CTIA asked the FCC to act on its 2019 petition seeking clarity of pole attachment rules under Section 224 of the Communications Act. Representatives of the group met with aides to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Brendan Carr, according to filings posted Wednesday in docket 17-84. “As wireless providers continue to build out and enhance 5G networks nationwide, access to existing poles -- including light poles -- is critical,” CTIA said: “However, uncertainty exists today as to the application of Section 224 to light poles, which continues to impede their use and hamper wireless providers’ ability to increase capacity in their networks to meet ever-growing data demands and expand competitive home broadband offerings.”

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.”

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).

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.”

The FCC's out-of-band emissions (OOBE) limits in the PCS G Block will particularly hurt direct-to-device (D2D) real-time communications, making them unreliable in emergency situations, SpaceX said in a docket 23-135 filing posted Monday. The filing was a response to numerous questions the agency asked SpaceX about its proposed supplemental coverage from space service (see 2409100042). It said its design and operational strategies for orbital debris haven't changed since its previously submitted orbital debris mitigation plan. Moreover, SpaceX said it will ensure its operations won't hurt those of crewed space stations because it will avoid ongoing, nominal operations between altitudes of 385 km and 430 km. SpaceX said it can comply with the agency's OOBE limits only by suppressing its satellites' in-band transit power "and by extension the coverage, throughput, and reliability of supplemental coverage for American people." It said the limits "'will also needlessly delay deployment of realtime emergency communications -- including 911 calling" and necessitate deployment of more capacity to make up for the throughput and coverage limits. The OOBE limits are "nearly ten times more restrictive than necessary for operations in the PCS G Block," SpaceX said, noting it has deployed more than 190 D2D satellites.

T-Mobile and UScellular made the case why T-Mobile’s proposed buy of “substantially all” of the smaller carrier’s wireless operations, including some of its spectrum (see 2405280047), makes sense for customers. In a public interest statement on the proposed transaction, they wrote, “The Transaction will increase competition across the UScellular footprint and not result in any competitive harm.” T-Mobile has “a well-established track record of using improvements in network performance and increased capacity to deliver greater value to consumers and enhance competition." The statement was posted Monday in docket 24-286, which the FCC created last week (see 2409110059). “Customers of both companies will experience significant benefits from increased network capacity, higher speeds, and reduced congestion within the UScellular footprint,” the companies said: “UScellular customers will have the choice to switch to a lower-cost T-Mobile plan or remain on their current UScellular rate plan, all while enjoying a world-class 5G network.” The filing said the deal won’t affect T-Mobile pricing, “which is generally lower than prices for comparable UScellular plans.” It emphasizes that about 40% of UScellular subscribers live in rural markets and the buy “will result in an enhanced user experience and faster and better 5G service for the rural customers of both companies.” Nearly all of UScellular’s customer devices are compatible with T-Mobile’s network and “migration of the vast majority of UScellular customers can be accomplished almost immediately after closing via an over-the-air software update,” the filing said. Much of the data was redacted from the public filing, including estimated monthly savings for UScellular customers, the combined capacity of the network that will be available to those subscribers and the number of households expected to gain access to T-Mobile’s Home Internet service. The companies told the FCC they don’t “have an overlapping competitive presence” in 74 of the cellular market areas (CMAs) affected, which is 37% of the markets involved in the transaction. “Both before and after the Transaction, at least three nationwide facilities-based carriers (including T-Mobile) will provide competition in almost all CMAs in the UScellular footprint.” The filing comes ahead of T-Mobile’s Capital Markets Day, scheduled for Wednesday.