The FCC approved an NPRM on spectrum frontiers, spectrum at 24 GHz and above for 5G, Thursday. Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O’Rielly were critical of the approach in the NPRM. As some predicted (see 1510190067), they partially dissented. Pai said the NPRM leaves out critical spectrum bands that deserve more discussion. The NPRM tees up for further investigation the 28, 37, 39 and 64-71 GHz bands, the FCC said in a news release. The NPRM wasn't released Thursday.

Questions remain about whether FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler will be able to get a 5-0 vote Thursday on an rulemaking notice on increased use of frequencies above 24 GHz for wireless broadband, agency and industry officials said Monday.

Globalstar's test proving Wi-Fi interoperability with its terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) "falls far short of what might reasonably be expected in a meaningful test," and the FCC should close the proceeding, the Wi-Fi Alliance said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 13-213. While the satellite company has repeatedly pointed to testing it conducted over the summer as demonstrating that its private Wi-Fi channel in the 2.4 GHz band would relieve overall Wi-Fi congestion (see 1510140072 and 1509110018), the test had numerous flaws, the alliance said. They include only using enterprise-class access points, even though most deployed access points are consumer grade, not enterprise class, so the test is useless at predicting the effect on most Wi-Fi devices, the group said. It said the demonstration report also omits key data regarding such issues as power levels for the access points operating on Wi-Fi channels 1, 6 and 11 and TLPS operations on channel 14; as well as load factors for the Wi-Fi and TLPS channels. Accusing Globalstar of doing more demonstrations rather than "cooperative, fully-transparent testing," the alliance said it "has no one but itself to blame for the broader industry's inability make a meaningful assessment of Globalstar's system." Globalstar didn't comment.

Globalstar is committing to its terrestrial low-power service (TLPS) plan being Wi-Fi based, not LTE-U, in hopes of helping speed along regulatory approval for the controversial broadband service, Barbee Ponder, vice president-regulatory affairs, told us. In an FCC filing posted Thursday in docket 13-213, the company said its private Wi-Fi channel in the 2.4 GHz band "is based on the existing IEEE 802.11 standard commonly referred to as 'Wi-Fi,'" and it doesn't plan to set up any service in unlicensed spectrum. It won't deploy LTE-U in the 2.4 GHz band until the FCC allows LTE-U deployment in unlicensed spectrum, the satellite company said.

Boeing said the FCC is on the right track in proposing spectrum for Aeronautical Mobile (Route) Service (AM(R)S) and the Aeronautical Mobile Service (AMS). The assertion came in comments filed last week in docket 15-99. The Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition (FWCC) said the 6 GHz band isn't an appropriate place for AMS operations. The FCC proposed in an April order some fairly arcane changes to how spectrum is allocated, implementing decisions made at the World Radiocommunications Conferences held in 2007 and 2012. The agency got back a handful of comments posted before its electronic filing system went dark Wednesday as part of an overhaul of FCC systems.

Industry must make certain that delegates to the World Radiocommunications Conference in November approve an agenda item for the following WRC, which is scheduled for 2019 and focuses on 5G spectrum, said Reza Arefi, Intel director-spectrum strategy. “Harmonization doesn’t happen overnight,” said Arefi, co-author of a recent 4G Americas white paper on “5G Spectrum Recommendations.” He spoke Wednesday on a 4G Americas webinar.

Representatives of Nokia Solutions and Networks US offered their take on high-frequency spectrum, in a meeting with FCC staff, said a filing in posted Thursday in docket 14-177, saying "71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz should remain under consideration along with the other mmWave bands the Commission is considering for 5G.” Nokia also sees “industry traction” for 70/80 GHz,” it said. “5G is expected to optimize below 6 GHz access and enable above 6 GHz access," Nokia said, saying 6-100 GHz spectrum is expected to be studied by the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2019. Nokia also said “5G will provide an order of magnitude improvement in performance” and the amount of licensed spectrum “needs to be large enough to support multiple operators.” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a recent blog post the FCC will likely soon release an NPRM as it continues its examination of how new developments in technology could increase the viability of operations in bands above 24 GHz (see 1508030071). The FCC launched a notice of inquiry on the topic in October (see 1410170048).

The Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee approved a report Wednesday by its Spectrum Sharing Cost Recovery Subcommittee. As expected (see 1508210041), the CSMAC committee proposed that NTIA seek congressional action making it easier for federal agencies to pay for the costs of sharing spectrum with carriers and other users. But NTIA asked the CSMAC to take a deeper look at bidirectional sharing, in which commercial licensees would also be asked to share their underutilized spectrum with the federal government.

Shentel CEO Chris French said on a call with analysts Tuesday that its buy of nTelos was a “a natural next step” for the Edinburg, Virginia-based carrier, increasing its customer base from 442,000 to more than 1 million and making the company the No. 6 U.S. publicly traded wireless carrier. French said he expects regulatory approval, including by the FCC, early next year. Others agreed. Sprint and Shentel unveiled the deal after the close of U.S.financial markets Monday (see 1508100063).

Verizon hasn't decided if it will be a player in the TV incentive auction, Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said Tuesday during the company’s Q2 earnings call, pointing out that decisions on part of the auction rules got pushed from last week’s FCC meeting to the Aug. 6 meeting. Verizon was the first of the major telecom carriers to report its earnings.