T-Mobile on Wednesday offered customers who switch to 5G home internet up to $1,050 in incentives. New customers can get a $300 virtual Mastercard when switching to All-In Internet or a $200 virtual Mastercard when choosing Amplified Internet, T-Mobile said. The carrier said it will also pay early termination fees of up to $750.
A representative of the Open Technology Institute at New America warned an aide to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr against higher power limits and lower out-of-band emissions (OOBE) levels in the citizens broadband radio service band (see 2503130049), said a filing posted Wednesday. “With more than 400,000 base stations deployed by more than 1,000 operators for a wide variety of use cases, it would be fatally disruptive to accede to the demands of a small subset of users to raise power to a level that will inevitably increase interference and reduce channel availability for most other users, especially [general authorized access] users who have just recently built out the vast majority of [CBRS deployments] in reliance on the Commission’s rules,” Michael Calabrese said in the filing in docket 17-258. That is especially true for rural and small communities where hundreds of wireless ISPs “have relied on the Commission’s CBRS rules to invest in equipment sold by [original equipment manufacturers] such as Cambium Networks and Tarana Wireless to offer more affordable fixed wireless broadband services.”
The FCC must follow the same designated entity (DE) rules in the reauction of AWS-3 as it followed in the original 2014 auction, Dish Network parent EchoStar told the agency in comments this week on an auction procedures NPRM (see 2504010055). EchoStar hinted at a legal challenge if the FCC changes the rules. Two Dish-controlled DEs, Northstar and SNR, defaulted on winning bids in the auction, and EchoStar and the DEs “reasonably could be subject to a deficiency payment” if the auction underperforms, said a filing Tuesday in docket 25-70.
The FCC Wireless Bureau on Tuesday approved 12 additional licenses in the 900 MHz broadband segment for PDV Spectrum, all in Texas. The FCC approved an order five years ago reallocating a 6 MHz swath in the band for broadband while maintaining 4 MHz for narrowband operations (see 2005130057).
Airspan Networks announced Tuesday that it had finalized its purchase of Corning’s wireless business. The terms of the deal weren’t released. It acquired Corning's "6000 and 6200 distributed antenna systems and its SpiderCloud 4G and 5G small cell radio access network portfolio,” Airspan said, along with “valuable intellectual property” and “experienced wireless professionals.” Airspan announced an agreement last month to acquire Jabil’s open radio access network portfolio and associated intellectual property rights.
The National Wireless Safety Alliance (NWSA) said Monday that it’s offering a new specialty certification exam, “Advanced Rigging Concepts,” starting April 7. “This advanced certification is designed to provide assurance to certificate holders, employers, carriers, and tower owners that lifting operations on-site are executed safely and effectively,” the group said. Richard Cullum, chair of the NWSA Specialty Exam Management Committee, added: “Based on my experience and the number of rigging incidents I have seen over the years, a specialty credential such as this is needed to ensure tower technicians properly grasp and understand not only the fundamentals, but some of the more complex aspects of rigging.”
The Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services asked the FCC to update its rules on 406 MHz satellite personal locator beacons and maritime survivor locating devices. Recent updates to standards for both types of devices “have significantly improved distress alerting and locating capabilities,” said a petition for rulemaking Monday. “These enhancements benefit not only the person in distress by using these devices but also assist search and rescue authorities. The updates ensure that authorities are quickly alerted to the distress situation, its location, and the identity of the person in distress.”
The FCC moved quickly to seek comment on a petition filed by CTIA last week (see 2503270059) asking the commission to launch a rulemaking aimed at updating its rules to implement the National Environmental Policy Act. The Wireless Bureau released a notice Monday, seeking comment by April 30, replies May 15, in RM-12003.
AT&T said Monday that FirstNet has continued to grow, hitting “more than 7 million public safety connections.” That figure is up by about 300,000 since the end of 2024, a positive development for AT&T as it competes for phone subscribers, New Street’s Philip Burnett told investors Monday. It probably means 90,000-110,000 FirstNet postpaid phones adds in Q1, based on prior trends, he said.
Samsung Electronics America and Ericsson jointly disputed a recent FCC filing by NCTA raising concerns about citizens broadband radio service interference, including by dual-band radios that operate across CBRS and the C band (see 2503060016). Both companies have waiver requests for multiband radios before the regulator. “NCTA’s continuing efforts to put off FCC action on these waivers only serves to delay the public interest benefits the multiband radios will provide: an innovative, efficient, and cost-effective base station that is smaller and has more functionality than separate CBRS and C-band radios,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 23-93. “Multiband radios will support faster deployment through fewer site approvals, lower installation costs, smaller form factor, and more energy efficiency.”