In the wake of Hurricane Francine, the FCC Wireless Bureau on Friday approved Google's request for a waiver of rules that require environmental sensing capability systems to protect federal incumbents in the citizens broadband radio service band from harmful interference. Francine has weakened to a tropical depression, according to NOAA. However, “the risk of heavy rainfall and flooding will continue across large portions of the Southeast through Saturday,” the bureau said. Google’s request for a waiver was also posted Friday.

Incompas, Consumer Reports and Public Knowledge urged the FCC to ignore the Competitive Carriers Association’s request for a 15-day delay in the deadline for filing reply comments on proposed handset unlocking rules. The FCC heard little agreement this week in initial comments (see 2409100048). Absent extension, replies are due Sept. 23. “Given the importance of this proceeding” delaying the proceeding would be “harmful to consumers and competitive providers,” the three groups said in a filing posted Friday in docket 24-186: “This proceeding does not have an overwhelming number of comments or technical components to review, which makes the record here manageable to respond to by the current reply comment deadline.” T-Mobile, CCA’s largest member, supported the extension. “The proposed rule would have a significant impact on wireless providers’ business operations and impact important Commission policy objectives concerning digital equity and national security,” T-Mobile said. The “modest” extension that CCA is seeking “would facilitate a more robust round of reply comments that will allow the Commission to make a better-informed decision considering the potential significant impact of its proposed rules,” the carrier said. CCA said the FCC “should ensure all interested parties have sufficient time to meaningfully participate in this proceeding and extend the reply comment deadline to ensure the development of a fulsome and robust record.” If granted, the new deadline would be Oct. 8. Meanwhile, T-Mobile representatives met this week with FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks to raise legal objections to the proposed rules, the same questions that have permeated many FCC proceedings in the wake of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Two years ago, SCOTUS elaborated on a new major questions test for weighing agency decisions in West Virginia v. EPA (see 2206300066). “While well-meaning, the proposed rule would hamper carriers’ ability to offer installment plans -- thereby harming competition and consumer choice, particularly for low-income consumers,” T-Mobile said: “Furthermore, the Commission fails to point to specific statutory authorization for an unlocking mandate," which "would have profound economic consequences, thus raising a ‘major question’ that would require clear statutory authority from Congress.”

NextNav received support from the California Fire Chiefs Association for its controversial proposal that would reconfigure the 902-928 MHz band, enabling a terrestrial “complement” to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services (see 2409060046). “We have firsthand experience with degradation of GPS due to the ‘urban canyons’ and dense environment we cover, a problem that is ideally resolved by a terrestrial PNT service of this type proposed,” the group said in a filing posted Friday in docket 24-240. Reply comments are due at the FCC this week.

The FCC on Friday asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to dismiss on procedural grounds Maurine and Matthew Molak's petition seeking review of a commission order from July that lets schools and libraries use E-rate support for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots and wireless internet services (see 2407180024). Lawyers defending the order had predicted the FCC would take that step because the agency hasn’t yet addressed a petition by the Molaks seeking reconsideration of the order (see 2408300027). “This Court’s jurisdiction to review FCC orders under the Hobbs Act is limited to specified ‘final orders’” of the FCC, the commission said in docket 24-604460. “For purposes of Hobbs Act review, it is well settled that ‘a motion to reconsider renders the underlying order nonfinal’ as to the party that sought reconsideration,” the agency said: That rule “avoids ‘wasting judicial resources’ … without compromising petitioners’ ability to seek judicial review of a subsequent final order.” The Molaks' son died by suicide aged 16 after he was cyberbullied. The couple previously challenged the FCC’s Oct. 25 declaratory ruling that authorizes school bus Wi-Fi, also in the 5th Circuit, widely viewed as the most conservative of the federal circuits (see 2312200051). It's expected that judges will hear the case in November.

Many of the suggested ways of dealing with harms related to social media and smartphones are questionable under the First Amendment, and a scholarly effort is needed to find solutions, Steven Collis blogged Thursday. The founding faculty director of the University of Texas at Austin's Bech-Loughlin First Amendment Center said a better understanding of related problems is needed, such as the dopamine rush that comes with reading and commenting on smartphone posts.

T-Mobile asked the FCC for permission to use information from the E.U.’s Galileo system “in conjunction” with U.S. GPS to provide 911 location information. The company satisfied FCC conditions for commercial mobile radio service providers “to receive authorization to use information derived from Galileo signals to improve its 911 location services,” according to a filing posted Thursday in docket 07-114. “More importantly, grant of the requested authorization would serve the public interest by increasing the availability, accuracy, and reliability of T-Mobile’s 911 location services, which will better help emergency responders quickly find and assist 911 callers, potentially saving callers’ lives,” T-Mobile said. The commission has recognized that “supplementing GPS with Galileo … signals can increase the availability, accuracy, and reliability of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing services,” the carrier added.

The BWI Business Partnership urged the FCC not to grant the FirstNet Authority effective control of the 4.9 GHz band. “The FCC’s current 4.9 GHz regulations allow effective communication by public-safety agencies and their partners in Howard County, Anne Arundel County, and throughout Maryland,” the partnership said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 07-100.

Some of the world’s largest carriers, including AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon in the U.S., working with Ericsson, unveiled a venture Thursday that will “combine and sell” network application programming interfaces (APIs) “on a global scale.” Today’s networks “have advanced and intelligent capabilities, which have historically been inaccessible to developers,” said an Ericsson news release: “It has been impractical for developers to integrate the different capabilities of hundreds of individual telecom operators. The newly formed company will combine network APIs globally.” The venture is targeting hyperscalers, communications platform as a service providers, system integrators and independent software vendors, the release said.

T-Mobile US and Lycamobile USA told the FCC they settled a lawsuit in a state court in King County, Washington. T-Mobile sued Lycamobile, saying it accidentally undercharged the company for more than a year for access to its network. The lawsuit was referenced in objections Lycamobile made to T-Mobile’s buy of Mint Mobile, a low-cost prepaid wireless brand, and other assets from Ka’ena (see 2405200031). The filing was posted on Thursday in docket 23-171.

Working with Starlink last week, T-Mobile successfully transmitted and received a wireless emergency alert via satellite for the first time in the U.S., the carrier said Wednesday. “The breakthrough opens up the 500,000 square miles of lightly populated, mountainous and/or uninhabitable land across the country to critical, life-saving emergency alerts,” T-Mobile said: The test alert “was sent 217 miles into space where it was received by one of the more than 175 Starlink direct-to-smartphone satellites currently in low-earth orbit that effectively function as cell towers in space.” The process took only seconds to complete, the carrier said.