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.

Several additional groups filed at the FCC this week urging that it approve T-Mobile’s proposed purchase of "substantially all” of UScellular’s wireless operations (see 2501080071). The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation told the FCC the deal promotes wireless competition. The FCC “should be guided by the fact that the public interest is best served by maximizing the productivity of spectrum,” ITIF said: The proposed transaction “would transfer spectrum from the hands of a struggling company, UScellular, to a major carrier with the economies of scale to provide more consumer benefits at a lower per-unit cost of production.” TechFreedom said the public interest statement and other documents the companies submitted “paint a bleak future for UScellular, and more importantly, for UScellular customers, without approval” of the deal. “Far from being a ‘maverick’ that can disrupt even local markets, UScellular is losing the economic battle to remain solvent and relevant,” TechFreedom said. UScellular is a “regional carrier lacking the necessary subscriber and financial resources to fund the full deployment of 5G services,” the group said. The U.S. Black Chambers and U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce jointly urged approval. “For Black and Hispanic business owners, expanded network infrastructure ensures equitable access to essential tools such as e-commerce platforms, cloud-based solutions, and digital marketing strategies that drive growth,” they said. The League of United Latin American Citizens said integrating UScellular’s assets into T-Mobile’s network “will significantly enhance network capacity, deliver faster speeds, and reduce congestion, providing substantial benefits to consumers in underserved areas.” Some 40% of UScellular’s coverage “serves rural populations, where access to robust and reliable wireless services is essential,” the league said.

Portions of an August order approving initial rules allowing drone use of the 5030-5091 MHz band (see 2408290048) are effective Feb. 7, said a Wednesday Federal Register notice. The FCC adopted service rules under new Part 88 rules “that provide operators the ability to obtain direct frequency assignments in a portion of the 5030-5091 MHz band for non-networked operation,” the notice said.

The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment on Disaster and Tactical Communications' proposal to serve as a commercial operator license examination manager (COLEM). Comments are due Feb. 6, replies Feb. 21, in docket 25-5. Eleven COLEMs are currently certified, said a notice in Wednesday’s Daily Digest.

The FCC Wireless Bureau Wednesday asked for comment to refresh the record on the future of the 1675-1680 MHz band for shared use between federal incumbents and non-federal fixed or mobile operations. The FCC took comment in 2019 on reallocating the band for 5G, as urged by Ligado (see 1905090041). The band must be shared with weather satellites. Comment deadlines will come in a Federal Register notice. The bureau noted that NOAA recently filed a letter at the FCC suggesting the band could be shared with limitations. “In light of the recent filing of the NOAA follow-on report, the Bureau is providing an opportunity for additional comment in order to ensure an up-to-date record,” the notice said. Ligado executives spoke with Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering Technology staff last month about the NOAA report. “The 1675-1680 MHz band was first identified as a candidate for reallocation to shared federal and commercial use a decade ago, given its nationwide scope and minimal utilization,” Ligado said.

