After six months of negotiations, wireless workers and AT&T reached a tentative contract that raises base wages, curtails the outsourcing of jobs to third-party authorized retailers and adds privacy protection for call center representatives working from home, Communications Workers of America said Tuesday. The proposed four-year contract covers “technicians, call center customer support workers, and representatives at AT&T's retail stores in 36 states in the Northeast, Midwest and West, and the District of Columbia,” CWA said: The pact raises base wages by nearly 15% over four years, “with additional adjustments made based on the Consumer Price Index to account for rising inflation. Mandatory overtime will be limited to 8 hours per week and time and a half will be paid for hours worked in excess of 8 in a day.” A provision limits use of web cameras to monitor call center representatives working from home. Workers must still ratify the contract. “Companies are scrambling to raise wages and provide incentives in this tight job market, but we all know that when economic conditions change, wages and benefits can disappear,” said Lucia Coelho, a CWA Local 1298 steward: “We hope this contract will inspire even more workers to organize unions and raise standards for everyone.” AT&T has reached 36 agreements with the unions since 2017, a spokesperson emailed. The agreement “covers about 12,000 employees who primarily work in call center, retail store and technician jobs across the U.S.,” the spokesperson said: “Out of respect for the ratification process, we will not comment publicly on the details of the tentative agreement until it has been presented by the CWA to its members.”

The global spend on enterprise asset tracking will grow from $16 billion in 2022 to $45 billion in 2027 as supply chain demands create more need for real-time monitoring of high-value assets, reported Juniper Research Monday. The report forecasts the number of assets tracked will reach 24 billion by 2027, up from 8 billion this year. It advises asset-tracking platform providers to include real-time monitoring that can leverage multiple technologies, including GPS, 4G and 5G networks. GPS is a cost‑effective technology widely used today, but the broad network capabilities of 4G and 5G should be used to monitor assets with the highest value, it said.

CTIA urged the FCC Public Safety Bureau to involve carriers in any localized wireless emergency alert tests. “The 2021 nationwide WEA test was successful in part due to coordination and the exchange of information among relevant stakeholders that took place prior to the event,” the group said in a filing posted Monday in docket 22-160. Involving participating carriers “would provide an important opportunity to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of various proposed approaches for evaluating WEA performance,” the group said: “CTIA also stressed that WEA testing should be tailored to avoid measurements when it is not feasible for a WEA-capable device to receive an alert, otherwise the testing may not provide an accurate assessment of system performance.”

The Utilities Technology Council told members the FCC’s draft order creating an enhanced competition incentive program (see 2206230069) is likely positive for utilities. “UTC had filed reply comments urging the Commission to expand the scope of ECIP to allow utilities and other critical infrastructure industries to be able to take advantage of the program so they could get access to spectrum to support their private wireless communications,” the group said Monday: “The Draft Report and Order agreed to make eligible non-common carrier entities like utilities -- but only in rural areas -- and the FCC is opening a Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to consider further expanding eligibility to allow non-common carriers to access spectrum in other areas as well.”

Competitive Carriers Association representatives raised concerns about “the potential for a serious ‘5G Gap’ that may disproportionately harm rural wireless carriers and consumers,” in a call with an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “The risk of a 5G Gap is growing due to the confluence of developments such as underfunding for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program and the heavy fiber focus of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 21-476. CCA urged the FCC to emphasize the importance of 5G in an upcoming report to Congress on the USF. “Many parts of the United States, especially rural America, are at risk of being left behind,” the group said.

Comments are due July 27, replies Aug. 26, on a notice of inquiry FCC commissioners approved 4-0 this month on how to facilitate access to spectrum for offshore uses and operations (see 2206080055) said a notice for Monday’s Federal Register. “We take the first steps toward facilitating offshore operations through innovative spectrum management policy,” the notice says: “Specifically, we seek input on whether changes in our rules and policies are needed to facilitate the development of offshore commercial and private networks.”

Representatives of GCI asked for clarity from the FCC on drive test rules under the Alaska Plan (see 2205050038). “We discussed GCI’s concerns with the set of areas selected for GCI to drive test and the importance of disclosing all values necessary for GCI to calculate its compliance,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 16-271.

The FCC published in the Federal Register Friday its May order (see 2205120031) denying petitions for reconsideration filed by wireless-mic makers Sennheiser and Shure of a December 2020 order (see 2012080064) closing the agency’s 2015 NPRM on whether to allocate a vacant channel for use by white space devices and wireless microphones. The order took effect May 11, the notice said.

The FCC Wireless Bureau Friday granted 11 900 MHz broadband segment license applications, in keeping with 2020 order reallocating a 6 MHz swath in the band for broadband while keeping 4 MHz for narrowband (see 2005130057). “The Bureau finds the 900 MHz broadband segment applications listed ... to be complete and in conformance with the Commission’s rules,” said an order in docket 17-200: “No petitions to deny these applications were filed, and the applications sufficiently demonstrate conformance with the eligibility conditions … and requirements for transitioning the 900 MHz band in the particular county requested.” All the grants are to PDV Spectrum in Kansas.

The DOJ approved an amended master network services agreement between Dish Network and T-Mobile, T-Mobile said in an SEC filing Thursday. The agreement gives Dish’s retail wireless brands, including Boost Mobile, continued access to T-Mobile's 5G network (see 2206210049). “While we are surprised at the DOJ’s newfound timeliness on the issue -- given that it never got around to approving the earlier version of the new [mobile virtual network operator] terms that Dish and T-Mobile signed in late February -- the approval now is nonetheless a positive for Dish,” New Street’s Philip Burnett told investors.