Howard Buskirk

The FCC should include ship-to-aerostat transmissions in rules for the 70/80/90 GHz bands, Aeronet said in reply comments to a January Further NPRM (see 2401290032). The FNPRM asks about including fixed satellite service (FSS) earth stations in the light-licensing regime for the 70/80 GHz bands and was expanded to also inquire about aerostats -- airborne transmitters operating within a small area, below 1,000 feet of elevation.

T-Mobile’s proposed acquisition of UScellular’s wireless operations, including about 30% of its spectrum, has already seen opposition (see 2405280047), with more expected. In addition, the deal will likely face heavy scrutiny from DOJ and the FCC, industry experts agree. Handicapping whether the transaction will receive approval is difficult, especially headed into a presidential election in November, industry officials say. Some of the 21 states where UScellular has a presence could play at least limited roles reviewing the deal, state and other officials said. T-Mobile’s buy of Mint and other assets from Ka’ena, a smaller deal that didn’t involve spectrum, took regulators more than a year to approve.

Broadband access, equity and deployment program funding is flowing more slowly than expected and likely won’t start in mid-2025 as originally expected, Diana Eisner, USTelecom vice president-policy and advocacy, said during a Georgetown University Center for Business and Public Policy webcast Wednesday. Most of the money will start to flow in mid-2026 or later, she predicted. It could even be the second half of 2026, she said.

Making money has to be the goal when providers expose their application programmable interfaces (APIs), experts said during a Mobile World Live webinar on Wednesday. Open APIs are a growing focus of carriers (see 2404160065) and of the GSMA (see 2402260054). “Monetization is really the end goal,” said Peter Jarich, head of GSMA Intelligence. Operators need to expose network capabilities in a consistent way, he said. Consistency is “particularly important” because that leads to interoperability, he said. That allows carriers to “monetize those network capabilities that they built out in a transparent way” so that developers don’t have to go to every operator and “figure out how to integrate with them” and “start from scratch with every single operator they want to work with,” he said. When APIs are exposed consistently, you get the scale that’s attractive to developers, Jarich said. The industry is seeing “traction” since GSMA launched its API Open Gateway initiative last year (see 2302270069), he said. Carriers responsible for nearly 70% of worldwide connections are focused on open APIs, he said. Security is a top concern of providers, and it’s not surprising that many open APIs are focused on security and anti-fraud efforts, Jarich said. GSMA surveys show that operators aren’t just joining the open gateway initiative but are exposing their APIs, he said. Providers are building out fiber and 5G networks against the backdrop of challenging economic conditions and shrinking profit margins, said Ana Redondo, product strategy lead in the Networks Division at telecom tech company Amdocs. “There’s very intense competition worldwide,” she said. “It isn’t an easy environment to operate in,” she said. Carriers are trying to reduce costs and grow core revenues where possible, she said. 5G hasn’t worked as well as carriers hoped, but fixed wireless access “has proven to be very successful,” she said. Open APIs can put carriers “in a far more competitive position,” she said. Carriers have a lot of assets they can monetize in the data that they have, their data centers and edge capacity. Carriers are asking how they can expose everything they do as APIs, she said. It’s a “fundamental shift,” but it puts providers “closer to how the cloud vendors work,” she said.

The U.S. is reaching an inflection point where some bands will be available only for sharing, said Derek Khlopin, deputy associate administrator-spectrum planning and policy in the NTIA Office of Spectrum Management. During an RCR Wireless private networks forum Tuesday, Khlopin said the national spectrum strategy discusses spectrum dynamic sharing many times, and that’s not a surprise. Khlopin, who is coordinating NTIA’s work on the strategy (see 2405060051), said, “I don’t think we really have a choice."

T-Mobile will buy “substantially all” of UScellular’s wireless operations in a deal valued at about $4.4 billion, including $2 billion in assumed debt, the companies said Tuesday. The transaction includes about 30% of UScellular spectrum and all the company’s wireless customers and stores. UScellular will remain a tower business. Both companies agreed to a $60 million breakup fee if they back out of the deal. T-Mobile said the transaction is likely to close in mid-2025.

The FCC expanded the focus of its test lab security NPRM to ask additional questions about the supplier’s declaration of conformity (SDoC) process for obtaining equipment authorization. Commissioners approved the NPRM unanimously Thursday as officials discussed this change (see 2405230033). The NPRM was posted Friday. It proposes barring test labs from entities on the agency’s “covered list” of unsecure companies from participating in the equipment authorization process. In addition, it proposes taking other steps to bolster U.S. security. The final version adds a paragraph not included in the draft on SDoC issues that would potentially broaden the reach of revised rules. “Our current rules on authorization of equipment through the SDoC process do not require that any requisite testing of equipment be conducted by an accredited, FCC-recognized test lab,” the NPRM asserts: To “test labs in which entities identified on the Covered List have certain direct or indirect ownership interests or control do not participate in our equipment authorization program, we seek comment on whether the Commission also should require that all equipment authorized pursuant to the SDoC process be tested by accredited and FCC-recognized test labs.” The NPRM explains that the SDoC program is used for equipment that doesn’t have a radio transmitter but includes digital circuitry. It cites as examples computer peripherals, microwave ovens, industrial, scientific and medical equipment, power supply devices, LED light bulbs and TV interface devices. All the commissioners except Nathan Simington produced a written statement attached to the NPRM.

National Cyber Director Harry Coker told the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee the Biden administration is focusing on cybersecurity in space and strengthening internet routing security. Meeting virtually late Thursday, NSTAC also received an update from cloud-service providers on a pending report about baseline security offerings that was initially expected to be finished this month (see 2312070053).

FCC commissioners approved 5-0 an NPRM Thursday that proposes barring test labs from entities on the agency’s “covered list” of unsecure companies from participating in the equipment authorization process. In addition, the FCC clamped down on political robocall violations. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, working with Commissioner Brendan Carr, proposed the lab rules (see 2405020071).

Sweden leads the world in alternatives to GPS and other global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that offer the precise timing services needed for 5G, speakers said Wednesday during a Mobile World Live webinar. Sweden’s approach includes launching the nonprofit-owned Netnod, which the government and operators fund. In the U.S., questions have been raised on Capitol Hill about carrier reliance on GNSS (see 2403120073).