T-Mobile said it's rebranding its prepaid MetroPCS product as Metro by T-Mobile. T-Mobile, which completed its buy of MetroPCS in April 2013, said it’s time for a makeover. The combination of T-Mobile’s and Sprint’s prepaid lines under one company is seen as a potential sticking point to their proposed deal (see 1808270049). “Metro by T-Mobile launches next month with new all-unlimited plans, including a tier that features Amazon Prime, making it the only U.S. prepaid wireless brand to include all the shopping and entertainment benefits of Prime … and, the first and only wireless brand to include Google One, a subscription with expanded cloud storage and mobile backup,” T-Mobile said Monday.

IHS Markit asked the FCC to clarify that auto safety messages it transmits to cellphones are “made for emergency purposes” and don't violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. “Motor vehicle safety recall communications save lives,” said a petition posted Monday in docket 02-278. IHS Markit “provides critical consumer outreach communications and was recently retained to place calls and deliver text messages regarding manufacturers’ recalls of vehicles equipped with Takata airbag inflators, which are at risk of exploding.”

With a vote scheduled for Wednesday on revised wireless infrastructure rules, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr stressed Monday that the small cell-oriented changes have support from local government officials. Major cities urged the FCC to revise the proposed rules (see 1809200007), crafted by Carr. “More than several dozen mayors, local officials, and state lawmakers have called on the FCC to streamline the rules governing small cell buildout,” Carr said. “They want the FCC to build on the commonsense reforms adopted in state legislatures and town councils across the country so that every community -- from big city to small town -- gets a fair shot at next-generation connectivity.” Carr offered quotes from local officials endorsing the approach. Among filings posted Monday in docket 17-79, Murrieta, California, opposed the draft rules. “Cities can negotiate with providers to ensure appropriate compensation to taxpayers for private, profit-generating use of public property, and to incentivize development that benefits community residents,” the city said. “Action by the Commission would limit fees and rates that we could negotiate for use of public property and our ability to maximize public benefit.” Middleburg, Virginia, called the new collocation shot clock “too extreme” and said it needs to be able to protect its historic downtown and charm. Sprint said in meetings with aides to Carr and Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel that the changes don’t go far enough. “The Commission’s draft order states that government application and recurring fees be cost-based,” the carrier said. “Costs charged by local governments must be ‘direct and actual’ so that local governments cannot increase its costs by incurring unnecessary expenses and passing them on to the wireless industry.” Carr penned a Pensacola News Journal commentary with Pensacola, Florida, Mayor Ashton Hayward (R) on the importance of 5G and infrastructure to that city.

T-Mobile said Sunit Patel is joining as executive vice president-merger and integration lead. “Patel will lead T-Mobile’s strategic planning efforts to integrate its business with Sprint as the two companies work through the necessary regulatory reviews and other closing conditions to combine,” T-Mobile said Monday. Patel leaves CenturyLink, where he was chief financial officer. He will report to T-Mobile President Mike Sievert.

Wells Fargo’s Jennifer Fritzsche said she traveled with the T-Mobile investor relations team Thursday and remains positive on the approval of the carrier’s takeover of Sprint. T-Mobile’s momentum seems to be carrying into this quarter and the “focus of the conversations” with the team was more on what the companies would do together rather “Plan B for a stand-alone” T-Mobile, she emailed investors Friday. “All eyes now watch the DOJ,” she said. “While we are encouraged there has not been any unexpected curveballs from the DOJ thus far, the DOJ is very much a walled garden, in our view. Stating the obvious the DOJ has surprised us before.”

Mobile virtual network operator Altice USA said it met with aides to FCC commissioners and the T-Mobile/Sprint Task Force to raise questions about whether the deal will hurt it and other MVNOs. There's "disconnect in the record between the public interest statement filed by Sprint and T-Mobile, which relies heavily on MVNOs as a competitive force to justify the further market concentration they propose, and the absence of tangible commitments to ensure a robust and durable, long-term, nationwide MVNO market,” said a filing Thursday in docket 18-197. All MVNOs aren’t the same, Altice said: It's a full infrastructure-based MVNO that uses only the radio access network of its mobile network operator partners. T-Mobile and Sprint said Thursday they met with members of the task force to answer questions and present the “New T-Mobile business plan” with many redactions.

FirstNet board Chair Edward Horowitz Friday named Sheriff Richard Stanek vice chair, as leadership changes continue. Having a first responder in the position is “valuable to the Board, to the FirstNet organization, and to the public safety community,” Horowitz said. The previous vice chair was Jeff Johnson (see 1808200050), a former fire chief. Stanek has been on the board since 2014 and is sheriff of Hennepin County, Minnesota. FirstNet hasn’t named a new CEO to replace Mike Poth, who leaves at month's end.

Rainbow PUSH President Jesse Jackson wrote the FCC endorsing changes to wireless infrastructure rules, teed up for a vote at Wednesday’s commissioners' meeting. “Broadband access to the internet has been a game-changer for people of color, low-income households, and numerous other struggling communities,” Jackson wrote in a letter posted Friday in docket 17-79. “The next generation of wireless and wireline broadband services promises to amplify these benefits.” The draft order and declaratory ruling have gotten pushback from some big cities and local and state governments (see 1809200007). CTIA President Meredith Baker met with all four commissioners last week to push for the order. “In order to ensure 5G leadership, it is essential that the Commission modernize siting rules to allow the accelerated deployment of new wireless networks and small cells,” the group said. “The permitting process for small wireless facilities has often created deployment barriers that have a significant impact on the pace and scale of densification,” 5G Americas said, supporting the draft order.

Wireless resellers pressed the FCC to back off a proposal to ban resellers from the Lifeline USF program. "The consensus is that the reseller ban would not bridge the digital divide by spurring additional facilities deployment or more affordable services," said National Lifeline Association (NaLA) filings on meetings of reseller representatives with Chairman Ajit Pai and an aide to Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, posted Thursday in docket 17-287 (here, here). "A reseller ban would harm consumers by forcing more than 7 million or roughly 70 percent of all Lifeline subscribers to find a new Lifeline service provider (including about 1.3 million veterans), and in many cases, leaving the nation’s most vulnerable consumers with no affordable wireless or wireline service options." NaLA said the FCC should allow low-income "consumers to choose for themselves among options of voice and data, including bundles," rather than mandating "family-sized service plans" in escalating minimum service standards and phasing out voice-only support. The group pressed for ensuring a national verifier implements an application programming interface for providers and there is access to key databases for determining consumer eligibility.

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology seeks comment on a waiver Metrom Rail seeks to operate ultrawideband positive train control systems in the 3.272-5.014 GHz band. “The system would operate above the current radiated power limit as fixed wireless infrastructure under the handheld UWB device rules,” OET said Thursday. "Metrom states that the requested waiver would enable PTC to be deployed in public transit and short rail train systems and promote safety for railway passengers and personnel in a cost-effective manner.” Metrom is a technology company that serves railroads. Comments are due Oct. 22, replies Nov. 6, in docket 18-284.