Wireless Telecommunications

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) upped the ante in what has been an ongoing scuffle between communications regulators and the wireless industry with aviation stakeholders – as the agency issued a warning over potential interference to airplane safety systems from upcoming 5G deployments in C-band frequencies.

The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority) and its network contractor AT&T are working to bring FirstNet’s unique capabilities to areas historically prone to communication challenges. FirstNet currently provides over 2.71 million square miles of coverage and new cell sites are launching nationwide, including in Tribal communities such as the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho, the Spirit Lake Reservation in North Dakota, and the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has awarded AT&T a $182 million Task Order agreement to support its domestic and international wireless and wireline connectivity needs. Under this Task Order, AT&T will continue to provide wireline voice and data services to USAID domestic locations while significantly expanding the scope of services it provides. AT&T will consolidate USAID’s disparate networks onto the company's global IP voice network and provide mission-critical connectivity in support of an additional 90 USAID international locations.

Being digitally connected is such a central feature of our lives that we don’t often stop to think about how it actually works. Transient data, a combination of ones and zeros, pass through a surprisingly tangible physical infrastructure of fiber optic cables connecting centralized data servers — infrastructure that is vulnerable to an increasingly erratic and punishing climate. The reality of digital disconnection was brought into sharper focus during the COVID-19 pandemic; fundamental aspects of our daily lives shifted online instantly, from schooling to remote work to health care.

Amazon’s ambitious satellite-internet project, Project Kuiper, aims to launch its first two prototype satellites in the fourth quarter of 2022 according to an experimental launch license filed with the Federal Communications Commission. Called KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2, the two prototypes are supposed to launch on an experimental new rocket called the RS1, currently being developed by startup ABL Space Systems based in El Segundo (CA).

President Joe Biden‘s $1.7 trillion-plus Build Back Better legislative package has more than $1 billion for various better broadband building programs. According to a draft copy of the framework unveiled October 28, it includes:

Regional US operator Shenandoah Telecommunications (Shentel) kicked its fiber plans into high gear, raising its expansion target by 50 percent and aiming to reach 450,000 serviceable addresses by 2026. At the same time, however, the operator said it would pause further expansion of its Beam Internet fixed wireless access service. Shentel CEO Chris French cited “strong momentum” behind its Glo Fiber product's business development, construction and sales as driving factors for the move.

Private wireless networks are poised to play an important role on the nation’s farms, potentially creating opportunities for rural network operators. A deal between computing provider Trilogy Networks and Inland Cellular aims to provide farm-wide coverage and address connectivity as an obstacle to the adoption of precision agriculture. It calls for Inland Cellular to offer private wireless to farms in its service area in the northwestern US to blanket the farm with wireless coverage.

The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau granted twenty additional 2.5 GHz spectrum licenses to serve Alaskan Native communities. To date, 292 applications received through 2020’s FCC Rural Tribal Priority Window have been granted, paving the way for new advanced wireless services – including wireless broadband – for underserved rural Tribal communities. In Alaska, 99 applications have now been granted.

Access to reliable connectivity causes a divide between youth who have access and those who do not. Currently, 35 percent of low-income households lack any access to broadband service at home. This leads to an issue known as the “homework gap” among students who lack proper internet access. To close this gap, UScellular has launched the After School Access Project, a program that provides free mobile hotspots and service to nonprofits that support youth after the school day has ended and provides safe internet access for homework and education.