Members of the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee have reviewed and don’t object to a Liberty Defense request for three waivers of Part 15 rules so that the company can obtain FCC equipment authorization to upgrade full-body screening scanners at U.S. airports, NTIA told the FCC. The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology sought comment last year (see 2307200030). Upgraded equipment would allow the Transportation Security Administration to “enhance the legacy fleet of body scanners to operate at a higher performance level, resulting in improved airport security,” a filing posted Tuesday in docket 23-245 said.

The Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure (CERCI), the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and the 4.9 GHz Coalition jointly urged that the FCC name a national band manager in the 4.9 GHz band. “It has been almost 18 months since the FCC adopted its decision to designate a nationwide Band Manager” and a freeze remains on new licenses in the public safety band, a filing posted Tuesday in docket 07-100 said. The groups noted they oppose FirstNet Authority “licensing, leasing, or other controlling use of this spectrum.” Instead, they favor a plan that would appoint the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, AASHTO and other public safety frequency coordinators as the band managers. “The wholesale licensing or leasing of this band to FirstNet and, therefore, to AT&T for integration into its commercial, consumer-focused network (or an arrangement that accomplishes the same end under a thinly veiled ‘shared use’ nomenclature), would be antithetical to the FCC’s locally controlled public safety primacy commitment,” they said. Meanwhile, top officials from the Major Cities Chiefs Association and the National Sheriffs’ Association met with Commissioner Brendan Carr They warned Carr against giving FIrstNet control of the band. “We discussed how it is important for public safety to continue to have access to multiple service providers in the 4.9 GHz band and how giving the band to the FirstNet Authority would eliminate choices for public safety since the FirstNet Authority has an exclusive contract with a single network provider, AT&T,” the police groups said.

The FCC Wireless Bureau on Tuesday approved MatrixSpace's petition for waiver of the U.S. table of frequency allocations and the commission’s Part 87 rules for radars mounted on drones that could provide radionavigation or radiolocation in the 24.45-24.65 GHz band, for a period of five years. T-Mobile opposed and then withdrew its opposition to the proposal (see 2310260016). The waiver is subject to the outcome of an Echodyne petition seeking rules for the band, the order said. “This request would serve the underlying purpose of our ruling to establish permanent rules for secondary use of the 24.45-24.65 GHz band for radiolocation operations (see 1906130051), as we already permit use of the 24.45-24.65 GHz band” for uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) detection “as part of a ground-based air traffic control system, thus allowing use of the band for other UAS detection does not conflict with that purpose,” the bureau said: MatrixSpace says the radar “can be used for UAS detection in security systems, target tracking systems, and UAS or other drones” and “all opposition to this request has been withdrawn in light of the updated technical information MatrixSpace submitted in the record.” The bureau also extended for five years the waiver for Ecodyne, which uses the band for its EchoGuard offering. “Echodyne again emphasizes the public interest benefits that EchoGuard can support, including protection of infrastructure, stadiums, prisons, and the U.S. border,” a Tuesday order said.

The FCC unveiled an email address that state officials can use when requesting activation of the agency’s Mandatory Disaster Response Initiative for wireless providers. Released Tuesday, the information was contained in a public notice and a press release tying the agency's recent public safety moves to preparations for Atlantic hurricane season. “After each hurricane, we examine what worked, what didn’t work, and what lessons we can apply to improve access to communications during future disasters,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in the release. “That led us to adopt the new Mandatory Disaster Response Initiative, which requires wireless providers to collaborate during disasters so that people can stay connected when they most need it.” The MDRI requires wireless providers and public safety officials assist each other during disasters to prevent outages and facilitate service restoration. In Tuesday’s PN announcing procedures for state activation requests, the Public Safety Bureau said state officials must email the requests to activate the MDRI rules to: MDRI@fcc.gov. “In their requests, states will need to demonstrate that they have activated their State Emergency Operations Center, activated mutual aid, or proclaimed a local state of emergency.” The Public Safety Bureau “will announce grant of a state request to activate the MDRI by releasing a Public Notice stating the counties of interest for which the MDRI activation applies,” Tuesday’s PN said. Along with the MDRI procedures, the FCC’s release listed improvements to outage reporting and increased sharing of that information with state officials as among its preparations for the hurricane season. In addition, it added rules and proposed rules aimed at making emergency alerts multilingual.

