NTIA scheduled a virtual symposium Sept. 22 on spectrum policy and the evolution of technologies for federal spectrum management and sharing, said Friday's Federal Register. The symposium “will focus on developing, implementing and maintaining sustainable, national spectrum policies and spectrum management techniques,” NTIA said. Speakers from the Commerce Department and other agencies, plus the White House, Congress and the private sector are expected. The session is 8:30 a.m. to noon EDT.

President Donald Trump touched briefly on telecom policy during his Thursday speech accepting the Republican Party’s nomination for a second term, as expected (see 2008270051). Trump promised if he’s reelected in November the U.S. “will win the race to 5G, and build the world's best cyber and missile defense.” The Trump campaign Friday again listed 5G development as a second-term agenda item in connection with building a “National High-Speed Wireless Internet Network,” which Trump didn’t speak about Thursday. Officials compared the language, first released Aug. 23 (see 2008240056), to an earlier Rivada Networks proposal for the U.S. government to make spectrum being reserved for 5G available to carriers at wholesale. The Trump campaign spoke in 2019 in favor of the 5G wholesale concept but later walked back the comment amid perceptions that was a form of nationalization (see 1903040058). Trump “will be sharing additional details about his plans through policy-focused speeches on the campaign trail” in the coming weeks, the campaign said. A National Security Council official proposed in 2018 the U.S. build a national 5G network, drawing opposition from across the political spectrum (see 1801290034). Other Republican National Convention speakers, including Trump’s youngest daughter, Tiffany, criticized social media and other tech companies.

The Land Mobile Communications Council sought “expedited FCC action” to address alleged harmful interference from newly authorized DTV stations to Part 90 private land mobile radio (PLMR) systems. “This interference has rendered affected PLMR facilities entirely unusable in certain markets, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars of lost revenue as customers of commercial systems are forced to search for alternative communication options and incurred expenses as licensees have sought remedial action by the broadcasters and/or acquired other spectrum to which their operations could be moved,” said a Friday filing by the group. “The interference with what had been reliable communications endangers the safety of employees, disrupts operations at affected facilities, and poses a major threat to public safety in certain instances,” the council said: “The urgency of the problems demand FCC action to enforce those regulations and policies as promptly as possible and to avoid the creation of similar problems in the future.” The filing cites incidents in major markets from New York to Los Angeles, mostly focused on co-channel interference in the T-band, which is considered the most difficult problem to solve. Enterprise Wireless Alliance President Mark Crosby said in a statement. “Some EWA members are so frustrated that they wonder if the reaction of a few TV stations might be ‘There is nothing we can do; the environment is the root cause; we didn’t want to move in the first place; or, maybe the PLMR incumbents will go away in time and leave us alone,’” he said: “These are unacceptable responses as the PLMR industry is as vital to the well-being of this country as are broadcasters, even if not as well known. The LMCC seeks only a fair hearing and the FCC’s active support towards a resolution.” Fletcher Heald’s Peter Tannenwald told us he has been in the thick of one of the fights for a low-power station. “It is very difficult to determine what the actual facts are, partly because the land mobile people seem to want to be at war, in the sense that they want complete victory more than a compromise resolution, and partly because field observation that you really need to pin down the problem is nearly impossible during the pandemic,” Tannenwald said: “The FCC doesn’t make things any easier, because it talks to both sides ex parte, through different bureaus. Then the Wireless and Media bureaus talk, and we don’t know what goes on between them.” NAB is reviewing the filing, a spokesperson said.

There are 334,791 cable and wireline subscribers without service in the affected areas of the 19 states covered by the FCC’s disaster information reporting system for tropical storms Laura and Marco, said Friday’s DIRS report. Twenty-four FM stations are out of service, plus four TV stations and one AM station, the report said. 911 calls are being rerouted from five public service answering points in Louisiana and Texas, and 2.2 percent of cellsites are down in the affected area.

T-Mobile exercised an option to buy Virginia’s Shenandoah Personal Communications, subject to a dispute on the purchase price, T-Mobile said in a filing at the SEC. The dispute “involves the appraisal framework used to value Shentel,” New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin told investors Thursday. “Assuming the dispute finds a timely resolution, it clears a minor roadblock on the path to unlocking value at New T-Mobile,” he said. Shenandoah parent Shentel has more than 1 million wireless customers and was affiliated with Sprint starting in 1995. Shentel didn’t comment.

The FCC Wireless Bureau approved an American Radio Relay League request for a 30-day waiver to permit amateur data transmissions at a higher symbol rate than permitted under commission rules so amateur operators can assist in hurricane relief. “Hurricane Laura has the potential to cause massive destruction states along the Gulf of Mexico, and communications services will likely be disrupted,” the bureau said in a Thursday order: “The waiver is limited to amateur radio operators in the continental United States using PACTOR 3 and PACTOR 4 emissions who are directly involved with [high-frequency] hurricane relief communications.”

The FCC greatly extended the area covered by the disaster information reporting system for tropical storms Laura and Marco, said a public notice Wednesday. Reports will now cover counties in Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Illinois, along with previously included states Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas. Reports from communications providers in those originally included states and Missouri, Oklahoma and Tennessee were due starting Thursday, while the providers in the rest were to begin submitting reports Friday. The extended coverage was requested by the Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the PN said. There were 192,915 cable and wireline subscribers out of service in the affected areas reporting on Thursday, and 911 calls were being rerouted from two public service answering points in Louisiana and one in Texas that were evacuated, said Thursday’s DIRS report. The report showed 1.3 percent of cellsites down in the affected area, with three TV stations, six FM stations and one AM station out of service.

The FCC Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council will meet virtually Sept. 16, starting at 2 p.m. EDT, the FCC said Wednesday. CSRIC is expected to vote on three reports: on standard operating procedures for emergency alerting communications, on the risks from 3rd Generation Partnership Project releases 15 and 16, and on security risks and best practices for mitigation in legacy, transitional and next-generation 911 deployments, the FCC said.

The CohnReznick team nominated by the search committee as C-band relocation payment clearinghouse is supported by a financial institution, commercial bank Truist, and that's consistent with the C-band clearing order and the clearinghouse request for proposals, per a docket 18-122 ex parte posting Wednesday on a meeting between CohnReznick team members and FCC staff. CohnReznick team members said neither the order nor request for proposal requires a financial institution be a signatory to a clearinghouse agreement. Rival Vertix Consulting has criticized the team for lack of a banking representative (see 2008190045). Speaking with CohnReznick team members included FCC Managing Director Mark Stephens and acting General Counsel Ashley Boizelle.

There are 19,687 cable and wireline subscribers out of service and 911 calls are being rerouted from one public service answering point in areas affected by Tropical Storm Marco and Hurricane Laura, said Wednesday’s FCC’s disaster information reporting system report. Both numbers are increases from Tuesday, when 11,539 subscribers were without service and no PSAPs affected. The number of cellsites down in the affected area -- which includes all of Arkansas and counties in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi near the Arkansas border -- remains 0.4 percent. One FM station in the area is down, the report said.