NTCA told the FCC that initial comments agree on the need for “a flexible approach to implementation” of the Alaska Connect Fund (ACF), which “accommodates the individualized circumstances faced by operators in a state that the Commission itself has long recognized as presenting unique challenges” for ISPs. Commissioners approved the ACF in November (see 2411050002), along with a Further NPRM on mobile and fixed wireless issues. “The record also supports deferring consideration of several questions raised by the FNPRM until related mapping and other issues are resolved, and avoiding as well Tribal consent rules that may disturb existing, successful engagement practices,” NTCA said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 23-328.

NextNav filed at the FCC a new engineering report on interference issues raised by the company’s proposal that the FCC reconfigure the 902-928 MHz band “to enable a high-quality, terrestrial complement” to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing services (see 2404160043). “NextNav undertook this analysis in response to claims in the record that allowing 5G deployment in the 902-928 MHz band could cause unacceptable levels of interference to unlicensed Part 15 devices,” said the report, filed last week in docket 24-240.

The Ecommerce Innovation Alliance and other petitioners asked the FCC to issue a declaratory ruling finding that people who provide prior express written consent to receive text messages cannot claim damages under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for messages received outside the hours of 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. “The TCPA, while intended to shield consumers from unwanted calls and texts, has become a weapon for opportunistic litigators,” said a petition posted Monday in docket 02-278. A single law firm based in Florida, “through aggressive social media campaigns, actively recruits plaintiffs to file TCPA lawsuits based on a misapplication of the law,” the petition said: “They lure individuals with promises of money and false claims that all messages delivered during Quiet Hours are ‘illegal texts’ and boast about recovering ‘millions of dollars’ under the TCPA.” Among those signing on to the petition were Sand Cloud Holdings, Spyder Lifestyle Strategies and ModWash.

Comments are due at the FCC April 3 regarding privacy issues stemming from potential georouting of texts being sent to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. In a notice in Tuesday's Federal Register, the FCC Wireline Bureau said that feedback it received in the 988 text georouting proceeding (see 2501100033) raised privacy issues. It said it wanted to obtain a more comprehensive record and was seeking comment on such issues as privacy implications raised by the different text-to-988 georouting solutions discussed in the proceeding. Reply comments are due April 18. Filings are to be made in docket 18-336.

The FCC posted Friday its notice of inquiry concerning the upper C band and the NPRM asking questions in preparation for an AWS-3 auction, both of which commissioners approved 4-0 on Thursday (see 2502270042). As indicated during the meeting, the NPRM now contains a section on a possible tribal priority window that wasn’t proposed in the draft.

Keysight Technologies and Ericsson announced Friday that they’re collaborating on pre-6G radio access tests for centimeter-wave frequencies. Frequencies between 7 and 15 GHz “are especially attractive due to the availability of large bandwidths and the promise of improved coverage in addition to the higher frequency millimeter wave bands,” the companies said. “These characteristics make cmWave well-suited for the high data rate, low latency applications 6G aims to enable.” They also said deploying the frequencies “presents challenges, such as spectrum-sharing and coexistence, as well as the need for advanced multiple input multiple output techniques to compensate for the increased path loss compared to today’s sub-6GHz networks.”

CTIA President Meredith Baker welcomed FCC approval Thursday of a notice of inquiry on the upper C band (see 2502270042). “This is the kind of swift action we need on spectrum in order to meet skyrocketing consumer demands for wireless data and to secure our global technology leadership,” Baker said: “Other countries have allocated significantly more licensed mid-band spectrum for 5G services, jeopardizing our economic competitiveness abroad. Making Upper C-band available for 5G services will strengthen our nation’s wireless networks, drive innovation, and create jobs at home.” Baker also called on Congress to renew FCC auction authority.

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has granted a U.S. request for an interlocutory appeal of the court's November decision to partially reject the U.S.'s motion to dismiss Ligado's L-band lawsuit (see 2411180023). In a docket 23-1797 order Friday, Senior Judge Edward Damich said he was staying the Ligado litigation proceeding pending the appeal. Ligado alleges that DOD is infringing on the company's L-band spectrum rights and that it manufactured concerns about possible interference with GPS as a cover-up (see 2310130004). The appeal "was expected as it provides the defendants their only recourse against the court’s ruling last year on their motion to dismiss," Ligado said. It added that it "welcomes the opportunity to get a definitive legal ruling from the appellate court on the strength of its takings claims and to continue its efforts to receive just compensation from the government.”

T-Mobile filed a heavily redacted further response to a series of questions the FCC posed in December about the company’s proposed buy of “substantially all” of UScellular’s wireless operations, including some of its spectrum, in a deal valued at $4.4 billion (see 2412270031). In response to questions on deployment incentives, T-Mobile told the FCC it doesn’t “provide incentives for consumers to subscribe to its fixed wireless service offerings.” The carrier “focuses on providing consumers with reliable service and extended value across a variety of strongly competitive subscription offerings in the nationwide in-home broadband marketplace.” T-Mobile noted that it’s now the nation’s “fifth largest and fastest-growing” ISP. Most data was redacted from the filing last week in docket 24-286.

5G Americas outlined some of the most likely use cases for non-terrestrial networks (NTN) as part of 5G. Those uses include remote and rural connectivity, maritime and aviation communications, disaster recovery and emergency response, and IoT and asset tracking, said a paper released Thursday. “The technological advances in the space and satellite communications industry and their integration with terrestrial telecommunications networks will play a significant role in shaping the future of connectivity,” the paper said, noting that telecom revenue via wholesale satellite partnerships is expected to exceed $28 billion by 2030. “Spectrum-sharing mechanisms, including carrier aggregation, are being explored to ensure harmonious coexistence between terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks,” 5G Americas said: “NTN standardization efforts are also progressing with upcoming advancements in [3rd Generation Partnership Project] Release 19 that will drive further improvements in satellite payloads, mobility management, and network slicing, making NTN more efficient and scalable.”