The Free State Foundation opposed various petitions seeking denial of T-Mobile’s proposed purchase of "substantially all” of UScellular’s wireless operations, including some spectrum. The Rural Wireless Association, EchoStar and Communications Workers of America filed petitions to deny last month (see 2412100044). “The weight of evidence indicates that the proposed T-Mobile/UScellular merger, if approved, would produce pro-competitive benefits” and “benefit UScellular subscribers by giving them access to 5G services with faster speeds and higher data capacity,” FSF said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 24-286. The U.S. wireless market is “characterized by strong competition among three nationwide mobile wireless providers -- T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon, an emergent fourth nationwide provider in EchoStar, local wireless providers, and regional hybrid cellular-cable mobile virtual network operators Xfinity Mobile and Spectrum Mobile,” the group said. Jeffrey Westling, American Action Forum director-technology and innovation, said that even if the FCC “narrowly” defines the wireless market as “just facilities-based, 5G mobile service, the proposed transaction will promote competition and benefit consumers.” Carriers “must carefully consider where to invest resources to provide the best coverage at the most cost-effective point,” Westling said: “In many cases, a merger … can provide an ideal outcome that limits duplication of efforts.” The American Consumer Institute also called on the FCC to approve the deal. “The proposed transaction is motivated by T-Mobile and UScellular’s desire to improve network capabilities and provide better services for consumers, both in the public’s interest,” ACI said.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau on Wednesday released rules for new multilingual templates for wireless emergency alerts. It sought comment in a public notice last year (see 2405130047). The order adopts templates for the 18 “most commonly issued and most time-sensitive types of alerts, which will be available in English and the next 13 most commonly spoken languages” in the U.S. “We promote the flexibility and effectiveness of these templates by requiring Participating … Providers to support the ability for alert originators to customize the alerts using event-specific information,” the order said. The order also adopts non-fillable American Sign Language (ASL) templates -- video files of the alert messages in ASL that don’t include the same elements required in other templates. “Together, these steps further the Commission’s goal of ensuring that WEA remains an essential and effective public safety tool that allows alert originators to warn their communities of danger and advise them to take protective action,” the bureau said. The alerts cover tornado emergency, tornado warning, flash flood emergency, flash flood warning, severe thunderstorm, snow squall, dust storm, hurricane, storm surge, extreme wind, test alert, fire, tsunami, earthquake, boil water, avalanche, hazardous materials and 911 outage. “We decline to adopt evacuation and shelter-in-place templates and defer consideration of other templates at this time,” the order said. The issue of whether participating providers “should be required to support additional templates, including an ‘all-clear’ template and other templates suggested by commenters in the record, is still under consideration by the Bureau at this time,” the order said in a footnote. The bureau addressed concerns CTIA and others raised about problems with preinstalled alerts (see 2406140051). “We agree that there are certain key technical issues to work through during the standards development process, but disagree insofar as commenters suggest these are barriers to adopting fillable templates that cannot be overcome,” the order said. The bureau agreed with CTIA that “dynamically translating the fillable fields would be technically infeasible at this time.” The order imposes a deadline of compliance within 30 months following publication in the Federal Register. CTIA and ATIS had questioned whether that timeline was workable. The bureau agreed with CTIA “that requiring the English message to appear alongside the multilingual template serves as an important public safety redundancy.” It agreed with ATIS “that displaying the English and multilingual versions together” is “technically feasible.” The bureau also agreed with CTIA that “fillable ASL templates are not technically feasible at this time.”

The Joe Biden administration made strides toward a better-coordinated spectrum policy, on the heels of the fight over the C-band during the previous administration, NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson blogged Tuesday. “Think about where the federal government was three years ago: We were just completing a bruising process working through the hard issues around 5G and radio altimeters. Collaboration between federal agencies on spectrum was fraught,” he said: “And the United States had no National Spectrum Strategy.” Now “we have built stronger processes and better working relationships among agencies to solve the many issues that come up in managing federal spectrum.” The administration released a national strategy and completed the first band study, of the lower 37 GHz band (see 2412030057), he said. In addition, it “released a National Spectrum R&D Plan, and secured funding for the lower 3 GHz and 7-8 GHz band studies.” Davidson also highlighted the administration's focus on AI. “Responsible advances in AI will bring enormous benefits and innovation,” he said: “But we will only realize the full promise of AI if we address the real risks it poses and ensure broad access to the opportunities it offers.”

The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials announced Tuesday that Chief Technology Officer Steve Devine was appointed to the newly reconstituted Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee. Letters were sent to committee appointees last weekend (see 2501060037).

The Wireless Infrastructure Association on Tuesday unveiled a partnership with the Fiber Broadband Association that will expand WIA’s Telecommunications Education Center curriculum to include FBA’s Optical Telecom Installer Certification program. WIA also offers a 5G Readiness Program training effort. The FBA program provides up to 144 hours of classroom instruction and hands-on skills training for workers. “Expanding the workforce with highly skilled and trained technicians is currently one of the most critical requirements impacting the success of the fiber broadband industry,” said Deborah Kish, FBA vice president-research and workforce development: “We know that nearly 180,000 workers are needed over the next decade to fulfill planned federal and state broadband funding.”