Two people outside the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6 asked U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania to enjoin T-Mobile from sharing their data with Congress under a subpoena. Congress sought information about Kristina Malimon’s and Yevgeniya Malimon’s “accounts, contacts, personal and political associates, and physical locations” over “a three-month period that greatly exceeds the less than 10-minute window of time Plaintiffs were engaging in peaceable assembly … before being arrested,” said the Thursday complaint. “The subpoena was not issued by a validly constituted committee; is not pertinent to the matter Congress is purporting to investigate; does not pursue a legislative purpose; violates the Plaintiffs’ First and Fourth Amendment rights; and violates the Stored Communications Act,” said the Malimons, of Portland, Oregon.

CTA representatives told the FCC of “the importance of spectrum efficiency,” in response to the FCC’s April notice of inquiry on receiver performance (see 2204210049). CTA said it opposes a “one-size-fits all” approach. “Industry (and CTA specifically) has explored spectrum efficiencies across a variety of vectors -- including receiver performance -- over the years, especially in the FCC’s Technological Advisory Committee,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 22-137. “Industry has been working for many years to analyze system performance, write standards and design and test devices,” CTA said: “As part of this process, industry considers in-band and adjacent channel interference. Participants also discussed that an increasingly congested RF environment raises difficult questions for the Commission as it reallocates spectrum to support 5G services and beyond.” The CTA representatives spoke with aides to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks. Initial comments are due on the NOI June 27.

The State Department said it may pick a foreign service officer to be coordinator for international communications and information, the department’s point person in charge of communications policy, but that individual will have ambassador status, in a statement Friday. Former government and industry officials raised concerns the administration seemed intent on effectively downgrading the status of the position (see 2206070047). State had been silent. “The candidate selected for the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) for International Information and Communications Policy (ICP) will serve concurrently as Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy,” said a statement: The official “will hold the rank of Ambassador, pending Senate confirmation, and will represent the United States in high level diplomatic engagements,” the statement said: “As we search for the best person for this role, we are committed to an equitable and competitive hiring process, open to candidates from within the Department's Civil Service and Foreign Service ranks as well as to external candidates.”

Wireless ISPs urged NTIA to amend its definition of reliable broadband service unveiled last month for its broadband, equity, access and deployment program (see 2205130054) to allow for participation by WISPs. “It’s our view that the NTIA’s definition of Reliable Broadband Service excludes ISPs who are already providing reliable and dependable internet access to so-called unserved rural and non-urban areas,” said a Thursday statement coordinated by Preseem, a cloud-based platform for smaller ISPs: “As such, we believe the NTIA’s definition is unfair and inaccurate, and should be amended.” New WISP Association President David Zumwalt also criticized the definition. “WISPs provide dependable, resilient, reliable broadband to millions of Americans across the country, and have long served and excelled on the front lines of bringing broadband to unserved areas,” he said: “NTIA should clarify its guidance so that the objectives of the BEAD program can be truly achieved, and States provided with the flexibility they need to bring broadband to the unserved.”

Major industry players expected to play in the 2.5 GHz auction, which starts July 29, were on the list of bidders with complete applications to participate in the FCC’s next big 5G spectrum sale, the FCC said Thursday. AT&T, Dish Network, bidding as Carbonate Wireless, T-Mobile and UScellular are among the 39 with complete applications. Verizon put in an application, deemed incomplete, joining 53 bidders on that list. There appears to be more interest in this auction than in the 3.45 GHz sale, which had 42 applications, while the C-band auction had 74 applications filed. Smaller players are among the qualified bidders, with 17 seeking rural provider bidding credits and nine small business credits. Questions continue over the extent to which small players will jump in or T-Mobile will dominate the auction (see 2204140062). T-Mobile has a dominant position in the band since its buy of Sprint, and is using 2.5 GHz for its 5G rollout. “At first glance, the list of bidders for 2.5 GHz auction (whether qualified or not) does not reveal too many surprises,” emailed Sasha Javid, BitPath chief operating officer. “Submitting an application does not mean that Verizon or AT&T are necessarily interested in bidding for this spectrum,” he said: “It is a low-cost way to muddy the waters for bidders that are truly interested in acquiring the spectrum. If there is one initial takeaway, it is that this auction did not get as many prospective bidders as the [citizens broadband radio service] auction, which also featured smaller county-sized licenses.” The 2020 CBRS auction attracted 271 qualified bidders (see 2007200049). Those with complete short-form applications must submit upfront payments June 23, to be deemed qualified bidders. Others must resubmit their applications, and make an upfront payment, by the same date.

Tech companies told staff from the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology a two-millisecond duty cycle provision, previously sought by Intel, Meta Platforms, Qualcomm and others, would limit use of the 60 GHz band. The provision would “effectively foreclose making the 60 GHz band a home for a host of next generation, innovative, low-power technologies,” said a filing by Acconeer, Amazon, Google, Infineon Technologies Americas and Texas Instruments, posted Wednesday in docket 21-264. The “window duration over which duty cycle is measured affects the variety of chirp patterns that can be used by low-power frequency-modulated continuous-wave radars in the 60 GHz band,” the companies said.

Gogo already showed "the extremely negligible possibility of harmful interference" from granting its requested waiver of effective radiated power limits for air-to-ground operations in the 849-851 MHz and 894-896 MHz bands, it emailed us Tuesday in response to APCO concerns (see 2206070067). It said the FCC record shows its ongoing efforts to work with public safety interests on their notification and mitigation concerns, and it "was surprised by APCO’s first filing so late in the proceeding. Gogo has been a good neighbor to public safety for decades without interference, and this will continue to be a priority," it said.

The Wi-Fi Alliance urged the FCC to ignore requests to go slow and start approving automated frequency control operators for the 6 GHz band. “As recent ex parte letters to the Commission reveal, parties that have unsuccessfully challenged expanded use of the 6 GHz band in the past have not relented,” the alliance said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 21-352: “Now, they wish to slow or stop even the grant of conditional authorizations to further test AFC systems. The Commission must reject these groundless efforts and allow the AFC authorization process to proceed.”

The FCC needs to be sure Gogo Business Aviation's requested waiver of effective radiated power limits for air-to-ground operations in the 849-851 MHz and 894-896 MHz bands (see 2107070042) isn't an interference risk to public safety incumbents, APCO said Tuesday in docket 21-282. The agency should require Gogo to do field testing before full operations are authorized, perform its own analysis of the interference potential, and require conditions to mitigate and resolve interference, it said. Rather than just emailing public safety licensees at least 10 days before the new operations, it should have to email and call, notifying relevant 800 MHz regional planning committees and FCC-certified public safety frequency coordinators, it said. APCO also said Gogo transmissions should include a signal identifier. It said Gogo's request would be better handled through a rulemaking proceeding than a waiver. Gogo didn't comment.

The FCC sought comment Tuesday on a December waiver request by proponents of cellular-vehicle-to-everything use of the 5.9 GHz band asking to be able to deploy as soon as possible (see 2112140070). Comment deadlines are to come in a Federal Register notice. The FCC has been under continuing pressure to act on the waiver request (see 2206020050), which was filed by Audi of America, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, the departments of transportation in Utah and Virginia, Aaeon Technology, Harman International Industries, Panasonic North America and other companies. A second notice Tuesday reminded part 90 intelligent transportation system licensees operating in the band that they must cease operations in the 5850-5895 MHz portion of the band July 5. Both notices were by the Public Safety and Wireless bureaus.