NTIA is asking for “expressions of interest” to serve as a member of the FirstNet Authority board. The Commerce Department also plans to fill a vacancy left when former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms resigned as chair of the board at the start of the current administration (see 2501170064). The board has 12 non-permanent members. Expressions of interest are due June 2, per a notice for Thursday’s Federal Register.

The FCC Space Bureau signed off on a modification of Lynk Global's previous authorization, now allowing it to provide supplemental coverage from space service in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. In the approval Tuesday, the FCC gave the go-ahead to Lynk's use of Docomo Pacific's terrestrially licensed spectrum in the 845.1-845.3 MHz and 890.1-890.3 MHz bands. Lynk Chief Global Affairs Officer Amy Mehlman said the company is "taking great strides on our mission to connect everyone, everywhere, and this approval demonstrates our progress on our strategic roadmap, enabling Lynk and our trusted partner, Docomo, to provide services in parts of the country that are underserved or out of reach from conventional mobile networks.”

The International Bridge, Tunnel & Turnpike Association filed a study at the FCC questioning a NextNav proposal to use the lower 900 MHz band to provide positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) as a GPS alternative. The study -- done by Harold Furchtgott-Roth, an economist and former FCC commissioner -- found that granting the NextNav proposal would force current lower 900 MHz band operations to “suffer interference and relocate into a narrower frequency range" within the band, "relocate to a spectrum band outside the Lower 900 MHz band or discontinue operations altogether.” It was posted Wednesday in docket 24-240.

Deficit reduction is driving spectrum policy and an auction means money for the Treasury, but lawmakers shouldn’t ignore Wi-Fi's growing role, said WifiForward Executive Director Mary Brown during a Broadband Breakfast webinar Wednesday. Brown said she expects action in the House and Senate on spectrum legislation in the next four to 10 weeks, restoring FCC auction authority and identifying some bands for auction. Still to be determined is how specific Congress will be in picking bands and the timelines it will impose, she said.

New CTIA President Ajit Pai, former chairman of the FCC, met with Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Nathan Simington and their aides, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 25-59. Pai previously met with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr (see 2504230015).

One change of note in the 37 GHz order and Further NPRM approved 4-0 on Monday by the FCC (see 2504280032), when compared with the draft version, is the addition of language on the development of a dynamic spectrum management system (DSMS) in the band. The FCC posted the approved item Tuesday. It “does not foreclose the adoption of a DSMS in the future,” the FNPRM now says: “We seek comment on the possibility of replacing the coordination framework we adopt today with a DSMS. What metrics might the Commission use to determine that use of the 37 GHz band has reached sufficient scale to merit further exploration of adopting a DSMS to coordinate use of the band?”

CTIA urged the FCC to schedule an AWS-3 reauction without delay and dismiss calls for a tribal licensing window, according to reply comments on a March public notice on FCC bidding procedures. The record that’s been developed “demonstrates broad support for the Commission’s proposed procedures, including the efficient, time-tested Clock-1 auction format,” CTIA said this week in docket 25-117. In initial comments, the group disagreed sharply with tribal interests that urged a tribal window (see 2504110040).

T-Mobile and UScellular representatives met with FCC staff examining their proposed deal, in which T-Mobile is buying wireless assets, including spectrum, from the smaller carrier for about $4.4 billion, including $2 billion in assumed debt (see 2405280047). The representatives “discussed the timing and status of the … transaction and urged expeditious action,” said a filing Friday in docket 24-286. “They informed FCC staff about UScellular’s steps to relinquish its Eligible Telecommunications Carrier designations in connection with the transaction” and “the status of the various FCC requests for information, documents, and data.”

Wi-Fi advocates on Monday filed at the FCC a study by Plum Consulting countering a recent NextNav engineering study that found no interference concerns with the company’s proposal for the FCC to reconfigure the 902-928 MHz band “to enable a high-quality, terrestrial complement” to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services (see 2503030023).

NCTA and other groups raised concerns about AT&T’s proposed buy of 3.45 GHz licenses from UScellular in comments posted Monday in docket 25-150. “Far from being routine, this waiver would push AT&T to the edge of -- or beyond -- longstanding spectrum thresholds in numerous markets, with broad implications for mid-band spectrum access and wireless market structure nationwide,” NCTA said. The transaction is tied to UScellular's proposed sale of wireless assets, including spectrum, to T-Mobile, which has also proven to be controversial (see 2504150046).