Wireless Internet

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai proposed providing additional opportunities for unlicensed white space devices to deliver wireless broadband services in rural areas. Such devices operate in portions of the broadcast television bands (channels 2-35) and spectrum not being used for authorized services. Specifically, Chairman Pai is proposing to permit higher transmit power and higher antennas for fixed white space devices in rural areas.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) invested $13.3 million in two, high-speed broadband infrastructure projects that will create or improve rural e-Connectivity for more than 1,000 rural households in southeastern Oklahoma. Pine Telephone and Pine Cellular are based in Broken Bow (OK). Pine Telephone will receive a $5.6 million USDA ReConnect program grant. Pine Cellular will receive a $7.7 million ReConnect program grant. Both projects will deploy fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) in parts of Pushmataha and McCurtain counties.

Seeking to blunt the dominance by China’s Huawei, the White House is working with US technology companies to create advanced software for next-generation 5G telecommunications networks. The plan would build on efforts by some US telecom and technology companies to agree on common engineering standards that would allow 5G software developers to run code atop machines that come from nearly any hardware manufacturer. That would reduce, if not eliminate, reliance on Huawei equipment. Microsoft, Dell, and AT&T are part of the effort, White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow said.

Rural Solutions, which does business as Progressive Broadband, is a wireless Internet service provider (WISP) with ambitious goals. The company, based in rural Tennessee, has big plans for Cumberland county and beyond, including deploying fiber-to-the-home. The company also has made infrastructure choices that are more forward-looking than those that some WISPs initially make, explained Progress Broadband President David Williams.

The Federal Communications Commission's Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force, in coordination with the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau and the Office of Economics and Analytics, opens GN Docket No. 20-32, captioned “Establishing a 5G Fund for Rural America.” On December 4, 2019, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced his intention to create a 5G Fund, which would make available up to $9 billion in universal service support to deploy advanced 5G mobile wireless service in rural America. All filings related to the 5G Fund should be submitted in GN Docket No. 20-32.

The Federal Communications Commission announced that the Tribal priority window has officially opened for federally recognized Tribes and Alaska Native Villages to apply for spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band. This band—the single largest band of contiguous spectrum below 3 GHz—offers favorable coverage and capacity characteristics for next-generation mobile services, such as 5G. In 2019, the FCC modernized the regulatory framework for this swath of vital mid-band spectrum to make it available for advanced wireless services.

CTIA President Meredith Attwell Baker, representing wireless giants like AT&T and Verizon, paid a visit to Federal Communications Commission Ajit Pai Pai and FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly to lobby them to auction off licenses in the upper portion of the 6 GHz airwaves.

In the coming years, 5G wireless Internet stands poised to remake the online world, its unprecedented speed enabling advances in everything from public safety to virtual reality. Within this progress, however, there exists another near-certainty — segments of the population will be left out of the advantages.

Just how fast Americans can access 5G wireless service depends, in large part, on how effectively the guts of the network — namely, hundreds of thousands of bulky antennas — are placed in cities.

Opensignal released its Jan 2020 Mobile Network Experience: USA Report. Verizon claimed the top position in three of seven categories, holding onto the award for Video Experience. AT&T was close behind with wins in two categories, including Download Speed, and a tie with T-Mobile for Voice App Experience. While Sprint missed out on awards this time, it still scored a big gain in its users' Video Experience – jumping almost 17% in just six months.  And all four operators are delivering extremely high levels of 4G Availability – over 90 percent.