The Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy warned against provisions in FCC draft robotexting rules, set for a Dec. 13 commissioner vote, clamping down on the lead generator loophole (see 2311220047). “The FCC’s proposal to require sellers to obtain consent to call or text from one consumer at a time could increase costs significantly for small businesses that both buy and sell sales leads,” said a filing Friday in docket 21-402. “Many small businesses, such as the small credit unions and small insurance companies that Advocacy has spoken with, rely on purchasing sales leads from lead generators as their primary marketing method,” the agency said: “These businesses lack the advantages of larger firms that can afford targeted advertising but offer important competitive alternatives that benefit consumers.” But public interest and consumer groups in a series of meetings at the FCC applauded the restrictions, said a filing posted Monday. “Final adoption of the proposed language on prior express written consent will accomplish just what the Commission expects,” the groups said: “It will ‘prohibit abuse of consumer consent by’ lead generator websites and most importantly will radically reduce the number of unwanted telemarketing calls and texts.” The groups noted that the restrictions will protect the wireless phones used by small businesses as well as individual consumers. Groups on the filing were the National Consumer Law Center, Consumer Action, the Consumer Federation of America, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, NASUCA, Public Knowledge and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

Competitive Carriers Association representatives met with FCC Wireline Bureau staff on delays small carriers face in receiving reimbursement through the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program (see 2311160063). CCA members noted that “circumstances, technology, and pricing have changed since their original Reimbursement Program applications were filed,” said a filing Friday in docket 18-89: “Programmatic delays are causing significant financial and business hardships. Participants are being forced to refrain from scheduling more project work pending reimbursements, diverting resources from other projects while waiting for reimbursements, withholding or staggering modification requests in an inefficient way to allow some reimbursements to be completed, and incurring significant non-reimbursable financing costs while waiting for reimbursements.”

The Rural Wireless Association discussed concerns about supplemental coverage from space rules in meetings with the FCC Wireless and Space bureaus, said a filing posted Friday in docket 23-65. RWA discussed “members’ concern that some of the proposed SCS operations could create harmful interference with their licensed terrestrial operations,” the filing said: “While RWA admits that there are a multitude of public benefits that SCS could provide, there is a widespread lack of clarity on how the different proposed SCS operations will impact existing terrestrial operations. … Further education on how this technology would coexist with existing terrestrial operations is necessary before the future of our 5G rural networks is put at stake.”

LendingTree slammed provisions in a draft robotexting order set for an FCC commissioner vote Dec. 13 (see 2311220047). The draft proposes “a so-called ‘One-to-One Consent’ requirement that makes online comparison shopping more difficult, threatening the benefits that consumers receive from the sites,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 21-402: “The Commission does so without citing to any of the evidence LendingTree submitted in comments and replies in this proceeding. And, although the Public Draft acknowledges that comparison shopping sites ‘benefit consumers,’ it does not even cite to the record evidence demonstrating the substantial monetary benefits to consumers, let alone acknowledge that its ‘One-to-One Consent’ requirement threatens those very benefits.”

The FCC received only three comments as of Friday in response to its August notice asking about spectrum access in tribal and native Hawaiian areas. Comments were due Thursday in docket 23-265 (see 2308040039). During a recent webinar, FCC officials expressed hope for comments that would help in other proceedings (see 2311160057). The United South and Eastern Tribes Sovereignty Protection Fund (USET) urged the FCC to create a tribal window, similar to that before the 2.5 GHz auction (see 2009030012), for other bands. “Since the late 1990s, the federal government has attempted to subsidize telecommunications deployment in Indian Country, but these efforts have not kept pace with ever-changing and advancing technologies, especially in the areas of spectrum management and use,” USET said. USET cited the $22.4 billion 3.45 GHz auction as an example of the challenges tribes face: “The extremely high price point for obtaining spectrum licenses creates an insurmountable barrier to entry for Tribal Nations, especially since federal funds or credit offsets are non-existent or do not adequately provide the financial support required to participate in these auctions.” The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe said tribes need spectrum in areas where local providers have failed to offer service. “This failure is largely due to the lack of a rate of investment as tribal lands generally are less populated and have large numbers of low-income households steering local internet service providers away from tribal communities,” the tribe said. Make the renewal process easier for tribes through “an automatic renewal process for received/granted FCC licenses,” the Makah Indian Tribe said. “Tribes have historically faced a high employee turnover rate that has caused issues in license renewals in which the granted FCC license has lapsed due to the current process guidelines,” the tribe said.

Verizon and AT&T are gaining on T-Mobile in 5G speeds in areas near airports since July when the two providers were allowed to increase power levels on their C-band installations in airport areas (see 2307180076), Opensignal said. AT&T and Verizon users saw “stunning boosts in their average 5G download speeds” after Aug. 1, compared with the period before July 1, said a Wednesday report: Download speeds were up 79.6% for AT&T, 62.1% for Verizon, and “both surpass the 100 Mbps milestone around the airport areas and are in a statistical tie,” with scores of 126.9 Mbps for AT&T, 132.2 for Verizon. At 174.5 Mbps, T-Mobile “still commands a substantial margin over its competitors,” but the differences are narrowing, Opensignal said.

Federated Wireless Chief Technology Officer Kurt Schaubach and other company executives met with FCC Office of Engineering and Technology staff on the future of the 6 GHz band, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 18-295. Federated discussed how an automated frequency coordination system “could be leveraged to protect licensed incumbent services, while enabling and expediting access by Standard Power unlicensed devices to the U-NII 6 and U-NII 8 bands and providing additional power and flexibility for Very Low Power unlicensed devices to the U-NII-5 through U-NII-8 bands,” the filing said. Federated is testing its AFC system as it moves toward full operation (see 2310060025).

NTIA’s Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee will hold its final meeting of the year Dec. 19, according to a notice for Friday’s Federal Register. CSMAC last met in September (see 2309210043). The group is focused on topics including 6G and the citizens broadband radio service band. The 2 p.m. meeting will be held at the NCTA, 25 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Suite 100, Washington, D.C.

The Boost Wireless Network now offers 5G broadband service to more than 73% of the U.S. population, covering 89 markets, parent Dish Network said Thursday. Boost announced it now offers 5G voice in 11 additional markets: Billings, Montana; Cincinnati; Columbia, South Carolina; Denver; Jacksonville, Florida; Minneapolis; Philadelphia; Portland, Oregon; Tucson; Arizona; and Washington, D.C. “This gives Boost Mobile and Boost Infinite customers the very latest in wireless connectivity at an unbeatable price -- as low as $15/month,” Dish said.

NTIA supported a waiver sought by Jotron to permit the authorization and use of a personal locator beacon (PLB) not in compliance with FCC rules. Jotron noted that the device is in compliance with a recently published Radio Technical Commission for Maritime (RTCM) Services standard for PLBs. The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment on the waiver request in August (see 2308230051). Replies were due Sept. 13. “NTIA believes the public interest and safety are served by permitting deployment of the improved PLBs while the Commission considers updating its rules to reference the latest RTCM standards,” NTIA said in comments posed Wednesday in docket 23-292: “Accordingly, NTIA supports the Jotron Waiver Request to further the safety and rapid rescue of our nation’s citizens, which is a top priority for the United States Government.”