AT&T is testing the use of drones as flying cells on wheels, with the initial launch at a field in rural Missouri, it said Thursday. “We had [an] intermittent, weak LTE signal at the flight location before we launched the 5G Flying COW,” said Ethan Hunt, AT&T unmanned aircraft systems principal program manager. “We flew the drone up to about 300 feet, turned on the signal and it began transmitting strong 5G coverage to approximately 10 square miles,” he said. AT&T is considering using drones that could stay in the air for months using solar power.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation supports a waiver allowing immediate cellular-vehicle-to-everything use of the 5.9 GHz band, sought by automakers and others in December (see 2112140070), representatives told an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The waiver “is important for auto industry stakeholders to have immediate access to the Upper 5.9 GHz Band to address pent up demand to begin deployment,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 19-138. The group also urged FCC action on rules for the 60 GHz band: “The use of this band for automotive safety applications, such as technologies to detect unattended children in the backseat, remains a priority for automakers and equipment manufacturers.”

The FCC wants comment by June 17, replies June 27, on an April petition by AT&T seeking further clarity on rules for the C-band clearinghouse. The 20-day deadline for filing a notice of objection with the clearinghouse “should be tolled until a disputing party knows, or through reasonable diligence should know, of the basis for its objection,” AT&T said. AT&T said it doesn’t “advocate eliminating the 20-day deadline, as long as it is applied in a manner that avoids depriving 3.7 GHz Service licensees of due process rights where the basis for an objection is not, and cannot reasonably be, known at the time the relevant invoice is issued.” The deadlines are in a notice for Thursday’s Federal Register.

Comments are due July 1, replies Aug. 1, on an FCC Further NPRM on rules for how often narrowband white spaces devices must check a database to operate, approved by commissioners in January (see 2201270034), said a Wednesday Federal Register notice. The FNPRM seeks to resolve a contentious issue between Microsoft and NAB on how often check-ins should be required and the impact on licensed wireless mics that use the spectrum (see 2201210069).

Verizon went on the attack against T-Mobile Wednesday, accusing its competitor of being less than straightforward in its pricing plans. Verizon said T-Mobile announced in 2017 it was rolling taxes and fees into plans, then started to attach them to bills a little more than a year later. In June, T-Mobile’s “assisted support and upgrade support cost jumps to $35,” Verizon said: “So your plan price may not change, but your admin fee has gone up and it now costs $35 for support? Seems like just another name for a fee.” Verizon noted T-Mobile is now promising to keep prices flat, but that's also one of the commitments it made to get approval of its buy of Sprint. Verizon’s message to T-Mobile: “Sometimes the truth hurts, big time. And Verizon will not sit on the sidelines and watch as the Un-carrier continues to hoodwink consumers by dazzling them with one catchy announcement after another, only to Un-ravel and Un-do them just as soon as people forget.” A day earlier T-Mobile cited Verizon and AT&T for raising prices: “AT&T and Verizon are once again increasing costs for longtime customers who thought their phone bills were the last thing they had to worry about in a world where prices are rising from the gas pumps to the grocery store. Not cool, bro.” T-Mobile didn’t comment Wednesday on the Verizon release.

Intel, Meta and Qualcomm representatives urged the FCC to consider their proposal for future use of the 60 GHz band, in a call with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “The companies presented a proposal that would allow the 57-64 GHz portion of the FCC’s 60 GHz unlicensed band to successfully support expanded radar applications and reliable” augmented, virtual, extended and mixed reality, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 21-264. The band was the topic of an NPRM last summer (see 2107130066). Their proposal “allows 2 GHz radars to transmit at 20 dBm [effective isotropic radiated power] without any duty cycle limitations, and it completely removes the conducted power limit in the NPRM proposal to allow radar equipment designers greater implementation flexibility across the 57-64 GHz band,” the companies said: “The proposal also offers more permissive operating parameters for 4.5 GHz and 7 GHz radars than what our companies previously requested.”

