T-Mobile anticipates having 12 million home internet customers by 2028, CEO Mike Sievert said Wednesday during the company’s Capital Markets Day. The company added 406,000 fixed wireless subscribers in Q2 (see 2407310040) and plans to cover as many as 15 million homes with fiber, based on its current agreements with other companies. It will cover more homes if it makes additional investments, he said. Sievert noted this was the company’s first such event since March 2021, when it was virtual because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2018, when T-Mobile announced its buy of Sprint, it was “dead last in the 4G LTE era without a lot of runway for growth,” he said. But T-Mobile was the first of the major carriers to recognize the importance of mid-band spectrum for 5G. T-Mobile has the most and highest-quality spectrum of any U.S. carrier “and will have for years to come,” he said. Sievert noted that T-Mobile also has the densest network as a benefit of the Sprint buy and an after-effect of the days when the carrier didn’t have low-band spectrum and needed more towers. “The next three or four years will not only continue but actually extend and accelerate our success,” Sievert said: “This is an entrepreneurial team that acts very quickly.” T-Mobile expects it will generate $80 billion in cash between now and 2027. The first $10 billion will pay for already announced transactions and $50 billion will be returned to shareholders. That leaves $20 billion, some of which could go to further investments. “That’s incredible flexibility.” Among the announcements T-Mobile made Wednesday (see 2409180018), the carrier said it's using its 5G stand-alone network to offer first responders priority access through network slicing under a new T-Priority offering. “The network slice ensures first responders get lower latency and faster 5G speeds more consistently, and it also gives them the highest priority across every single 5G band, even in times of extreme congestion,” said a news release. T-Mobile said its first major customer is New York City.

T-Mobile on Wednesday unveiled a collaboration with Nvidia, Ericsson and Nokia that will “design and drive the future” of mobile wireless networks “with AI at the center.” An AI-based radio access network “will dramatically improve customers’ real-world network experiences and ever-growing demand for increased speeds, reduced latency, and increased reliability needed for the latest gaming, video, social media and augmented reality applications they like to enjoy on their mobile and fixed wireless devices,” T-Mobile said. AI-RAN will “leverage” billions of data points to develop algorithms “that determine optimal network adjustments for maximum performance and to predict real-time capacity where customers need it.” AI will also “supercharge mobile network infrastructure” to simultaneously run third-party AI application workloads at the network’s edge. The companies are founding members of the AI-RAN Alliance and are building an AI-RAN Innovation Center in Bellevue, Washington.

Bill Tolpegin, CEO of Aura Network Systems, spoke with an aide to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks on the company’s 2021 request for a rulemaking on expanding the use of air-ground radiotelephone service channels between 454.675-454.975 MHz and 459.675-459.975 MHz for voice and data communications, including by drones (see 2109230049). Aura’s nationwide network “is ideally suited to meet the near-term need for spectrum for networked [command and control] services that will allow uncrewed aircraft to safely fly beyond visual line of sight in controlled airspace,” said a filing posted Tuesday in RM-11912.

AT&T agreed to pay $13 million and strengthen its data retention practices to settle an FCC Enforcement Bureau investigation into the integrity of the carrier’s supply chain and “whether it failed to protect the information of AT&T customers in connection with a data breach of a vendor’s cloud environment,” said a Tuesday news release from the FCC. The agency refers only to “Vendor X.” In January 2023, the vendor “suffered a data breach that exposed information” of nearly 9 million AT&T wireless customers, according to a consent decree. “AT&T failed to ensure the vendor: (1) adequately protected the customer information, and (2) returned or destroyed it as required by contract,” the FCC said. “The Communications Act makes clear that carriers have a duty to protect the privacy and security of consumer data, and that responsibility takes on new meaning for digital age data breaches,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Protecting customer data is a top AT&T priority, a spokesperson said in an email. “A vendor we previously used experienced a security incident last year that exposed data pertaining to some of our wireless customers,” the spokesperson said: Though AT&T systems weren’t compromised “we’re making enhancements to how we manage customer information internally, as well as implementing new requirements on our vendors’ data management practices.”

