AT&T supports supplemental coverage from space, provided terrestrial wireless is protected, the carrier said in a meeting with FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology staffers. “AT&T emphasized its longstanding support for the concept of using space-based solutions to provide supplemental connectivity for wireless subscribers,” said a filing, posted Tuesday in docket 23-65: “AT&T agrees with the overarching concept in the NPRM that there needs to be a lease agreement in place between an SCS operator and its terrestrial partner in order to authorize SCS.”

The FCC Public Safety Bureau approved a request by the Huron County, Ohio, Emergency Management Agency for a wireless emergency alert test March 19. The agency notes in its waiver requests the county has suffered train derailments and incidents of bad weather and wants to ensure it can “alert the large number of tourists” expected for the April 8 “Great North American Eclipse,” the bureau said Tuesday. “We are persuaded it is in the public interest to allow Huron County to conduct a test of its WEA capabilities,” the bureau said in docket 15-91: “Such testing will not only provide needed training, it will help Huron County to gain confidence in using its WEA capabilities.”

The Wright State University Foundation, altafiber and Nokia opened a 5G test lab in Fairborn, Ohio, known as Studio 5G, according to a Tuesday news release. The lab provides “a hands-on environment to educate businesses about indoor and outdoor 4G and 5G technology” increasingly used in private networks, the release said: “Private wireless 5G technology, like LTE, provides more coverage with greater reliability, deeper penetration with lower latency, and is more secure than typical Wi-Fi networks deployed today.”

AT&T's application programmable interfaces (APIs) accelerator program is open for business, AT&T said Tuesday. “Our vision is to give you access to a selection of production and experimental Network APIs in a space where you can explore their benefits and technical performance at scale; develop solutions backed by the power of our network; and build the future we’ve all dreamt of,” said Stephanie Ormston, AT&T assistant vice president-technology and digital services integration. “For developers, think of it as a new and more powerful way of developing apps,” she said.

The Wireless ISP Association is asking NTIA to finish its study of the 37 GHz band within three months so that the FCC “can complete its work to make the spectrum available as soon as possible for rural broadband deployment and other purposes.” The 37.0-37.6 GHz band was one of five bands targeted for further study in the national spectrum strategy (see 2311130048). “In addition to fostering American innovation and technical leadership,” the band “can promote rural broadband deployment,” WISPA said. “Accelerating” a study of the band “will allow the FCC to implement a non-exclusive licensing scheme that promotes shared use and deployment among federal and commercial users, while providing federal users with protection from harmful interference,” the group said.

Tracfone Wireless on Friday unveiled service plans that offer discounts for customers who pay in advance for longer periods of service. The Verizon subsidiary is offering discounts for three-month, six-month and annual unlimited plans, available to current and new subscribers. “With Tracfone’s new Extended Service Plans, customers who buy more save more,” the company said: “Options for an annual plan with data start at $192, which is like paying $16 a month over the 12 months,” it said about a plan with 2 GB of data. That’s a 20% savings over a monthly plan, said Tracfone. While Verizon added postpaid subscribers in Q4, it reported 289,000 wireless retail prepaid net losses across its prepaid businesses (see 2401230071).

Representatives of LG Electronics USA said the FCC’s proposed cyber trust mark program should include self-attestation by participants and “maximize device manufacturer participation,” in a meeting with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “The Commission should limit the scope of the program to IoT devices and other integrated components of the device, such as built-in software, over which the manufacturer can reasonably exert control; it should not expand the scope of the program to include a broader ‘product’ ecosystem that the IoT device manufacturer cannot control,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 23-239.

T-Mobile said Thursday it bested its previous record uplink speed, hitting 345 Mbps on its 5G stand-alone network, using a new technology -- uplink transmit (UL Tx) switching. That’s the fastest speed recorded in North America “using sub-6 GHz spectrum and it demonstrates the technology’s potential to revolutionize the way data is transmitted from mobile devices to the network,” T-Mobile said. The carrier describes UL Tx as “a groundbreaking technology that enables seamless switching and a combination of different frequencies, effectively creating more uplink capacity and higher uplink speed.” Its previous record was 275 Mbps.

The FCC Thursday launched its enhanced competition incentive program (ECIP), which commissioners approved 4-0 in July 2022 (see 2207140055). The order was approved in response to provisions in the Mobile Now Act, enacted in 2018 (see 2203310036). ECIP “incentivizes wireless licensees to make underutilized spectrum available to small carriers, Tribal Nations, and entities serving rural areas in furtherance of the Commission’s ‘100 percent broadband policy,’” said an FCC news release. The Wireless Bureau will now accept applications for the program, the commission said.

Wireless ISPs are interested in the lower 12 GHz band and need “additional spectrum for fixed point-to-point and point-to-multipoint services, especially in rural areas that may lack sufficient access to broadband,” WISPA told an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The association urged that the FCC make the band available, where possible, “on a secondary and opportunistic basis governed by automated frequency coordination” in areas where multichannel video distribution and data service spectrum is in use and to protect direct broadcast satellite operations, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 20-443. “Under this approach, incumbent MVDDS [providers] would be able to expand their operations in their licensed areas with the AFC ensuring interference protection from secondary users under standards adopted by industry stakeholders,” WISPA said. The group urged “a similar spectrum access model” for the adjacent 12.7-13.25 GHz band. DirecTV representatives, meanwhile, spoke with an aide to FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington to refute the latest Dish Network report on safe use of fixed wireless in the lower 12 GHz band (see 2312270045). The representatives discussed the band's importance “for delivery of video to millions of subscribers” nationwide, the company said.