The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment Monday on IDS GeoRadar's (IDSG) request for modification of its 2018 waiver allowing use of its 76-77 GHz band Hyper Definition Radar (Hydra) system for mining safety (see 1808130022). IDSG asked that use of the Hydra system be expanded to allow for “structural health monitoring” and “quarry, cut-slope and natural landslide monitoring,” the bureau said. The company also asked permission to use an updated version of Hydra. Comments are due July 3, replies July 18 in docket 17-358.

CTIA representatives met with aides to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and advocated against any proposal to use the 5G Fund to promote cybersecurity risk management planning. Instead, CTIA advised following the cybersecurity framework (CSF) that the National Institute of Standards and Technology is developing, CTIA said in a filing posted Monday (docket 20-32). Accordingly, 5G Fund recipients should "align their cybersecurity risk management plans with Tier 2 of the CSF, [which] accomplishes the Commission’s goal of incorporating appropriate best practices, while avoiding introducing inconsistency that could undermine the Administration’s efforts to ‘harmonize baseline cybersecurity requirements for critical infrastructure,’” CTIA said. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated an order on the fund in March (see 2403260052).

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology on Monday approved a request from Broadcom, Wi-Fi Alliance Services and the Wireless Broadband Alliance to modify their open automated frequency coordination (AFC) code, which determines available power spectral density for 6 GHz standard power devices. The three sought the change in March (see 2404150050). OET acknowledged the Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition's concerns (see 2404150050). FWCC argues that a complete report detailing the proposed changes would “ensure transparency and without said report, incumbent licensees and other interested parties cannot fully consider an AFC’s proposed changes,” OET said: “Given that the modifications were minor corrections, and OET’s internal analysis found no discrepancies, we find that additional testing is not needed.”

T-Mobile told the FCC it has made “significant progress” on meeting its nationwide 5G network deployment milestones. It's a regulatory requirement of T-Mobile's acquisition of Sprint that the milestones are within six years of the deal's closing date. T-Mobile completed the buy four years ago (see 2004010069). “Since the third anniversary of the merger closing, T-Mobile has continued to deploy 5G service over its low-band and mid-band spectrum to the benefit of consumers across the country, resulting in extensive and nearly nationwide 5G coverage of the vast majority of Americans,” a filing Friday said (docket 22-211). T-Mobile reported an increase in its low-band 5G coverage area by approximately 0.6% since the last report and said it’s within 0.8% of meeting the 6-year milestone requirement of 99% of POPs nationwide. In addition, the carrier said its mid-band 5G coverage is at 94.1% of U.S. POPs, already besting the milestone requirement of 88%. T-Mobile reported it has met requirements for 5G sites nationwide and low-band/mid-band 5G spectrum averaged over all sites. But the data on both of these milestones was redacted from the report. The provider said it has also met all its rural 5G network deployment milestones and is well on the way to satisfying requirements for in-home broadband service. In a second filing, T-Mobile also requested keeping the redacted data from public disclosure. "The identified information is extremely sensitive, proprietary information about how T-Mobile is deploying its 5G network -- its most important competitive asset -- including how it is prioritizing deployment of its network infrastructure and bands of spectrum, the extent of its network coverage, the performance of its network, as well as how T-Mobile is deploying and marketing its In-Home Broadband Service," T-Mobile said.

Dahua Technology and IPVM remain at odds on Dahua USA’s request for confidentially on its compliance plan with FCC supply chain security rules (see 2310130042). Dahua provided additional information last week, which it said makes IPVM’s objections “now largely moot in light of” the “voluntary disclosures.” Parts of the plan remain redacted. While Dahua released some previously redacted information, questions remain, IPVM said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 21-232. Among the information redacted is a list “of the entities in Dahua USA's new control structure,” IPVM said: “We cannot be certain if this is similar to the corporate ownership Dahua has just disclosed. Dahua provides no further justification for this redaction, meaning it hinges on the same basis of vague commercial confidentiality it has now abandoned for other information.”

Ericsson’s Cradlepoint said T-Mobile will use its Connected Workplace gear as part of the carrier’s fixed wireless access offering for business customers, Cradlepoint said Thursday. Devices will include X10 5G FWA and E300 routers and W1850 and W1855 adapters, which can boost 4G and 5G connections. T-Mobile is also offering Cisco Meraki connected workforce devices.