Axon Enterprise representatives spoke with FCC Office of Engineering and Technology staff, including Chief Ron Repasi, to answer questions on the company’s request for a waiver allowing it to market three investigation and surveillance devices to law enforcement agencies. These devices would operate at higher power levels than allowed under FCC rules in heavily used 5 GHz spectrum and proved controversial when the FCC took comments (see 2403080044). The representatives “answered questions about additional conditions that could be imposed on the grant of a waiver,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 24-40.

Ericsson and Nex-Tech Wireless will collaborate on a five-year network modernization initiative in Kansas, the companies said Wednesday. The companies will implement "state-of-the art" cloud native technology using Ericsson’s dual-mode 5G Core and advanced radio access network technologies. “Utilizing Ericsson’s trusted solutions and Nex-Tech Wireless’s industry leading technical team, we are bringing the next evolution of technology to rural America,” said Nex-Tech CEO Jon Lightle.

AT&T urged the FCC to establish requirements for how interference is addressed in the 6 GHz band as automated frequency coordination systems open (see 2404050012). “The interference reporting and resolution system should not impose barriers or difficult validation requirements for incumbents to report interference” and “should be regularly publicized” by AFC systems to incumbents, said a filing Tuesday in docket 21-352. The reporting system should be available at all times, AT&T said: “In cases where interference cannot be narrowed to a specific AFC, AFC systems should be prepared to serially and sequentially increase the protection for the victim link in order to isolate coordination problems.”

The Alarm Industry Communications Committee (AICC) asked the FCC to correct the draft net neutrality order to reflect that the group opposes and doesn’t support forbearance for Section 275 of the Communications Act. The section “generally requires nondiscriminatory conduct and the avoidance of other unfair conduct, between certain carriers and alarm security operations,” AICC said. The draft order “basically flipped the meaning of AICC’s comments,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 23-320: “AICC did not argue that excluding section 275 from forbearance would ‘actively strip’ the Alarm Industry of protections, but rather that failure to exclude section 275 from forbearance would strip those same protections.”

CTIA discussed concerns about how non-broadband internet access services are treated under the draft net neutrality order circulated by Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. In meetings with staff for all five commissioners, CTIA asked the FCC to remove warnings not present in the 2015 order. Non-BIAS services, and network slicing, have emerged as major issues (see 2404160055). The draft “favorably references non-BIAS use cases that ‘cannot be met over the Open Internet,’ but any suggestion that an offering that can function to some extent over BIAS must be offered over BIAS would be a dramatic shift from the 2015 framework,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 23-320. The draft also says the commission “will closely monitor any services that have a negative effect on the performance of BIAS in any given moment or the capacity available for BIAS over time” and that the commission “will be watchful of services that do not require isolated capacity,” CTIA said. “The 2015 Order did not set forth any of these rigid warnings, and for good reason,” the group said: “The net effect of such guidance could restrict the offering of non-BIAS services. Customers would lose out on choice and innovation, and networks would operate less efficiently.”

The Alaska Remote Carrier Coalition (ARCC) offered its perspective to the FCC Wireless Bureau on performance testing for the mobility portion of the Alaska Connect Fund required under FCC rules. ARCC said the filing follows up on a meeting with bureau staff March 14 (see 2403180022). “As the Bureau is aware, the extensive geography and rugged terrain served by ARCC wireless members, including both off-the-road network areas as well as many areas with environmentally sensitive tundra, require creativity and flexibility on the part of the testing carrier,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 10-208. “This challenge is complicated by areas with inaccessible federal land holdings that still must be tested under the Commission’s protocols.” ARCC noted that drive testing by Copper Valley under the plan’s rules cost the carrier more than $100,000.

Representatives of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) met with various FCC offices on the group’s push to use the 6 GHz band (see 2305260032). Members “discussed the progress the Bluetooth industry is making towards developing methods for Bluetooth sharing with other unlicensed devices in the lower 6 GHz band,” the SIG said in a Monday filing in docket 18-295. They discussed standards development work with the IEEE, European Telecommunications Standards Institute and other standards groups. The group is considering filing a petition for rulemaking, the filing said. The group met with Chief Ron Repasi and others from the Office of Engineering and Technology and aides to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioners Brendan Carr and Anna Gomez.

Competitive Carriers Association representatives laid out the group’s primary concerns about a proposed 5G Fund, now before FCC commissioners (see 2403260052), in a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Anna Gomez. CCA cares about “mapping issues relevant to 5G Fund eligibility, including the need for clarity on which dataset will be used for purposes of 5G Fund eligibility and the need for a meaningful and user-friendly mobile challenge process prior to determining eligible areas,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 20-32. CCA also emphasized “eligibility issues” and “the timing of the trigger to shift from legacy support to 5G Fund support to eliminate any potentially harmful funding gaps consistent with Congressional instruction.”

Brett Glass, owner of Wyoming wireless ISP Lariat, warned FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez that reregulating broadband under Title II of the Communications Act will be negative for small WISPs. “I recounted the difficulties that our company had encountered during the Commission’s previous attempt to regulate ISPs under Title II, which all but put us out of business by depriving us of investment, as well as the serious impacts that increased regulatory burdens … had already had upon our small, local business,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 23-320. If the FCC moves ahead with revised rules, it should “take into account the limited resources of small and local ISPs and very real danger of driving them out of business via excessive regulation and micromanagement, leaving consumers with fewer choices and no local ones with high quality, personalized service and technical support,” Glass said.

The Wireless ISP Association urged the FCC to seek comment before imposing net neutrality rules on broadband internet access service providers with fewer than 250,000 subscribers. “The draft item does not adequately consider the extent of the burdens being placed on small BIAS providers by these compliance obligations,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 23-320. “We noted that, in addition to the rules and restrictions the draft item proposes, BIAS providers are already spending time and resources to comply with a host of other regulatory obligations -- creating broadband labels, submitting Broadband Data Collections and responding to challenges complying with digital discrimination rules, and responding to State [broadband equity, access and deployment program] challenges -- all in the same calendar year.” The group met with aides to FCC Commissioners Nathan Simington and Anna Gomez.