 GHz sub-bands at various sites in rural Alaska, as well as for microwave paths directly connected to those sites, the bureau said. “GCI operates TERRA, which it states is the first terrestrial … middle-mile network in western Alaska,” said a bureau notice. “TERRA is a hybrid fiber-microwave network that provides broadband to more than 70 isolated, mostly Alaska Native, communities, many of which, according to GCI, are separated by vast distances and cannot be reached by road. GCI states that it continues to upgrade and expand TERRA, but the backbone paths of the microwave system are nearing capacity.” Comments are due July 15, replies Aug. 1, in docket 16-209.

The FCC’s expected order on high-frequency spectrum is critical to 5G and the IoT, said Scott Bergmann, CTIA vice president-regulatory affairs, at a luncheon Tuesday sponsored by New America’s Wireless Future Project and Microsoft. The session came the day after a major policy address by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler on 5G (see 1606200044).