The FCC’s Broadband Data Task Force and Office of Engineering and Technology sought comment Tuesday on an application for approval of a Georgia Institute of Technology third-party mobile speed test app for use in the FCC’s broadband data collection mobile challenge process. Comments are due Oct. 17, replies Nov. 1, in docket 24-2. “We note that Georgia Tech has submitted only a beta version of the app, and has not made a production version of the app available for download,” said an FCC notice: “Any approval of the CellWatch v1.0 app by OET will be conditional and subject to submission of the production version of the app and review by OET to ensure that it complies with applicable technical requirements.”

T-Mobile and UScellular jointly filed data at the FCC about their spectrum holdings, broken down on a cellular market area (CMA) basis. The filings were posted Tuesday in docket 24-286, one day after the companies filed a public interest statement and other documents about T-Mobile’s proposed buy of “substantially all” of the smaller carrier’s wireless operations, including some spectrum (see 2409160029). “Based on the FCC’s criterion, out of these 157 CMAs, there are 33 CMAs where T-Mobile or UScellular (or both) are considered to lack a competitive presence,” they said. AT&T has a “competitive presence” in each of the 124 CMAs T-Mobile or UScellular serve and Verizon [has] a competitive presence in 116, according to the filings (see here and here). “Based on this analysis, it should be evident that robust competition will continue to exist in all CMAs overlapped by the proposed transaction.”

CTIA representatives believe the FCC should reconsider proposed rules requiring blocking texts, set for a vote at the commissioners' Sept. 26 open meeting (see 2409050045). In a filing Tuesday, CTIA reported on a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Nathan Simington. “The wireless ecosystem’s efforts to combat spam and scam text messages are working, as evidenced by the significant drop in consumer complaints reported over the last few years,” said the filing posted in docket 21-402 : “The best way the Commission can protect consumers from spam and scam texts is to pursue enforcement actions against bad actors, either directly or through partnerships with other law enforcement agencies.” CTIA made similar points in a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Brendan Carr before the order was circulated (see 2409060055).

Samsung Electronics America representatives met with FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel about the company’s request for a waiver on a 5G base station radio that works across citizens broadband radio service and C-band spectrum (see 2309130041). “Samsung emphasized its dedication to the success of CBRS in the United States,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 23-93. “The proposed device -- which has been before the Commission for over two years -- would simply enable operators to deploy one radio where they would otherwise deploy two radios with substantially similar performance characteristics,” Samsung said.

Comments are due Oct. 17, replies Nov. 1, on whether to require a winning bidder in the 5G Fund Phase I auction to show during the long-form application process that it has obtained the consent of the relevant tribal government for any necessary access to deploy network facilities using funds from the program, said a notice for Tuesday’s Federal Register. FCC commissioners approved 4-1 a Further NPRM on tribal issues along with an order on the fund in August (see 2408290041). Commissioner Brendan Carr dissented. “In seeking comment on this issue, the Commission asks commenters to provide input on how it can best assess an applicant’s eligibility to be authorized to receive 5G Fund support for the purpose of deploying network facilities that would enable 5G mobile broadband service located on Tribal lands, while incorporating Tribal government consent into the Commission’s approval process,” the notice says.

Various consumer groups filed Monday in support of the FCC’s proposed handset unlocking mandate (see [Ref:2407180037). “A uniform approach applied across the industry will address this inconsistency, enhance competition, and create regulatory parity,” said a letter in docket 24-186: “A standard should be set after a close review of the record in this matter and with careful consideration of the impact of any obligations adopted by the Commission on various wireless industry segments.” Among the groups endorsing the filing were the 60 Plus Association, the American Consumer Institute, the Institute for Policy Innovation and the Institute for Technology and Network Economics. They called for a “common-sense” approach.