CommScope completed the proposed sale of its outdoor wireless networks unit and distributed antenna systems business to Amphenol for $2.1 billion in cash (see 2407190017), the companies said Monday. The acquisition “brings to Amphenol a strong portfolio of innovative and advanced technologies for communications networks,” said CEO Adam Norwitt, whose company also picks up 4,000 employees. Amphenol looks forward to “further supporting our customers who are developing next-generation wireless networks around the world,” he added.

AT&T is launching an upgraded distributed-antenna system (DAS) in and around the Superdome in New Orleans, ahead of Super Bowl LIX, the carrier said Monday. “Shortly after the Men’s Final Four in 2022, we kicked off planning for our massive technology refresh of the Superdome,” AT&T said. “The new DAS enhances wireless connectivity by distributing signals throughout the venue, ensuring strong and reliable coverage.” AT&T said it spent nearly $2.1 billion on its network in Louisiana from 2019-23, including more than $575 million in the Greater New Orleans-Metairie area.

UScellular, in a heavily redacted filing at the FCC, told the agency that negotiations with T-Mobile before last year’s purchase agreement took place over seven months. The companies announced in May an agreement under which T-Mobile will buy “substantially all” of the smaller carrier’s wireless operations, including some of its spectrum, in a deal valued at about $4.4 billion, including $2 billion in assumed debt (see 2405280047). On Oct. 4, 2023, Citigroup Global Markets, lead financial adviser on the sale, “started conversations with potential interested parties,” and UScellular’s parent, TDS, entered into a nondisclosure agreement with T-Mobile, said a filing posted Friday in docket 24-286. “Over the next several months, a competitive bidding process was held to solicit proposals from multiple parties, including T-Mobile,” it said. The talks resulted in an agreement reached May 24, UScellular said. The filing was a partial response to a December letter from the Wireless Bureau asking a battery of questions on the deal (see 2412270031).

The Alaska Connect Fund (ACF) requirement that Alaska Plan recipients provide a certain level of mobile data service in all their Alaska Plan territories ignores the realities of physics and network engineering, GCI said. In a docket 10-90 petition posted Friday, it said the available ACF support isn't enough to pay for the cell towers needed to meet that level of data service where they currently provide Alaska Plan-supported voice service. The problem, it said, is ACF focuses on territory, requiring 35/3 Mbps coverage across all Alaska Plan territory. However, Alaska Plan has providers building out networks that cover specific numbers of people. GCI said the record doesn't support increasing data speeds in outlying areas that don't likely have permanent residents and where voice and text for public safety is probably sufficient. Bringing 35/3 Mbps 5G everywhere that receives voice service would increase costs, it said. GCI asked the agency to clarify ACF's mobile requirements and what territories ACF will cover. It also suggested changes to the commission's ineligibility standards.

T-Mobile highlighted risks to its business from wireless competition and cyberattacks in a report filed Friday at the SEC. The wireless industry “is highly competitive,” it noted. “As the industry reaches saturation, competition in all market segments, including prepaid, postpaid, enterprise and government customers will likely further intensify, putting pressure on pricing and/or margins for us and all our competitors.” T-Mobile also described the growing cyberattack threat. “Cyberattacks against companies like ours are increasing in frequency and scope of potential harm over time, and the methods used to gain unauthorized access constantly evolve, making it increasingly difficult to anticipate, prevent, and detect incidents successfully in every instance.” In some cases, “bad actors exploit bugs, errors, misconfigurations or other vulnerabilities in our Systems to obtain Confidential Information.” They also “obtain unauthorized access to Confidential Information by exploiting insider access or utilizing log in credentials taken from our customers, employees, or third-party providers through credential harvesting, social engineering or other means.” T-Mobile released annual and Q4 results last week (see 2501290058).

The FCC-certified frequency advisory committees that review and certify applications for industrial/business frequencies authorized under Part 90 of the FCC rules asked the regulator for tweaks to the rules. The groups noted that they sought changes in a 2020 petition, but the FCC took no action. The earlier petition sought “modification of an FCC rule that, in their opinion and based on extensive expertise in Part 90 spectrum management, is overly protective of systems proposing mobile-only operation without reference to any fixed location,” said an undocketed filing Thursday. The current rule “effectively precludes the use of the assigned frequencies as exclusive frequencies in spectrally efficient trunked systems anywhere within or adjacent to the area of operation self-defined by the mobile-only applicant.” Among those signing the filing were the AAA, the Association of American Railroads, Aviation Spectrum Resources, the Enterprise Wireless Alliance, the Utilities Technology Council and the Wireless Infrastructure Association.

T-Mobile cited widespread power issues in its annual report on the progress of its affiliate T-Mobile Puerto Rico in hardening its network through Uniendo program funding. Parts of the report, posted Friday in docket 18-143, were redacted. Other providers also updated the FCC.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacating part of the FCC's 2023 one-to-one consent robotext marketing order (see 2501240068) shows "the importance of clear and reasonable regulations that balance consumer protection with access to competitive marketplaces," LendingTree said. In a statement Wednesday, CEO Doug Lebda said the ruling "ensures consumers can continue benefiting from critical financial services while we focus our efforts on preventing unwanted and confusing phone calls." LendingTree lobbied the FCC against the one-to-one consent rule (see 2312010028 and 2411220019).

Wireless customer care satisfaction decreased for the first time in two years, J.D. Power reported Thursday in its 2025 U.S. Wireless Customer Care Study. Wireless offerings from providers “have become more complex with bundling, adding different products, payment plans and sales,” said Carl Lepper, the firm's senior director-technology, media and telecom. “Representatives are trained on each of these different aspects of customer care; however, frequent changes to offers and the combination of products requires near mastery to give an exceptional customer experience." T-Mobile received top marks among carriers, and Spectrum Mobile ranked first among full-service mobile virtual network operators, J.D. Power said. Consumer Cellular was the top value MVNO.

T-Mobile will cover all of New Orleans with its Ultra Capacity 5G service in anticipation of Super Bowl LIX, the carrier said Thursday. Subscribers inside the Superdome will see peak download speeds of up to 1.2 Gbps, it said. “The permanent upgrades we made to the city -- on top of everything else we’ve done since launching 5G -- are more than ready to support businesses and customers during the game and far beyond,” said Ulf Ewaldsson, T-Mobile president-technology.