The FCC signed off Tuesday on T-Mobile and SpaceX's requested waiver of agency equipment authorization rules related to handsets receiving supplemental coverage from space (SCS) service (see 2504090038). In the order (docket 23-65), the Office of Engineering and Technology and Space Bureau said applying the rules would stymie T-Mobile subscribers and first responders from accessing SCS "through no fault of their own, because the holders of equipment authorizations for certain devices have failed to submit requests for waivers to allow those devices to access SCS."

As the subject of two FCC probes, EchoStar has received backing from various industry groups and others, but it also faces new questions about how well it's complying with the terms of its 5G network buildout. That's according to docket 25-173 and 22-212 comments, which were due Tuesday in a pair of public notices: one on whether EchoStar is using the 2 GHz band for mobile satellite service (MSS), consistent with its authorizations, and the other seeking further comment on VTel Wireless' recon petition regarding an extension of EchoStar's 5G network buildout deadlines (see 2505130003).

SpaceX and T-Mobile said Wednesday that the FCC requiring devices compatible with the companies' supplemental coverage from space (SCS) service to be certified under its Part 25 satellite communications rules -- when they're already certified under the agency's terrestrial wireless rules -- is "overly prescriptive." In a docket 23-65 request, they asked the commission to waive rules so consumers can use devices approved as of June 29, 2024, for service under the agency's Parts 22, 24 and 27 rules, without a need for Part 25 certification. They said that under current FCC rules, consumers can't use SCS service unless the maker of their equipment modifies the device's authorization. SpaceX and T-Mobile said making SCS service providers like them block service on a device-by-device basis could create consumer confusion. The June 2024 date relates to when a streamlined certification authorization period for manufacturers went into effect; that ends this June, they said.

As President Donald Trump's administration approaches the end of its second month, many questions remain about what it will do concerning the national spectrum strategy and the studies of the lower 3 and 7/8 GHz band started under former President Joe Biden. Most of the news out of NTIA so far has been about BEAD's future, with little on spectrum.

Cable broadband subscriber losses should moderate this year, with fiber and fixed wireless providers' gains plateauing, LightShed Management wrote Monday. In addition, there could be renewed M&A interest in cable, LightShed said, triggered by slower growth across all connectivity companies and favorable regulatory sentiment. However, none of the three major wireless carriers seems a likely buyer. Moreover, LightShed sees the possibility of a U.S. Supreme Court stay preventing the TikTok divestiture/ban from taking effect Jan. 19. The Trump administration will likely devise terms that safeguard users' data security and mitigate national security concerns. Also expect rollout of a more-robust direct-to-device service via SpaceX and T-Mobile as additional satellites are launched and FCC power restrictions are resolved, it said. LightShed predicted the next FCC will provide a waiver of the power limits. It said with more satellites and higher power, the service could extend to IoT. After the Skydance/Paramount deal closes in the first half, Paramount will likely slash its linear cable network operations, shedding some networks, LightShed predicted, and it will invest those savings into streaming. A Trump administration ban on pharmaceutical advertising on TV could drive TV station group M&A, it added.

Industry groups and ISPs sought several adjustments in FCC requirements on broadband data collection (BDC). Some asked the FCC to permanently remove the rule requiring that a professional engineer (PE) certify availability data. Others sought clarification on the process for providers seeking to restore locations on their availability maps after a challenge process removed such locations. Comments were posted through Tuesday in docket 19-195 (see 2408300036)

