T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile are giving new and existing customers a free year of subscription VOD global streaming Spanish-language service ViX+, valued at $84, T-Mobile said Wednesday. ViX+, launching Thursday, will feature over 10,000 hours of entertainment programming in the first year, including live sports, it said. ViX+ customers also get access to programming on ViX, the service’s free, ad-supported tier, T-Mobile said.

The Open Technology Institute at New America hopes the FCC will act soon on changes to rules for the 6 and 12 GHz bands, it told an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. On 12 GHz, the FCC should “resolve at least the fundamental issue of coexistence between satellite incumbents … and potential two-way terrestrial use,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 20-443: “Although we agree that coexistence with mobile 5G is the initial focus of the proceeding, the public interest groups supporting more intensive use of the band expect that the Commission will consider the extent to which a low-power, indoor-only underlay for unlicensed use.”

The Coalition of Rural Wireless Carriers urged the FCC to stay focused on the need to fund 5G, in a series of calls with commission staff. Since NTIA was assigned to administer the broadband equity, access and deployment program, the FCC can focus “substantial attention on improving mobile broadband in rural America,” the group said: “The Commission can and should complement BEAD investments with a 5G Fund auction that enables mobile broadband providers to fill in unserved areas and improve underserved areas to a level of 5G service that is reasonably comparable to service available in urban areas.” The group spoke with aides to all commissioners but Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, and staff from the Office of Economics and Analytics and Wireline Bureau, said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 21-476.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel asked the nation’s top 15 mobile wireless providers for information on their data retention and privacy policies and general practices. The letters ask about carrier “policies around geolocation data, such as how long geolocation data is retained and why and what the current safeguards are to protect this sensitive information,” the FCC said: “The letters probe carriers about their processes for sharing subscriber geolocation data with law enforcement and other third parties’ data sharing agreements” and ask “how consumers are notified when their geolocation information is shared with third parties.” Providers have until Aug. 3 to respond. The letters are in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. They went to AT&T, Best Buy Health, Charter Communications, Comcast, Consumer Cellular, C-Spire, Dish Network, Google, H2O Wireless, Lycamobile, Mint Mobile, Red Pocket, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular and Verizon. “We do not sell customer location data,” a T-Mobile spokesperson emailed: “That data is released only when we receive a legal demand.” Others didn't comment Wednesday.

AT&T said FirstNet is prepared for hurricane season, with three storm systems already named by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The FirstNet Response Operations Group “led by former first responders … has been to Saint Croix, Saint John and Puerto Rico to ensure public safety agencies in the Caribbean have the mission-centric tools they require” and “on-island portable cell sites from the FirstNet fleet, they can quickly deploy … to provide a ‘bubble’ of connectivity following a major storm,” the carrier said Tuesday: “The team is also connecting with agencies," in Florida and along the Gulf to Louisiana and Texas.

WiMax Forum representatives updated the group’s 2017 proposal on service rules for aeronautical mobile airport communications systems, the subject of a 2019 NPRM (see 1909040057), in an FCC filing posted Monday in docket 19-140. The revisions reflect “new recommended limits for spurious emissions from AeroMACS transmitters … designed to better protect users in adjacent spectrum” provided by the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics, the forum said. The group asked the FCC to finalize the rules.

Sennheiser raised wireless mic issues in a meeting with staff from the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology and Wireless Bureau, said a filing posted Monday in 21-115 and other dockets. “In light of the termination of the Vacant Channel proceeding, Sennheiser discussed potential solutions to help solve the low-band spectrum crunch that wireless microphone operators are experiencing,” the company said (see 2205120031): “As Sennheiser has repeatedly emphasized, wireless microphones are inherently fault intolerant devices that require clean, low-band, UHF spectrum to operate effectively, particularly when deployed for live events that do not offer an opportunity for a second take.” Sennheiser urged the FCC to finalize a proceeding to adopt rules that permit wireless multichannel audio systems (see 2104220056). The company said the FCC should also complete a 2017 proceeding expanding eligibility for Part 74 licenses to include professional wireless mic users that don't routinely use 50 or more microphones (see 1710030020). “This proceeding has been pending for far too long, and the Commission should move expeditiously to adopt the rules associated with it,” the company said.

The NFL asked the FCC to approve its proposed waiver extension of rules for the citizens broadband radio service allowing the league to continue operating a coach-to-coach communications systems in the event of a localized internet outage in stadiums during games. The league noted only NCTA filed comments and supported the extension (see 2207120055). “Before seeking an extension … the NFL engineering team conducted extensive due diligence to see if an alternative approach was available, but after considering many options and consulting with both vendors and staff, the League concluded that a waiver was necessary for these very limited circumstances since a technology ‘work around’ was not available,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 21-111.

Shenandoah, UScellular and NorthWestern agreed to abide by a consent decree with the FCC, ending investigations into whether the carriers violated the four priority access license per market requirement of the agency’s citizens broadband radio service rules. Shenandoah agreed to implement a compliance plan and either amend its long-form application “to remove all licenses that, if granted, would cause it to exceed the four-PAL aggregation limit in an identified market” or amend the form “to remove enough PALs in each identified market to avoid exceeding the four-PAL aggregation limit,” said a Friday notice: “Frequencies that would have been authorized for use with a PAL had Shenandoah or other similarly situated applicants not amended an application pursuant to the Consent Decree may be authorized for use by another eligible licensee with another PAL at a later date and, in the interim, remain immediately available for use pursuant to the applicable General Authorized Access (GAA) rules.” The notice was by the Office of Economics and Analytics and Wireless Bureau. The USCellular and NorthWestern agreements were similar.

AT&T and Verizon are raising monthly fees for some subscribers, but both will be hard-pressed to keep up with the effects of inflation, MoffettNathanson’s Craig Moffett told investors Friday. “By Verizon’s own estimate, about a quarter of their total costs are inflation-sensitive,” Moffett said. “Assuming that those ~$21B of annual costs are rising by something like 5%, their total cost base will rise by ~$1B a year, offsetting all of the [average revenue per user] increase.” AT&T’s situation is similar, he said: “Yes, they will see higher revenue, but their costs, too, are rising more than fast enough to offset the benefit.” Promotions are also costing both, Moffett said. “To stem share losses in their Consumer Wireless segment, Verizon has increased promotional discounts for phones to as much as $800 for some trade-in devices for both new and existing premium unlimited customers,” he said.