Astra Navigation asked the FCC to consider its technology, which translates magnetic fields into navigational data, as a non-spectrum-reliant alternative to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing. The company offers “an American-made technology that converts the Earth’s magnetic fields into 3D positioning data without reliance on network connectivity or deployment of special infrastructure,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 25-110. Company representatives met with staff from across the agency.
Verizon certified at the FCC that it’s in compliance with the agency’s vertical-location accuracy requirements and has deployed z-axis location technology “on a nationwide basis at accuracy within 3 meters above or below (plus or minus 3 meters) the handset” for 80% of wireless 911 calls made from z-axis-capable devices. Verizon is also delivering z-axis data to 911 call centers in height-above-ellipsoid format and “has complied with the test bed and live call data provisions in the rules,” said a filing Monday in docket 17-78.
Federated Wireless executives discussed the need for changes to the citizens broadband radio service rules in a meeting with staff from the FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology, said a filing posted Monday in docket 17-258. Federated officials discussed “several practical, near-term improvements that can be readily implemented” in the band.
Amateur radio operator Hunter Reed asked the FCC to launch a rulemaking on expanding agency rules from 40 years ago, which require local governments to reasonably accommodate amateur radio installations, to clarify that they apply to homeowners associations (HOAs). The current rules don’t “extend to private land-use restrictions enforced by HOAs,” said the petition posted Monday in docket 25-133. “In an era where a significant portion of residential housing is governed by HOAs, this omission critically hampers the ability of many licensed operators to install antennas and fulfill their public service and emergency communication roles.”
The FCC announced Monday a 30-day extension of the June 9 deadline for current 4.9 GHz licensees to provide the agency with granular licensing data or face cancellation of their licenses. The new deadline is July 9.
CTIA representatives urged the FCC to move quickly to launch the AWS-3 reauction during a meeting with staff from the Office of Economics and Analytics and the Wireless Bureau. They “discussed the strong consensus in the record supporting the use of the Clock-1 auction format and reiterated that changes to geographic licensing are outside the scope of the authority delegated by the Commission to OEA and [the Wireless Bureau] for purposes of the Auction 113 Public Notice,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 25-70.
Verizon and AT&T are backing the C-band Relocation Payment Clearinghouse's request that it be allowed to shut down June 30 (see 2505140034). Substantive functions related to the C-band transition are complete, Verizon said in a filing posted Friday (docket 18-122). Pointing to Anuvu's pending appeal of a denied claim, Verizon said the 3.7 GHz service overlay licensees will guarantee payment to Anuvu in the event of a favorable FCC or final court ruling. AT&T filed similarly last week.
NextNav's proposed reconfiguration of the lower 900 MHz band would cost the tolling industry an estimated $6.8 billion, far outweighing supposed economic benefits, according to industry representatives. A docket 25-110 filing posted Friday recapped a meeting with FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington and the offices of Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioner Anna Gomez. During that meeting, International Bridge, Tunnel & Turnpike Association and E-ZPass Group representatives discussed the industry's economic impact study indicating that the direct and indirect costs of the NextNav proposal would be "many tens of billions of dollars across many industries" (see 2504300022).
Five years after the launch of its 5G Home Internet fixed wireless service, T-Mobile is the fastest-growing ISP and the fifth-largest in the U.S., the company told the FCC Friday (docket 22-211). In its latest annual status report on its 5G deployment requirements as part of its 2019 Sprint acquisition, T-Mobile said it has more than 6.5 million customers and is available to more than 70 million homes. As of March 31, its low-band 5G covers 98.45% of the U.S. population, while its midband 5G covers 94.75%; its six-year milestone requirement is for 99% and 88% coverage, respectively. It has already met all its rural 5G network coverage requirements, though it continues to extend its low-band and midband rural coverage, T-Mobile said, and it has also already met all its in-home broadband service milestones.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau issued a $25,000 penalty against the owner of a citizens band radio service station in Rockford, Illinois, for malicious interference and unauthorized operation, said a forfeiture order in Friday’s Daily Digest. Jayme John Leon violated FCC rules by using his station to make one-way transmissions and send nonverbal, indecipherable sound effects over long periods, the order said. His transmissions included recorded comedy routines, air raid siren sounds and “unintelligible, data-like” noises, said the 2023 notice of apparent liability that preceded Friday’s forfeiture order. The NAL said Leon has a history of noncompliance with FCC orders, previously being fined $14,000 for transmitting obscene and profane language. According to the NAL, Leon has said the broadcasts were caused by “a milk crate containing a battery-operated CB radio placed by an unidentified third-party at a corner near his house,” but he hasn’t provided evidence of the device. The Enforcement Bureau gathered evidence that showed the transmissions coming from an antenna on Leon’s home, the NAL said.