Critics of aspects of SpaceX's direct-to-device service continue pressing the FCC. In a docket 23-135 filing Tuesday, AT&T said it supports prompt approval of SpaceX secondary supplemental coverage from space (SCS) service that meets FCC power limits, but opposes the elective power boost that would increase its throughput at the expense of AT&T's primary incumbent terrestrial PCS C-block network. "Secondary service cannot degrade primary service, especially a primary service with the myriad established public interest benefits of terrestrial mobile," AT&T said. An AT&T analysis of how the elective power boost would affect its Tucson, Arizona, PCS C-block network predicts "a devastating" 18% degradation in average downlink throughput due to SpaceX's elective power increase, and in some areas on the network's edge coverage might be out altogether. Verizon challenged T-Mobile's throughput calculations that back granting a waiver of FCC out-of-bound emissions (OOBE) limits (see 2408230013), saying they weren't applicable to SCS service. Omnispace said the 1990-1995 MHz block is allocated for mobile satellite service uplink use both in the U.S. and internationally, and SpaceX has yet to meaningfully address concerns about it using that band for downlinks. It said SpaceX's rebuttal "is more ad hominem than rigorous." The FCC's aggregate OOBE limits in its Part 25 rules don't need relaxing for SCS service, AST SpaceMobile CEO Abel Avellan told Commissioners Geoffrey Starks, Anna Gomez and Nathan Simington, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 20-32. Avellan said AST and numerous mobile network operators (MNO) believe that OOBE levels need to be maintained to protect incumbents' use of spectrum. He said AST will meet aggregate OOBE limits in low- and mid-band spectrum. AST said it has agreements and understandings with more than 45 MNOs with roughly 2.8 billion subscribers. It said its SCS service has a 120 Mbps peak data rate.

SpaceX and European mobile network operators are at odds over the out-of-band emissions waiver SpaceX is seeking for its supplemental coverage from space service (see 2408130008). In a letter to the FCC Space Bureau this week, Vodafone, Orange, Liberty Global, Telefonica, PPF, Telenor and United Group said they were "gravely concerned" about proposed lower safeguards protecting terrestrial MNOs from interference. They said the current aggregate out-of-band emission limit "represents the bare minimum level of protection that mobile network operators require from spurious emissions" in low- and mid-band spectrum. That current limit, they added, "should be regarded as a 'best case,'" as terrestrial MNOs could experience amplified interference when multiple competing direct-to-device satellite systems operate, or an individual D2D operator expands the number of satellites in orbit, prompting more coincident interference. In docket 23-135, SpaceX said the MNOs, all investors in rival D2D operator AST SpaceMobile, are on a "scorched-Earth campaign to hamstring" competition. They "provide zero technical support for their opposition" and don't address SpaceX and T-Mobile technical assessments showing adjacent-band terrestrial networks would be protected, SpaceX said. Nor do they provide any technical support for their "specious" best-case claims, it added. If the best-case claims are correct, SpaceX said, AST operations would cause far more interference to users than the protection level being demanded of SpaceX.

Pushback against SpaceX's request for relaxed out-of-band power flux density limits for its supplemental coverage from space service (see 2408130008) is all about trying to use the regulatory process to block competition, SpaceX and T-Mobile said Friday in docket 23-135. SpaceX said "a familiar cast of wannabe competitors [is advocating] needlessly restrictive technical limits [lacking] support in physics or sound engineering practice." AT&T and Verizon are advocating unnecessarily low power levels for SpaceX/T-Mobile "while giving their own partner AST a free pass," it added. The Dish/EchoStar petition, SpaceX said, is trying to get proprietary information "to aid its own failing ambitions." Meanwhile, Omnispace uses its petition "to prop up a decade-old spectrum play that it fears will lose financial value if American consumers can enjoy ubiquitous mobile connectivity using the PCS G Block downlink." T-Mobile said the other wireless operators' assertions ignore SCS operational realities and rely on faulty engineering analyses, while Omnispace and Dish/EchoStar "miss the point."

SpaceX is facing opposition from wireless and satellite entities over its requested waiver that would allow relaxed out-of-band power flux density limits for the company's proposed supplemental coverage from space service, according to docket 23-135 filings Tuesday. In its June waiver request, SpaceX said its proposed PFD limits would protect adjacent band networks from interference while avoiding too-restrictive limits. Separately, Omnispace petitioned the FCC, urging denial of SpaceX's pending request to add the 340-360 kilometer altitude shells as a deployment option for its SCS service (see 2406210006).