The FCC provided guidance for intelligent transportation system licensees seeking to move from dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) operations to cellular-vehicle-to-everything-based technology in the upper 30 MHz of the 5.9 GHz band. New C-V2X-based rules went into effect Tuesday, said a notice that day in docket 19-138. The FCC fundamentally changed the rules for the band in October 2020, reallocating the 5.9 GHz band to sharing between Wi-Fi and C-V2X, with no set-aside for DSRC, the historical allocation for the spectrum. The Wireless and Public Safety bureaus said they have reinstated roadside unit (RSU) licenses that were terminated in 2022 due to a failure to notify the commission they had ceased intelligent transportation system (ITS) operations in the lower 45 MHz of the band. Licensees now have an additional 90 days to provide the required certification, the notice said. All Part 90 ITS licensees currently authorized to operate DSRC-based technology in the upper 30-MHz portion are eligible to modify their RSUs for C-V2X deployment in compliance with the new rules, the notice said: “Similarly, any entities that aspire to operate ITS systems may apply for ITS licenses … but only for the purpose of registering and operating C-V2X-based RSUs in their proposed geographic area of operation.”

The Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation filed a paper Wednesday at the FCC on positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) options other than NextNav’s proposal to use 900 MHz spectrum as an alternative to GPS (see 2404160043). The U.S. “must develop alternatives to GPS and strengthen its PNT capabilities,” the paper says. But “granting the NextNav petition is costly in terms of spectrum, not necessary to achieve this goal and likely would not even deliver a real-world improvement in the country’s PNT capabilities.” The paper, filed in docket 24-240, notes China and Russia have terrestrial PNT systems “that make them much more resilient to interference with their satellite navigation systems.” Other vendors and technologies -- including Locata, PhasorLab, the Broadcast Positioning System and enhanced long-range navigation (eLoran) -- also offer alternatives to GPS, the foundation said. “These companies have not asked the FCC for additional spectrum to implement their solutions.”

AT&T’s network handled almost 29 TB of data during Sunday's Super Bowl, “setting a new record at the Superdome and beating out the 2023 showdown between the same teams,” the company said. That amount of data is “equivalent to streaming nearly 7.2 million hours of music or posting 5.8 million social posts with photos,” it said.

EchoStar Chief Technology Officer Eben Albertyn and others from the company met with FCC staff to urge the agency to increase citizens broadband radio service power levels and align other rules with global 3 GHz standards. EchoStar engineers discussed technical studies that the company has already submitted and that justify each of the changes proposed, said a Tuesday filing in docket 17-258. The EchoStar representatives said they met with staff from the Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology. A broad group of companies and associations last week urged new FCC Chairman Brendan Carr not to make sweeping changes to the rules for the band (see 2502060050).

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's criticism of how the 5G Fund was structured under former Chairwoman Rosenworcel is “legitimate,” New Street’s Blair Levin said in an email (see 2502100056). “Congress asked Rosenworcel to lay out an analysis of the future of USF post-BEAD in order to have the data Congress and the public would need to evaluate what needs to be done now and what should await the implementation of BEAD,” Levin said. “Rosenworcel's efforts did not accomplish that (or anything else) which is unfortunate.” While some parts of the fund could be done now, “others, no doubt, would benefit from knowing how the states' plans affect future deployment efforts,” he said.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Tuesday upheld a lower court’s dismissal of additional False Claims Act actions brought by lawyers Mark O’Connor and Sara Leibman, who allege that UScellular and other defendants fraudulently claimed that Frequency Advantage was a “very small business” qualifying for “designated entity” status and a bidding discount in FCC auctions (see 2303280061). Other defendants include King Street Wireless, Carroll Wireless and Barat Wireless. The case “must be dismissed because the frauds Leibman and O’Connor allege were publicly disclosed in an earlier lawsuit, and they are not original sources of the information,” Judge Neomi Rao wrote in a decision in docket 23-7044. “We therefore affirm the judgment of the district court.”

The FCC Wireless Bureau is seeking comment by March 13 on an application by Hawks Ear Communications to serve as a contraband interdiction system (CIS) operator to help address contraband phones in correctional facilities. In a notice Monday in docket 13-111, the bureau noted a change to the usual protective order provisions being adopted for this proceeding. “Under this Protective Order, experts employed by wireless providers participating in the proceeding will be permitted to have access to Confidential Information,” while experts “employed by other commercial entities” won't.

T-Mobile disputed arguments by EchoStar, parent of Dish Wireless, that T-Mobile’s proposed buy of spectrum and other assets from UScellular is designed in part to keep other companies from adding to their 600 MHz holdings (see 2501290019). EchoStar is wrong that T-Mobile is pursuing “a foreclosure strategy” as part of the transaction, said a heavily redacted filing posted Monday in docket 24-286. The transaction would include T-Mobile gaining only a “put/call option” to use a small number of 600 MHz licenses, it said. “As EchoStar well knows, a put/call option is not a cognizable interest under well-established FCC precedent, nor a plausible foreclosure strategy given the very small amount of spectrum subject to the option.”

T-Mobile launched beta testing of its SpaceX-enabled text messaging service, T-Mobile Starlink. It said Sunday that the direct-to-device service -- which it also advertised in a TV spot during the Super Bowl -- allows text messaging for now, with data and voice calling "coming later." In addition, it said registered smartphones will automatically connect to the T-Mobile Starlink network when out of range of a cell tower. T-Mobile will also broadcast wireless emergency alerts nationwide via T-Mobile Starlink. The service is free until July and then will be included free in some plans and available as an add-on for $15 a month for others, the carrier said, adding that it's available free until July for AT&T and Verizon users, and then $20 a month afterward. "This is an incredible next step in our journey and with more than 451 Direct to Cell satellites in the constellation beta users can get text messaging capabilities in 500,000 square miles of the U.S. previously unreachable by any traditional network," T-Mobile President-Technology Ulf Ewaldsson wrote on LinkedIn.

NCTA, major cable companies and other groups met with an aide to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to oppose proposed changes to rules for the citizens broadband radio service band, including higher power levels and relaxed emission limits. The lobbying reflects arguments a larger group of associations and companies made last week in a letter to Carr (see 2502060050). Those changes would “fundamentally alter the longstanding nature of CBRS, result in massive harmful interference to existing deployments" and "undermine existing and planned investments," said a filing posted Monday in docket 17-258. The changes could also "damage the trust in federal/commercial collaboration and sharing that has led to successful protection of national security operations while enabling innovative and competitive commercial use, and immediately halt America’s global momentum in private wireless networks,” it said. Others represented at the meeting included Spectrum for the Future, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and the Wireless ISP Association.