Boeing urged the FCC to act on a rulemaking on service rules to enable use of the 5030-5091 MHz band for unmanned aircraft systems, in a call with FCC Wireless Bureau staff. “Lack of access to licensed spectrum for UAS command and control is not merely a hypothetical problem that will be felt once UAS technologies are deployed at scale, but a real, ongoing problem that is impacting the industry’s ability to develop these systems today.” A filing posted Tuesday in RM-11798 said Boeing recently received FCC experimental authority to test one UAS technology, but the FAA required use of licensed spectrum.

Communications Workers of America slammed Verizon for “pressuring” the FCC to “rush the review” of its proposed buy of Tracfone. “Days after Verizon and TracFone submitted more than 21,000 pages of documents in response to concerns raised about the transaction, the companies asked the FCC to ‘move expeditiously to approve’ the merger,” CWA said Tuesday. “A transaction this important should not be rushed.” Verizon is “encouraging the FCC to act in accordance with the same timeline we’ve been anticipating since the deal was announced last year,” a spokesperson said: The sooner the FCC acts, “the sooner consumers will benefit from it. We have no reason to believe that the approval will or should be delayed.” Also Tuesday, CEO Hans Vestberg said Verizon expects the deal to close before the end of September: “We're going to be the biggest value player in the market.”

Lockheed defended its waiver request for two test facilities in New York that use the 3.1-3.55 GHz band, adjacent to the C band (see 2104300043), in replies posted Tuesday in FCC docket 19-348. The facilities “support key national security and economic priorities” and “there is no alternative spectrum for Lockheed Martin to continue its operations,” the company said. The Aerospace Industries Association urged approval. “As the Commission lays the groundwork for the 3.45 GHz auction and continues to examine opportunities for enabling commercial access to the 3.1-3.45 GHz band, it should not provide Lockheed with indefinite rights in the entire 3 GHz range,” NCTA said. “The bedrock principle of the Commission’s experimental licensing system is that experiments may occur only if they do not cause harmful interference to any station operating in accordance with the Table of Frequency Allocation,” AT&T said: “The Waiver Request would turn this regime on its head, effectively elevating an experimental licensee to primary status.”

The Competitive Carriers Association told staff of several FCC commissioners and the Wireline Bureau that the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase 1 auction is "poised to inadvertently direct funding to hundreds of thousands of locations that are already served, including wealthy, urban areas," said a filing Monday in docket 20-34: That would hurt efforts to close the digital divide.

CTIA and NCTA said the FCC should proceed with caution as it considers public access to 211 and other non-911 N11 numbers using Wi-Fi calling technologies, in comments posted Monday in docket 92-105 on an April notice (see 2104210065). “There are a number of significant technical, security, and policy issues,” CTIA said: “Seek the guidance of relevant experts on such technical, security, and policy issues prior to taking any further regulatory action with respect to 2-1-1 or other N11 communications that originate over Wi-Fi access points.” These points “cannot independently facilitate N11 call routing and completion or distinguish between N11 calls and other data traffic transiting the Wi-Fi network because they serve as passive conduits,” NCTA said. The points and networks “lack mechanisms to identify location information about an N11 caller that would allow for translation by the terminating voice provider to the appropriate 10-digit telephone number to accurately route the call,” the group said. Citing the COVID-19 pandemic, United Way Worldwide asked the FCC “to take all appropriate steps to institute an obligation for all telecommunication carriers to connect 211 calls to a local point of access and to connect calls over WiFi.” Many calls on cellphones don’t reach the correct 211 center, said Vermont 2-1-1 and the Vermont Department of Public Service: “When a consumer places a call to Vermont 211 over their cellphone from the border town of Hartford, Vermont, their call may reach the New Hampshire 211 call center instead. This is very unlikely to occur when placing a 211 call over a landline.”

The FCC Public Safety Bureau approved a waiver for the Mendocino County, California, Sheriff’s Office to test the wireless emergency alert system Wednesday, starting at noon PDT. “In light of the recent proclamation of a drought emergency in Mendocino and Sonoma counties, and the timing of this exercise on the verge of wildfire season, we find Mendocino residents and alert originators face a unique and urgent need to understand how alerts are transmitted and received,” said Friday's order.

CTIA supports “a clear process that addresses its members’ longstanding concerns about potential liability for terminating service to devices -- specifically, the potential liability a wireless provider faces if, in good faith, it terminates service to a device that was identified as contraband but turns out not to be,” representatives of CTIA and major carriers told aides to Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks. They were discussing a proposal by the group on a termination framework for contraband devices in correctional facilities, said a filing posted Friday in docket 13-111. Ensure “(i) the systems used to identify contraband phones are accurate; (ii) the procedures used to direct the disabling of specific phones are reliable; and (iii) the disabling orders that direct wireless providers to stop service to devices are clear,” CTIA said. Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated (see 2105030062) an order and second Further NPRM last month. It would establish “new requirements for wireless providers to disable identified contraband cellphones when requested by a designated correctional facility official.” An FCC spokesperson declined comment.

Mavenir asked the FCC to revise a preliminary cost catalog and replacement list for its supply chain reimbursement program prepared by Widelity (see 2103250070). Mavenir urged correcting the definition of open radio access network, to “address bias in the Report” and change it to “reflect the actual, and lower, pricing” for ORAN, in a call with Wireline Bureau staff. Stakeholders rely on the document "to make decisions on whether to adopt Open RAN,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 18-89.

Oppositions are due June 4, replies June 14 on CTIA's petition in docket 19-195 asking to revise FCC digital opportunity data collection rules, said Thursday's Federal Register. CTIA asked to eliminate a requirement mobile broadband providers submit “signal-strength ‘heat’ maps or, at minimum, require these maps to be submitted only upon request."

Aviation industry representatives answered FCC Office of Engineering and Technology and Wireless Bureau staff about a report from last year by RTCA, formerly the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics, on interference risks to low-range radar altimeters posed by mobile C-band use (see 2010280048). Participants also discussed a stakeholder group report and two preliminary studies by the Aerospace Vehicle Systems Institute (AVSI). “Staff’s questions and resulting discussion were wide ranging including the details and parameters used in aviation safety analyses in general and the radar altimeter testing,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 18-122. Aviation Spectrum Resources, AVSI, Boeing, Collins Aerospace, Garmin, Honeywell and Lockheed Martin were among attendees.