Samsung Electronics America representatives met with aides to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel about the company’s request for a waiver for a 5G base station radio that works across citizens broadband radio service and C-band spectrum (see 2309130041). The company refuted concerns raised about the potential interference threat to CBRS (see 2404090058). Samsung was “the first phone manufacturer to offer a phone operating in CBRS in the United States and a leading supplier of CBRS base stations around the country,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 23-93: “Samsung has every incentive to ensure its proposed radio does not intentionally interfere with its and others’ CBRS radios.” The waiver request “has been pending more than 600 days and is ripe for grant,” the company said.
The Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA) defended its push for assigning 4.9 GHz band spectrum to FirstNet (see 2401190067), in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 07-100. It’s important that the FCC “preserve access to the band for incumbent users, while taking steps to increase nationwide usage as well as leverage the unique characteristics of this mid-band spectrum to supercharge 5G capabilities for a broader array of public safety users,” the PSSA said: Under current rules “the band would remain balkanized and underutilized nationwide -- as it has for more than two decades.” Giving the FirstNet Authority access is “the clear and obvious path to advance the public interest,” the group said.
Eager to win FCC approval of its proposed buy of Mint Mobile (see 2303150032), a low-cost prepaid wireless brand, and other assets from Ka’ena, T-Mobile told the FCC it would agree to a handset unlocking requirement. Public and consumer interest groups have asked the FCC to push for that concession (see 2402060025). “Within 60 days of the closing of the transaction, T-Mobile commits to implement an unlocking policy applicable to all Mint Mobile and Ultra Mobile devices activated on the T-Mobile network both pre- and post-closing,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 23-171. T-Mobile said it views the concession as unnecessary but wants to ensure prompt FCC approval. The company "believes that the public interest benefits of its proposed acquisition of the Mint Mobile and Ultra Mobile wireless brands and their customers are clear and compelling and that no credible competitive concerns have been raised with respect to the proposed transaction,” the filing said. T-Mobile reports quarterly earnings after the close of the financial markets Thursday. “It is good to see progress on the issue, though the voluntary commitments do not quite match what we asked for in the record,” emailed PK Legal Director John Bergmayer. “There are some timing differences,” but the biggest difference is T-Mobile is committing to unlocking Mint Mobile and Ultra Mobile devices, “as opposed to all devices on the T-Mobile network,” he said: “It’s not just Mint customers that would benefit from unlocking, and having a uniform policy would probably be simpler.” It’s “in the public interest to unlock all new devices on T-Mobile’s network, not only the acquired Mint Mobile customers,” said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America: “A uniform policy for all T-Mobile customers would also bring the U.S. closer to the sort of industry-wide unlocking policy that is already required by the regulators in Canada” and the U.K.
The consolidated petitions of 20 industry groups that challenge the FCC’s Nov. 20 order implementing Section 60506 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (see 240319004) do so because the order interprets digital discrimination to mean not only intentional discrimination but also “actions with a disparate impact,” the groups’ brief said Wednesday (docket 24-1179) in the 8th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court in support of their petitions. Disparate-impact liability is "rare," and every "interpretive clue here" confirms that Congress didn't intend to impose it, said the brief that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, CTIA and NCTA and others submitted. The FCC nevertheless has created the “first-ever regime” prohibiting business practices that cause a disparate impact based on income level, it said. The petitioners contend that the rule exceeds the commission’s statutory authority and that the order is arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act, it said. In light of the many "complex and novel questions" presented and the fact that these cases involve two “distinct, nonaligned groups of petitioners,” the industry petitioners ask that the 8th Circuit afford one hour of oral argument time, with the precise division to be determined after the briefing is complete, it said.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court granted the unopposed March 20 motion of Hamilton Relay, a telecommunications relay service (TRS) provider, to intervene in support of the Ohio Telecom Association’s petition for review challenging the FCC’s Dec. 21 order modifying and expanding the commission’s data breach notification rules on telecom carriers, VoIP providers and TRS providers (see 2403210001), said a clerk’s order Wednesday (docket 24-3133). Hamilton provides intrastate and interstate text telephone, speech-to-speech and captioned telephone services in numerous states through individual state TRS contracts, plus nationwide relay service through its internet protocol captioned telephone service, which is regulated by the FCC. Hamilton’s motion said it was entitled to intervene because it was a party of interest in the proceeding leading to the adoption of the order and because the order’s data breach notification rules changes adversely affect its interests.
Instead of considering opening the 1.6/2.4 GHz band to mobile satellite systems, as SpaceX has argued (see 2403270002), the FCC should investigate whether SpaceX should even keep its FCC licenses, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America said Wednesday. If the FCC doesn't revoke the company's licenses, it should restrict CEO Elon Musk's control and management of SpaceX, said UCCA, an umbrella group of Ukrainian-American organizations. "Musk cannot use FCC licenses to militarily aid Russia, a state that is subject to U.S. sanctions," UCCA said. UCCA pointed to SpaceX allegedly refusing a Ukrainian government request to allow the Starlink satellite constellation to be used in Sevastopol to aid in an attack on Russia's fleet and Musk allegedly directing the disability or impediment of Starlink terminal functions that Ukrainian armed forces use. It alleged Musk made Starlink available to the Russian military, as it purchases terminals through other countries, and that its use in Russia-occupied Crimea is allegedly no longer geofenced. Beyond what it called unreliable Starlink service, UCCA said evidence of Musk's "illegal drug use and his erratic behavior is overwhelming." It added, "Simply stated, there is much more than smoke, there is a fireball of evidence that Musk lacks the basic qualifications to remain a Commission licensee." Accordingly, the commission should hold a hearing to determine if Musk can remain an FCC licensee, it said. SpaceX didn't comment. UCCA in 2022 petitioned for a hearing on the licenses of the owners of a Washington, D.C., area station that airs Russia's Radio Sputnik network (see 2203230054).
TikTok will challenge the newly approved “unconstitutional” law forcing ByteDance to sell the platform, it said in a statement Wednesday as President Joe Biden signed the measure.
Representatives from ISPs, trade groups and state governments agreed that the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund reverse auction process was flawed but disagreed about whether or how the agency should grant amnesty to some RDOF participants. “You should not be penalized for circumstances you could not have foreseen,” said Philip Macres of Klein Law Group, representing a coalition of RDOF participants calling for amnesty during a Broadband Breakfast panel Wednesday. Entities seeking amnesty after failing to meet RDOF obligations are just trying “to game the process,” said Republican Missouri state Representative Louis Riggs. “They treated us like a colony, you know-- extract wealth from us, give us nothing in return.”
The FCC Media Bureau granted Mission Broadcasting’s application to buy WADL Detroit Michigan from Adell Broadcasting for $75 million, but with a number of conditions that would bar Nexstar from financing the deal, negotiating retransmission consent for WADL and limiting how much programming Nexstar could provide. If Mission doesn’t accept the conditions, the order says, the deal will be designated for a hearing, traditionally seen as a death sentence for transactions. The Media Bureau is “taking the application the FCC received and substituting it for a new one drafted by the agency,” said FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr in a statement: “That’s not the FCC’s job or role.”
AT&T added 349,000 net postpaid phone customers, which was far better than Wall Street expectations, and saw record low churn in Q1, CEO John Stankey said Wednesday as the carrier reported quarterly results. Stankey apologized for the nationwide wireless outage that hit customers Feb. 22 (see 2402220058). Compared to Verizon, whose shares sunk after it reported results Monday (see 2404220042), AT&T was up 1.88%, closing the day at $16.82.