Communication at a distance, especially the electronic transmission of signals via cell phones
Wireless Telecommunications
Docket Announced for Establishing a 5G Fund for Rural America
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.
FCC Opens Priority Window for Rural Tribes to Access Mid-Band Spectrum
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.
The United States has a real opportunity to lead in the next generation of 5G wireless connectivity, but doing so will require adequate public airwaves be made available to carry all the data. The so-called “C-band”—from 3.7 to 4.2 GHz—is widely seen as an ideal swath of spectrum for the job, as it offers an attractive balance of geographic coverage and capacity for large amounts of data. The global device ecosystem using these frequencies also has real momentum, with 23 countries and counting having allocated them for 5G.
CTIA President Meredith Attwell Baker Lobbies FCC on 5G Airwaves
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.
Commissioner Rosenworcel on Wireless Geolocation Announcement
For more than a year, the [Federal Communications Commission] was silent after news reports alerted us that for just a few hundred dollars, shady middlemen could sell your location within a few hundred meters based on your wireless phone data. It’s chilling to consider what a black market could do with this data. It puts the safety and privacy of every American with a wireless phone at risk. Today this agency finally announced that this was a violation of the law. Millions and millions of Americans use a wireless device every day and didn’t sign up for or consent to this surveillance.
Chairman Pai: Wireless Carriers Apparently Violated Federal Law
On Jan 31, 2020, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai wrote the following to various Members of Congress:
Chairman Pai's Response to Reps Pallone, Walden, Doyle, and Latta Regarding Mobility Fund Phase II
On Dec 19, 2019, House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR), and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle (D-PA) and Ranking Member Bob Latta (R-OH) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to raise concerns about the unreliable data collected for the Mobility Fund Phase II (MF II) coverage maps, and therefore concerns about the announcement that MF II will be replaced with a new 5G Fund.
How cities dictate the pace of 5G deployment
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.
New America Urges FCC to Abandon “Misguided and Cynical” Lifeline Proposal
New America's Open Technology Institute urged the Federal Communications Commission to abandon a cynical set of proposals that would weaken the Lifeline program and jeopardize consumer privacy.
