The future of telecom regulation is fraught with uncertainty post-Chevron, Mintz lawyers concluded during a webinar Wednesday, focusing primarily on four recent U.S. Supreme Court Cases: Loper Bright (see 2406280043), Ohio v. EPA and SEC v. Jarkesy (see 2407220048) and Corner Post (see 2407010035).

The Biden administration appears headed toward a coordination and licensing framework in the lower 37 GHz band, one of five targeted for further study in the administration’s national spectrum strategy (see 2311130048). Analysts told us wireless carriers likely have little interest in seeing the band set aside for licensed use, unlike some other bands the administration is studying, especially lower 3 GHz and 7/8 GHz. The FCC will probably seek comment on 37 GHz in a public notice “on or about” Aug. 6, NTIA said in a recent blog.

Qualcomm representatives spoke with FCC Office of Engineering and Technology staff about 6 GHz automated frequency coordination system “implementation issues” and a proposal to create a geofenced variable power (GVP) device class (see 2404290035). “Qualcomm indicated its support for GVP operations at variable power levels that would protect incumbents by limiting operations to areas outside the exclusion zones and further explained the operations and GVP system architecture,” a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-295 said.

An Extreme Networks representative urged the FCC Office of Engineering to move forward on the company’s request for a waiver of rules for low-power indoor (LPI) devices for 6 GHz access points (APs), to be installed exclusively in indoor-only sports venues. “Fans demand reliable Wi-Fi coverage when they attend events at stadiums and arenas,” a filing posted Monday in docket 23-282 said. “Extreme partners with major stadiums and arenas across the country and is ready to install LPI APs to support fans’ needs,” the company said. The proposal proved controversial when the FCC took comment last year (see 2310170045).

Verizon lost 410,000 prepaid wireless customers tied to the end of the affordable connectivity program in Q2, the company said Monday as it became the first major wireless carrier to report earnings since the impact of ACP's demise could be measured. Overall prepaid customer losses were 624,000. But Verizon also gained a net 148,000 postpaid customers, which beat expectations. Revenue of $32.8 billion just missed consensus estimates. Though most numbers were positive, Verizon was down 6.08% to $39.09 for the day.

Utilities Technology Council President Rusty Williams and others from the group met with FCC Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Brendan Carr to discuss UTC concerns about 6 GHz interference and utility interest in having access to the 4.9 GHz band. “Utilities need highly reliable mission critical communications and additional licensed spectrum with sufficient capacity and coverage to meet increasing demands to meet emerging grid modernization and clean energy requirements and protect against greater and more sophisticated physical and cybersecurity threats and increasingly severe weather events, as well as wildfires,” the filing on the Starks meeting, posted Friday in docket 18-295 and other dockets, said.

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology on Monday sought comments, due July 29, on a C3Spectra proposal to join the list of companies operating an automated frequency coordination (AFC) system to manage access to the 6 GHz band. OET conditionally approved C3Spectra’s application, subject to a testing process, “which may begin immediately.” In February, OET approved AFC operations by seven companies and sought initial comments on C3Spectra’s proposal, in docket 21-352 (see 2402230050).

The Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition asked the FCC to address how interference is reported and addressed in the 6 GHz band as automated frequency coordination systems open (see 2404050012). “The Commission must require AFC Operators to comply with the Office of Engineering and Technology Public Notice approving the AFC Operators’ applications, and it should do so by requiring [them] to work with incumbent licensees to build an interference portal that receives and addresses interference complaints,” the coalition said in a filing posted Monday in docket 21-352. It said the current reporting portal is “wholly inadequate.”

Advocates of expanding the use of very-low-power devices without coordination in other parts of the 6 GHz band filed a report at the FCC on a “comprehensive Monte Carlo analysis” of interference risks to broadcast auxiliary service TV pickup (TP). “The large majority (95%) of TP links had no exceedance over 100,000 simulation iterations,” a filing posted Monday in docket 18-295 said: “The risk of harmful interference from VLP devices to TP links was exceedingly small with a 0.0001% average probability of an exceedance across all TP links.” Representatives of Apple, Broadcom, Google, Meta Platforms and Qualcomm met with Office of Engineering and Technology staff to discuss the RKF Engineering Solutions report.

Utilities Technology Council President Rusty Williams met with FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's aides to discuss 6 GHz interference concerns, a filing posted Friday in docket 18-295 said. UTC cited “numerous studies on the record finding that interference from unlicensed devices is certain to occur to utility licensed microwave systems in the band,” the filing said. UTC said automated frequency coordination systems operators don’t “provide sufficient processes for responding to and resolving interference complaints.” UTC noted that the North American Electric Reliability Corp. issued “a Level 2 Alert regarding the potential for interference from 6 GHz unlicensed devices, which underscores the heightened level of concern about the impact of interference on the bulk electric system.”