Dish Network is buying Republic Wireless, a mobile virtual network operator on the T-Mobile network. Dish, which is building a stand-alone 5G network, gets some 200,000 subscribers, the Republic Wireless brand and other assets, Dish said Monday. "Republic has created a loyal following and established a brand known for innovation, customer service and value. We plan to build upon that," said John Swieringa, Dish chief operating officer. Citi’s Michael Rollins told investors more deals are possible: “DISH could pursue an acquisition of TDS and US Cellular that could provide DISH with immediate rural coverage, significant revenue and subscriber scale that can leverage the T-Mobile wholesale deal for national coverage (which could be cheaper than its current roaming arrangements), a healthy spectrum position in its markets, and additional assets that could [be] held or be monetized,” he said. Dish hopes the deal will close in Q2.

AT&T has $30 billion available after the C-band auction, where it was the second-highest bidder, Chief Financial Officer John Stephens told a Deutsche Bank virtual investor conference Monday. AT&T bid $23.4 billion and is likely on the hook for an additional $4 billion (see 2103040034). The carrier had $10 billion in cash Dec. 31 and secured almost $15 billion in financing, he said. Spending has “been managed, been well thought-out,” he said. The 80 MHz of C band that AT&T is getting “leaves us in a very healthy competitive position,” he said. Half of that is in the part that will be made available first, he said. “We'll continue to evaluate opportunities." Stephens said spinning off about one-third of its video distribution business to TPG (see 2102240046) means AT&T can more easily focus "more directly on our real pillars of 5G connectivity and fiber and software-based entertainment and customer experience.”

The National Emergency Number Association’s 3D Geoinformation Systems Working Group is making “significant progress toward requirements for using 3D location data” and will submit a report to the FCC Public Safety Bureau in the next few weeks, CEO Brian Fontes and others told an aide to acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The time for providers “to deliver vertical location information is now,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 07-114: “The sooner … providers can convey vertical location information, the sooner 9-1-1 can set about to extracting the greatest possible value from this information.”

MoffettNathanson’s Craig Moffett warned Friday of continuing financial pressures on AT&T and Verizon due to going big in the C-band auction (see 2103040034). This “left AT&T’s balance sheet in shambles,” he wrote investors: “Remarkably, their DirecTV ‘sale’ makes their leverage worse, not better. And Verizon’s leverage is now even higher than AT&T’s.” The auction “will be felt for years,” he said: “Carriers will be forced to make hard choices between dividends, diversification strategies, and capital investments in the very 5G network that the auction was intended to support.”

Deny petitions by AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon (see here, here and here) for waivers of FCC vertical location accuracy rules, officials from the International Association of Fire Chiefs asked an aide to acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “911 location accuracy is so important,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 07-114: It allows "fire and EMS personnel to provide critical assistance.” Nationwide providers face a mandate to deploy dispatchable location or Z-axis technology in each of the top 25 cellular market areas by April 3.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr promoted 5G jobs in Mississippi Thursday. Carr also focused on “telehealth, infrastructure builds and enhanced use of technology in K-12 classrooms,” said a news release.

T-Mobile unveiled a suite of offerings Thursday targeting business customers as part of the carrier's "WFX" work from anywhere platform. The offering includes unlimited 5G, home broadband and T-Mobile Collaborate, “a suite of mobile-first, cloud-based tools for business calling, messaging and conferencing from virtually any device, anywhere.” The pandemic “pushed the fast forward button on the future of work, giving us a decade’s worth of progress in a year’s time. And it’s clear that work will never be the same,” said CEO Mike Sievert.

Boost Mobile founder Peter Adderton joined the Communications Workers of America for a call with FCC staff to raise questions about Verizon’s proposed Tracfone buy. Adderton asked the FCC to require the divestiture of Tracfone subscribers currently served by third-party networks. “We noted Verizon’s vague intentions about its plans for TracFone’s 1.7 million low-income customers,” said a filing this week in ITC-T/C-2020093000173: “Rather than providing specific commitments on the Lifeline program, as prior applicants provided in their merger review or as the FCC has required in past mergers, Verizon simply repeats the same vague intention without specifics and without commitments. Absent real enforceable commitments, the proposed Verizon-TracFone transaction could curtail availability of the Lifeline program for low-income consumers from TracFone.” They spoke with officials from the Office of General Counsel, Office of Economics and Analytics and the Wireless and Wireline bureaus.

CTIA and carrier representatives discussed an industry proposal for curbing contraband cellphones in prison with acting Chief Joel Taubenblatt and others from the FCC Wireless Bureau, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 13-111. CTIA’s termination framework “proposes an FCC-directed process that requires wireless providers to terminate service to devices that have been identified as contraband if specified conditions are met,” the filing said: “This approach protects the interests of all parties that are involved in combating contraband device use. For corrections officials, the proposal offers a comprehensive, nationwide solution that is consistent and easy to administer.” AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and UScellular were on the call.

Require “rigorous testing … to demonstrate that unlicensed devices can coexist with incumbent” 6 GHz licensees before allowing additional equipment certifications for unlicensed low-power indoor devices, utility and public safety groups urged an aide to acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The groups asked the FCC to pause authorizations in January (see 2101270037). “Such testing should be conducted before more LPI devices … become commercially available, otherwise it will be extremely difficult to retrieve these devices from consumers,” they said in an ex parte posted Thursday in docket 18-295. The Utilities Technology Council, Edison Electric Institute, American Public Power Association, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, American Petroleum Institute, American Water Works Association, American Gas Association, National Public Safety Telecommunications Council, International Association of Fire Chiefs and APCO were on the call.