APCO representatives met with aides to the FCC commissioners, except Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, on the public safety group's top issues. Among the topics was the 6 GHz band, said a filing posted Tuesday in 18-295 and other dockets. “APCO remains concerned that the expansion of unlicensed devices in the 6 GHz band presents a substantial threat of interference to public safety,” it said: “Real-world testing has raised doubts over the technical assumptions underlying the Commission’s decision to open the band.” APCO also remains concerned about wireless 911 location accuracy. “Further Commission action is needed to improve the transparency and reliability of testing to evaluate location technologies and to provide stronger requirements for carriers to deploy methods, several of which are feasible today, to derive dispatchable location,” APCO said.

Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg offered more clarity Tuesday about the carrier’s view of its spectrum needs. The wireless industry eventually will need more licensed spectrum for the U.S. to remain “competitive” with other markets, particularly Asia, Vestberg said during a J.P. Morgan financial conference. “You need predictability, you need ownership, you need spectrum” to justify investments, he said. Like Sowmyanarayan Sampath, Verizon Consumer Group CEO, who mentioned the issue last week (see 2405140055), Vestberg said the company doesn’t face short-term needs, with an average of 161 MHz of C-band in markets nationwide, about half of which is now in use. “I sit really good on the 161 MHz of C-band that we bought,” he said. On another issue, Vestberg said the end of the affordable connectivity program is bad news. The program “is very important for the U.S. economy,” he added. Verizon has about 1.1 million customers receiving ACP funding, he said. Low-income families “should have a possibility to have broadband wireless,” he said, noting other Verizon programs can serve them. Vestberg also said the wireless industry's importance is “sort of underestimated.” Wireless and broadband “are two of the most essential and critical services for people, for organizations, for companies,” he said. People need broadband to work, for education, to access healthcare and to “have some joy in life,” he said. Vestberg said network slicing will be critical to the launch of private networks. Slicing will allow the setup of a private network “probably 10 times faster than … today, because today I need to break out part of the radio network and part of the core network,” he said: “In the future, I can just do a slice and I can probably do it in hours.”

Viaero Wireless asked the FCC for a six-month extension of the July 27 deadline to remove, replace and dispose Chinese equipment from its network. “As a small, rural operation, we lack the financial resources to complete the project with Congress having provided only 40% of the funds needed to complete the project,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-89.

Bentina Terry, new president-CEO of Southern Linc, and other company representatives completed a round of meetings with FCC commissioners, speaking with Commissioner Nathan Simington and an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, according to a filing posted last week in various dockets. They earlier spoke with the other commissioners to discuss utilities' needs for secure communications (see 2405100015).

The National Emergency Number Association told the FCC its members have been overwhelmed by the number of notifications they are receiving under new reporting rules (see 2401250015). NENA representatives met with staff from the Public Safety Bureau, said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-89. “The volume of notifications makes the notification process unhelpful … as there are too many notifications" for public safety answering points "to make meaningful operational decisions for notifications that may or may not apply to them,” NENA said: “Notifications may cover all PSAPs for a very large area, such as multiple states, without geospatial or other information to communicate the exact scope of the notification or whether the PSAP should act on it.”

Lycamobile USA, which opposed T-Mobile’s proposed buy of Mint Mobile and other assets from Ka’ena, met with FCC officials about the buyer's alleged anticompetitive behavior. Among those who met with representatives of Lycamobile was Wireless Bureau Chief Joel Taubenblatt. Many details of the complaint were redacted from a filing, made Friday in docket 23-171. “The totality of T-Mobile’s conduct points to an attempt to lessen competition” in the mobile virtual network operator “space,” Lycamobile said: The “ultimate consequence is less competitive discipline on market participants, leading to higher prices and/or lower quality for consumers.” Lycamobile has been in a business dispute with T-Mobile (see 2404180023). T-Mobile didn't comment Monday.

Ericsson will make an additional $50 million investment in its USA 5G Smart Factory in Lewisville, Texas, the company said Monday. Ericsson said it has already invested $100 million. The factory “ensures we are working closely to secure fast and agile deliveries to meet US customer requirements, and it has been exciting to see the growth and innovation of our state-of-the-art facility in just a few short years,” said Yossi Cohen, president of Ericsson North America. Ericsson is accelerating production of advanced massive multiple-input and multiple-output radios and its radio access network compute platform, “all proudly made in the USA,” he said.

A new Government Accountability Office report highlights reauthorization of the FirstNet network as offering financial benefits. “Congress should consider reauthorizing FirstNet, including different options for its placement, and ensure key statutory and contract responsibilities are addressed before current authorities sunset in 2027,” said GAO’s annual report, released last week. The report cited potential benefits from FirstNet of $15 billion over 15 years.

Keysight Technologies asked for a waiver allowing it to market cellular vehicle-to-everything technology in the 5.9 GHz band, pending final rules for the band. It wants to market technology for roadside and onboard units “serving the public interest by enhancing roadway safety,” said a filing Friday in docket 19-138. Keysight said it’s designing C-V2X products through a German subsidiary at a plant there. “There is good cause to grant the waiver requested here, as doing so is both in the public interest given benefits of the technology and in line with prior decisions allowing operations under waiver of the same rules,” Keysight said.

The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment Friday on a GeoLinks request that it be allowed to give up some local multipoint distribution service (LMDS) licenses in return for others from the commission’s inventory. GeoLinks proposes to use federal funding to serve some 47,000 locations across Arizona, California and Nevada that now lack access to high-speed broadband. The request involves 51 LMDS licenses that GeoLinks holds -- nine A-block and 42 B-block. Under GeoLinks’ proposal, 32 of the licenses would be modified, and 19 relinquished. “GeoLinks’ current LMDS holdings and the Commission’s unassigned LMDS licenses in inventory are both geographically scattered across the country, which has given rise to a fragmented band map that is underdeveloped, difficult to fully utilize, and less attractive to potential market entrants,” GeoLinks said in a March filing. GeoLinks said it would give up more licenses, markets and MHz-POPs than it would receive but consolidate license blocks “gaining contiguous markets that will result in more efficient and economic deployment targeted to rural and underserved areas in GeoLinks’ core service areas.” Comments are due June 17, replies July 2, in docket 24-150.