REGULATORY UPDATE >>
The Wireless Report
AICC files petition for emergency relief regarding AT&T 3G sunset By John A. Prendergast, Managing Partner, Blooston Law (jap@bloostonlaw.com)
On October 28, AT&T submitted another round of arguments against the requested extension, which AICC is in the process of addressing. AICC continues to welcome any input describing the risks faced by alarm companies and their customers if the 3G sunset is not extended.
John Prendergast
Update on AICC Petition for Emergency Relief regarding AT&T 3G Sunset On May 10, AICC filed a Petition for Emergency Relief, asking the FCC to require a ten-month extension of the February 2022 3G service termination of AT&T Mobility LLC and its affiliates. The requested relief is necessary because the COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant delays in being able to replace 3G alarm signaling radios in customer premises for more than a year. AT&T filed an opposition to AICC’s Petition on August 30 to which AICC has responded. A variety of other entities using AT&T’s 3G cellular service have filed comments with the FCC, reinforcing the need for an extension of AT&T’s planned 3G shutdown on February 22, 2022. Industries engaged in safety-related activities indicate that they face dire consequences unless there is an extension of the 3G service. This harm would be brought about not only due to COVID-19 access delays, but also due to the related worldwide microchip shortage. [20]
The record in the FCC proceeding about this issue shows millions of safety related devices depend on the 3G network, besides alarm systems: Detainee “ankle bracelet” monitors to track violent offenders; vehicle collision avoidance systems; vehicle roadside assistance systems; elevator emergency phones; and emergency radios for “lone worker” situations in the agriculture, oil and gas industries. The National Association for Pupil Transport and Zonar Systems have filed comments support AICC’s request for an extension of the 3G sunset, because school buses transporting 25 million students use 3G radios to track the buses, protect against unauthorized persons boarding them, and even enabling contact tracing if a student has Covid. In assessing the public interest balance of this matter, the FCC must consider the risk of true safety implications for millions of displaced users, due in large part to a pandemic and related microchip shortage that no one could have reasonably foreseen.
Aviation Groups Ask for Further Delay of 5G Rollouts Amid Interference to Aircraft Concerns Politico and others are reporting that a coalition of aviation interests is asking the White House to weigh in on aviation industry concerns over the potential for interference to aircraft from new 5G services, and are asking that the current 30-day pause on the 5G rollouts be extended further as necessary. The group warns of dire consequences if the interference issue is not addressed. The issue arises because 5G systems can operate in the C-Band spectrum (3.7 to 3.98 GHz) recently won at auction by many wireless carriers; and aircraft electronics operate in another portion of the C-band, 4.2 and 4.4 GHz, which may suffer potential adjacent channel interference. AT&T and Verizon agreed to the temporary hold on certain aspects of their 5G implementation when the interference concerns appeared. In a November 5 letter to the Biden Administration’s deputy director of the National Economic Council, representatives from the airlines, manufacturers, and other components of the aviation industry requested that the Administration form a working group to address the potential for 5G interference to aircraft, and to delay further 5G implementation “until the safety and efficiency of the [aviation industry] is ensured”. Delays in the rollout of Winter 2021 | TMA Dispatch
