UPM sought review this week in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals of two orders by the FCC resolving complaints by the company against Digicel-Haiti for allegedly deactivating thousands of SIM cards UPM purchased through third-party contractors in Haiti and shipped to the U.S. to access a Digicel-Haiti discount roaming plan. UPM’s complaint at the FCC demonstrated that the Haitian wireless carrier “was providing foreign telecommunications services from the United States … and was therefore a telecommunications carrier within the Commission’s jurisdiction” and “certain Digicel-Haiti actions (cutting off UPM’s service) violated the Communications Act and longstanding Commission precedent,” UPM said. In two orders, the latest in December, the FCC found Digicel-Haiti didn’t fall under agency jurisdiction and that actions regarding UPM were lawful.

It is critical that more licensed spectrum becomes available for the wireless industry, Rhonda Johnson, AT&T executive vice president-federal regulatory relations, said Wednesday. “The U.S. has no supply of the licensed spectrum that fuels wireless services, and the FCC has no authority to auction the essential resource,” Johnson wrote in a blog post: “This spectrum drought has allowed other countries, including China, to surpass the U.S. in allocating key portions of spectrum.” Expanding AT&T’s network “requires expanding access to the licensed spectrum that powers it,” she said. AT&T arguably has been the most outspoken national wireless carrier in projecting positive things to come from Donald Trump's incoming administration (see 2412100069). Johnson also stressed the importance of regulators clearing a path for the provider to shutter inefficient copper networks (see 2405210059). “Outdated regulations force U.S. telecom companies to maintain inefficient copper networks, diverting investment from the resilient high-speed internet technologies of the future.”

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology on Tuesday approved Piper Networks' request for a waiver of rules allowing use of its enhanced transit location system in the metropolitan Boston area (see 2411080021). The system operates in the 4243-4743 MHz band, and Piper sought an expansion of its current waiver. “We find that granting Piper’s request to operate its system in the greater Boston area is in line with the waiver’s intent and serves the public interest,” OET said: “We are not aware of any reported harmful interference to existing services resulting from Piper’s operations, and we see no reason why a geographic expansion under the same technical restrictions would alter this dynamic.”

The Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition (FWCC) objected on Tuesday to one aspect of a December order by the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology that conditionally approved Axon Networks’ plan to operate an automated frequency coordination (AFC) system to manage access to the 6 GHz band by standard-power unlicensed devices (see 2412060046). FWCC complained that OET “arbitrarily” departed “from Commission policy” by permitting Axon to shorten its public trial period to 20 days, instead of the usual 45. “OET fails to meet the standard for agency decisionmaking because shortening the public trial period will result in disparate treatment among similarly situated AFC applicants,” said a filing in docket 21-352: The decision “constitutes an impermissible policy change because the change was made without good reason.”

Mongoose Works isn't entitled to an additional $69,686 for its relocation out of the lower C-band after all, according to an FCC order (docket 21-333) in Tuesday's Daily Digest. The agency said the administrative law judge's decision in Mongoose's favor (see 2407180049) wrongly held that it met the burden of proof to show the C-band relocation payment clearinghouse's reclassification of two earth station antennas was inconsistent with the FCC's C-band order. The ALJ decision had reversed an FCC Wireless Bureau decision that Mongoose was entitled to the additional sum.

The NTIA on Tuesday offered a brief summary of comments the agency collected in response to a May request for comment on the state of 6G development (see 2409040032). The post comes amid questions about spectrum policy in the second Trump administration and whether officials will scuttle some of the work done under the Biden administration’s national spectrum strategy (see 2501030041). Companies that responded “emphasized spectrum policy, open networks, AI-driven networks, global standards leadership, and infrastructure deployment,” NTIA said in a blog post: “Academic institutions contributed by focusing on research and innovation in areas like non-terrestrial networks, AI, and quantum-safe encryption. They also emphasized workforce development, advocating for more educational programs and industry partnerships to train the next generation of engineers in wireless technologies.” The responses “highlighted the necessity for AI-native networks, flexible spectrum management, robust security and privacy frameworks, sustainable network designs, collaborative partnerships, and equitable access to ensure 6G technologies benefit all sectors and communities,” the agency said. NTIA said comments also underscored “the need for a comprehensive, adaptable governance framework that balances innovation, security, and equity, while ensuring the United States retains global leadership in 6G.”

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.”