Arlington County (Virginia) Emergency Communications filed in support of NextNav’s plan (see 2508250055) to use the lower 900 MHz band for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT). A terrestrial GPS solution that offers accurate PNT “which can penetrate multi-level structures in dense urban environments would need to operate in the Lower 900 MHz Band frequency range that NextNav has petitioned for,” said a filing posted this week in docket 25-110. A terrestrial solution would “improve navigation in urban canyons created by high rise structures ... ensuring the routes are accurate and most expeditious for responders.”
T-Mobile is making a number of changes at the top of its senior leadership team, the carrier said in a filing this week at the SEC. Board member Andre Almeida is leaving that role to become president of growth and emerging businesses, effective Monday. As such, he “will oversee the Company’s broadband, T-Ads, financial services, enterprise and government businesses,” T-Mobile said. Callie Field, president of the business group, is leaving Sept. 30 but will remain as an adviser through March.
Carriers must continue following the FCC’s 2024 data breach rules after a recent U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decision upholding a fine against T-Mobile, lawyers at Akin said Monday (see 2508150044).
The FCC Wireless Bureau on Tuesday extended for two years a temporary waiver that allows use of the interim volume control testing method for hearing-aid compatibility (HAC) compliance. The waiver will now expire Sept. 29, 2027. The extension was requested by CTIA and had the support of industry commenters (see 2507210008). Groups representing consumers said any additional waiver must be limited and come with “safeguards and guardrails.” The bureau is requiring CTIA, in coordination with the Telecommunications Industry Association, to file two reports updating the FCC on their progress toward a permanent solution.
NTIA will host a spectrum policy symposium in Washington on Sept. 10, said a notice for Tuesday’s Federal Register. “Panelists are expected to include participants from the Executive Office of the President, the FCC, Executive Branch agencies, and leading wireless and satellite companies,” it said. The event will start at 9:30 a.m. at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.
Motorola Solutions asked the FCC to lift its 2018 900 MHz band freeze, countering arguments by Anterix that the freeze should be maintained. Anterix had a proposal before the agency asking it to authorize 5/5 MHz broadband deployments in the band (see 2405210041). The freeze “no longer serves its intended purpose,” Motorola Solutions said in a filing posted Monday in docket 24-99. “The freeze also imposes significant burdens on the maintenance and expansion of narrowband networks used to power critical emergency and public safety communications and deters new investment in narrowband technologies.”
The FCC Wireless Bureau agreed to “long-term de facto transfer leasing arrangements” in which AT&T and FTC Management will lease spectrum to each other, mainly in the 3.45 GHz band, in markets in South Carolina. The bureau also approved a waiver for the companies to exceed the 40 MHz aggregation limit on 3.45 GHz spectrum in some of the markets. “We find that the proposed transaction has a low likelihood of competitive harm and would serve the public interest, convenience and necessity,” said an order in docket 25-138 in Friday’s Daily Digest.
T-Mobile representatives met with FCC staff to discuss the “drive test data” that the company submitted with its annual progress report, required as part of its purchase of Sprint. “T‑Mobile also identified the software used to calculate low-, medium-, and high-intensity developed areas in large rural census blocks as part of the selection of additional testing locations in these areas,” said a filing Friday in docket 22-211. The slides from T-Mobile’s presentation to staff were redacted in the filing.
A coalition opposed to T-Mobile’s purchase of wireless assets from UScellular spoke with aides to FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez about its challenge to a Wireless Bureau order approving the deal. Gomez has said commissioners should have been asked to vote on it (see 2507310041). Representatives from the Rural Wireless Association, Open Technology Institute at New America and Communications Workers of America were present, according to a filing posted Friday in docket 24-286.
The Wireless Infrastructure Association urged the FCC to move forward on a proposal in a January NPRM seeking comment on a voluntary, negotiation-based process to transition 10 MHz in the 900 MHz band to broadband (see 2505190025). The proposal is consistent with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s "Build America Agenda,” and the record “shows overwhelming support for the proposal,” said a filing Thursday in docket 24-99. “This proposal is particularly timely as the nation looks at ways to improve the reliability and capacity of utility networks to power revolutions in AI technologies.”