The Coalition of Rural Wireless Carriers (CWRC) this week sought reconsideration of the FCC’s August order launching a 5G Fund. The coalition agreed with the Rural Wireless Association (see 2501130024) that the FCC should hold off on a 5G Fund auction while BEAD unfolds. “BEAD-funded projects that move points of fiber interconnection closer to proposed new towers, or those towers currently using microwave backhaul, will stretch 5G Fund program dollars and benefit rural areas in need of improvement,” the group said in a petition posted Tuesday in docket 20-32: “When fiber moves closer to a new or proposed tower or fixed wireless access provides both home and mobile broadband to an area, 5G Fund auction bids will reduce, increasing the program’s efficiency and better serving the public interest.” CWRC also called for better broadband maps and an improved challenge process. “One CRWC member provided drive test data demonstrating that an area shown on the mobile availability map to have 5G service at 7/1 Mbps or better had almost no such coverage,” the filing said.

Boomerang Wireless asked the FCC to overrule a Universal Service Administrative Co. decision that it violated the Lifeline program’s supposed one-benefit-per-household rule by enrolling too many applicants at a single address. The FCC’s Lifeline rules “do not set household limits at an address so long as the prescribed process of obtaining a signed Independent Economic Household (IEH) worksheet is followed,” Boomerang said in a filing posted Monday in docket 11-42. USAC “appears to have created and applied a limit on the number of eligible Lifeline households that may reside at a particular address,” the company said. But the commission “has never set a cap on the number of Lifeline households that may reside at a particular address and even specifically rejected a one benefit per address rule in the 2012 Lifeline Reform Order.”

Progeny asked the FCC for a waiver of the buildout requirements for parts of its 900 MHz multilateration location and monitoring service licenses (M-LMS). Parent NextNav proposed a reconfiguration of the 902-928 MHz band in April (see 2404160043). The extension request covers 36 “mostly rural and generally least-populated” markets, said Progeny's filing Friday in docket 12-202. It sought an extension of deadlines until April 3, 2028, or 18 months after resolution of the NextNav petition for rulemaking to use the spectrum for an alternative to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing services.

The Online Lenders Alliance (OLA) filed a petition for rulemaking at the FCC seeking changes to the agency’s 2023 order on unwanted robotexts (see 2312130019). The FCC’s one-to-one robotext consent policy, the petition's focus, is also the target of a challenge before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard oral argument in December (see 2412180008). Lead generation “is a long-established marketing and advertising method that has become increasingly vital in the age of internet commerce,” OLA said in a petition posted Monday in docket 21-402. “This significant curtailing of the consumer’s right to consent will result in fewer consumer choices, greater exposure to cybercrime, a disproportionate advantage for companies with greater marketing spend to control how consumers can locate resources online, decreased competition among market participants, and increased prices of products and services for consumers.”

The Rural Wireless Association sought reconsideration of the FCC’s August order launching a 5G Fund. Commissioner Brendan Carr, on tap to be FCC chair starting next week, dissented on the order, raising BEAD concerns (see 2408290041). In a filing posted Monday in docket 20-32, RWA agreed with Carr that the FCC should wait for decisions on where BEAD money will be spent before moving forward on a 5G Fund auction. In addition, RWA questioned the fund’s reliance on the broadband data collection’s mobile challenge process for assessing funding needs. “As RWA and others have previously pointed out, the process is ineffective, particularly in rural areas, due to the limitations of crowd-sourced data and data compatibility issues in submitting bulk mobile challenges, and the Commission has failed to adequately address these concerns.”

The Government Wireless Technology & Communications Association (GWTCA) and state departments of transportation in Utah and Washington defended their motion for a partial stay of an FCC requirement that current 4.9 GHz licensees provide the agency with granular licensing data not later than June 9 or face cancelation of their licenses (see 2412230048). They responded to the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance, which opposed the request (see 2412310023). PSSA, which supports giving the FirstNet Authority effective control of the band, said proponents of a stay didn’t meet FCC requirements for granting one.

Google, Federated Wireless and Sony asked that the FCC recertify them as spectrum access system operators in the citizens broadband radio service. Last month, the FCC released procedures for the six current SAS providers to renew their certifications (see 2412090062). The three had to act first because their initial five-year terms as administrators expire Jan. 27, and the agency asked them to certify their compliance with FCC requirements “no fewer than 14 days before the expiration of their existing certification.” In a filing posted Friday in docket 15-319, Google certified “that it will continue to comply with any expanded SAS capabilities or obligations -- including the provision of service in additional U.S. Territories and Possessions and the support of spectrum manager leasing -- authorized since our initial certification.” Federated said that “since its initial certification in January 2020, Federated Wireless has consistently operated in full compliance with the Commission’s rules and policies, the conditions of its SAS authorization for full commercial service, adjustments to the federal-commercial sharing regime announced by” the FCC “and requests for information from the Commission.” The company said it has played “a pivotal role in the successful implementation of the [CBRS] framework, ensuring dynamic spectrum sharing, safeguarding federal and non-federal incumbent operations, and enabling the widespread adoption of CBRS spectrum for commercial and public-sector use.” Sony said it “remains fully compliant with FCC regulations and fulfills its obligations as a SAS administrator.”

The FCC on Friday modified the licenses of 28 entities that received waivers to operate intelligent transportation systems in the 5.9 GHz band prior to adoption of final rules for cellular-vehicle-to-everything use of the band in November (see 2411210054). The licensees are primarily state departments of transportation and local governments. “The proposed modification would ensure that after their waiver authority expires, the C-V2X Waiver Recipients’ original licenses will be modified to comply with the final CV2X-based rules adopted in the 5.9 GHz Second Report and Order,” said an order posted Friday by the FCC Public Safety and Wireless bureaus. The modifications are “within the Commission’s statutory authority, consistent with prior Commission practice, and will promote the public interest, convenience, and necessity, given the role these licenses play in supporting public safety networks and improving transportation safety,” the FCC said.

EchoStar certified on Friday that, as of the end of 2024, it offers 5G broadband service to more than 268 million people in the U.S., or 80.08% of U.S. POPs. In addition, it has “begun offering a low-cost 5G plan and device to consumers nationwide,” said a filing in docket 22-212: “This plan offers mobile data and voice with 30 GB of data per month for $25.00 to both prepaid and postpaid customers. EchoStar also offers an EchoStar-certified 5G device for $109.99.” The company offered updates in an appendix on the build out of its network using 600 MHz, Lower 700 E-block and AWS licenses. EchoStar also filed granular data on its coverage areas, which was redacted from the public filing.

T-Mobile has started responding to a letter the FCC sent in late December (see 2412270031) probing the carrier’s proposed buy of wireless assets from UScellular. A full response is due Jan. 17. T-Mobile submitted an encrypted hard drive “containing a copy of its organizational charts showing the company’s senior leadership and their direct reports,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 24-286. All the information was redacted.