T-Mobile has a “sizable lead on 5G performance” based on Q1 data from Speedtest Intelligence, but Verizon and AT&T also have advantages, Ookla said Wednesday. Verizon is catching up on speed as it deploys C band, and AT&T’s net postpaid adds “exceeded expectations, driven by stronger 4G/LTE performance relative to Verizon, coupled with wider 5G coverage and aggressive postpaid pricing.” Verizon could pull ahead, Ookla said. “Rising costs could well shift the competitive dynamic in Verizon’s favor,” the company said: “While the release of further C-band spectrum will shift this dynamic, that won’t happen until the end of 2023. In the meantime rising inflation will play a larger role, forcing operators to either consider raising prices or absorb additional costs.”

APCO said questions remain as the FCC considers applications to become automated frequency coordination (AFC) system operators in the 6 GHz band (see 2112220070), in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-295. “The AFC system proposals and supplemental filings have exposed gaps and inconsistencies that need to be addressed,” APCO said. The group noted the Office of Engineering and Technology sought supplemental information from each applicant: “Even with the supplemental filings, critical issues remain unresolved, several of which have direct impacts on the ability of the AFC systems to prevent and eliminate harmful interference to licensed users. ... One of the most troubling issues that has been raised in the record is that applicants intend to adopt AFC parameters with significantly different likelihoods of causing interference to licensed microwave links.”

APCO proposed some edits to the proposed record refresh on improving how wireless 911 calls are routed to the appropriate first responders, teed up for a vote at the June 8 FCC commissioners' meeting (see 2205180065). “The edits we offer are intended to improve the record to be developed by clarifying that ‘Next Generation 9-1-1,’ as defined by the public safety community, has not yet been fully deployed, and that ‘transitional NG9-1-1’ environments entail the deployment of emergency services IP networks (ESInets) that are intended to implement some call-delivery elements of an end-state NG9-1-1 environment,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-64. AT&T’s recent announcement it will provide location-based routing nationwide “illustrates, as APCO has previously commented, that wireless carriers can implement location-based routing regardless of whether an ESInet is in place,” APCO said.

Reserve a "limited amount" of 55 MHz spectrum "for exclusive use by licensed mobile operations," said the NAB regarding the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's remand of part of the FCC's 2020 6 GHz order (see 2204250031). NAB said in comments posted Thursday in docket 18-295 that the FCC had "no basis" to conclude its rules "can adequately protect licensed mobile operations." The commission should "reserve the 7070-7125 MHz portion of the 6 GHz band" because it's the "only proposal in the record that will protect licensed [electronic news-gathering] operations," NAB said. Use of a contention-based protocol has "demonstrably failed to protect broadcast ENG operations in the 2.4 GHz band," NAB said. There's "no technical basis for concluding that any CBP could plausibly protect itinerant ENG operations." Other commenters disagreed. NAB’s concerns are "vague and unsupported," said NCTA: It "provided no credible evidence of actual harmful interference from unlicensed 2.4 GHz devices to mobile indoor operations, nor has it shown that a contention-based protocol could not prevent the alleged harmful interference from occurring." NAB has "significantly misconstrued and misrepresented interference to ENG operations in the 2.4 GHz band," said Public Knowledge and New America's Open Technology Institute in joint comments: The "lack of evidence ... provides the commission with ample explanation for dismissing NAB's concerns." The court "broadly rejected challenges by NAB and others" to the order, and the FCC should "reject any argument for modification," said Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, Google, Hewlett Packard, Intel, Meta, Microsoft and Qualcomm in joint comments. The record didn't show that NAB’s "underlying assertion was, or is, accurate," said the Wi-Fi Alliance, saying there's "no connection" between ENG devices operating at the 2.4 GHz and 6 GHz bands. Don't create "any spectrum carveout based on the evidence offered to support such a carveout," said ACT | The App Association.