EchoStar, parent of Dish Network, said the FCC should use the same designated entity rules in the reauction of AWS-3 that it employed in the original 2014 auction (see 2504020017), according to a filing Tuesday in docket 25-70. EchoStar representatives met with aides to Commissioners Anna Gomez and Olivia Trusty. The agency is slated to vote on auction rules Thursday. Many of the licenses for sale were returned to the FCC by Dish. “If EchoStar will owe deficiency payments as part of the reauction, then the reauction should proceed under the same designated-entity rules as Auction 97,” the company said. “Doing so would avoid impermissible retroactivity and violating EchoStar’s due process rights while encouraging greater participation.”
T-Mobile announced Monday the deployment of low-latency, low-loss, scalable throughput (L4S) capabilities on its 5G stand-alone network. “L4S consistently delivers low latency, minimal packet loss and real-time responsiveness -- even under heavy traffic,” T-Mobile Chief Technology Officer John Saw said in a blog post. “It’s a major step forward for performance-driven use cases where every millisecond matters.” Saw cited examples of L4S use cases, including cloud gaming, video calling, extended reality and remote driving. “It’s already proving valuable in real-world trials.”
GE Healthcare Technologies and the Aerospace and Flight Test Radio Coordinating Council continue to try to "inject needless complexity" into a launch spectrum coordination process that the FCC wants to streamline, SpaceX said in a filing posted Monday (docket 13-115). GEHC and AFTRCC raised concerns about space launch use of the 2360-2395 MHz band (see 2506170053). In response to SpaceX's opposition to an AFTRCC petition, the council said last month that it seeks only limited clarification of the framework that extends space launch services to the upper S band, "not a major revisitation as one reading the Opposition might conclude." In its reply to SpaceX's opposition, GEHC said its petition wouldn't halt launch access to 2360-2395 MHz but would seek "necessary, reasonable safeguards" protecting medical body area networks (MBANs).
The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology on Monday approved a waiver request from Rod Radar allowing its Live Dig Radar to be classified as an ultra-wideband device, consistent with other ground-penetrating radar (GPR) systems. The agency sought comment a year ago (see 2407240052). The company describes the device as providing the first GPR “integrated in an excavator digging bucket capable of informing bucket operators in real-time of underground utilities,” the order said.
PCS Partners (PCSP) asked the FCC to review or reconsider a June 20 order by the Wireless Bureau waiving a limit on multilateration location and monitoring service (M-LMS) spectrum for which Progeny may hold licenses in a market. The bureau had also denied PCSP’s request that the FCC hold Progeny’s request in abeyance “pending comprehensive agency resolution of interrelated proceedings.” The bureau action “continues a pattern of arbitrary, preferential treatment in favor of Progeny, and to the detriment of PCSP, that the Commission should promptly address,” the company said last week in docket 12-202.
Alaska’s Knik Tribe raised concerns about changes proposed by CTIA to how the FCC enforces the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act. A draft NPRM addressing those laws is before commissioners for a vote at the Aug. 7 open meeting (see 2507170048).
If EchoStar is to attract a partnership in the telecommunications space for its mobile network plans, Verizon makes the most sense, mobile analyst Roger Entner said Monday on the Recon Analytics podcast. However, Verizon already has a stable of value brands, he noted. Entner said EchoStar's Boost is gaining customers, though it's not clear whether that marks an actual turnaround or a short-lived "dead cat bounce." The company's 5G stand-alone core is "genius" and "deserves more customers," but EchoStar hasn't successfully articulated the value of it to users. Entner pointed to a report that EchoStar is in discussions with Boost Mobile founder Peter Adderton about some kind of merger of EchoStar's Boost Mobile and Adderton's MobileX. Adderton would be valuable in marketing Boost needs and providing an innovative platform, Entner said, but he's doubtful that Adderton would want to take part.
Opponents of T-Mobile’s purchase of wireless assets from UScellular continue to raise questions following FCC Wireless Bureau approval of the deal (see 2507110045). In a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Olivia Trusty, the Rural Wireless Association, Communications Workers of America, Public Knowledge and New America’s Open Technology Institute said UScellular's transactions with T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T should be looked at together, according to a filing posted Monday in 25-150 and other dockets.
The Safer Buildings Coalition urged the FCC to launch a rulemaking on guidelines for getting consent from licensees to install signal boosters. “Signal boosters are being installed without required frequency licensee consent and in areas where they are not needed, violating FCC Part 90 rules that require express permission and limit deployment to weak signal areas only,” said an undocketed petition posted Monday.
NextNav filed at the FCC a report by the Brattle Group arguing that the 900 MHz band can be used safely to provide positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) as a GPS alternative without harming other band incumbents. The new report, posted Friday in docket 24-240, counters a previous study -- written by Harold Furchtgott-Roth, an economist and former FCC commissioner, and filed by the International Bridge, Tunnel & Turnpike Association -- that raised interference concerns (see 2504300022).