Goldman Sachs listed T-Mobile and American Tower in its most recent list of return-on equity (ROE) growth companies. The firm said T-Mobile had an ROE of 37%, American Tower 46%. In Q3, “consumer discretionary ROE posted the greatest increase since 4Q 2022, driven by expanding EBIT margins,” the report said. “Interest expense was a headwind to ROE across every sector as [borrowing] costs rose alongside higher interest rates.”

Aeronet representatives discussed the company’s proposed use of the 70/80 GHz bands to provide “high-speed, ‘in-home’ equivalent broadband experiences to consumers in planes and on ships,” meeting with FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Joel Taubenblatt, according to a filing posted Monday in docket 20-133. “Aeronet also expressed its strong support for the Commission moving forward to adopt this item at the January Open Meeting,” the company said. Aeronet has sought tweaks to a draft order on the spectrum set for a vote Thursday, which have proven controversial (see 2401190040). The discussion focused on maritime operations. “Aeronet emphasized its view that ship-to-aerostat links do not represent an interference risk and noted that the Comsearch study in the record concludes that ship-to-aerostat links ‘would not be harmful,’” the filing said.

T-Mobile representatives laid out the carrier’s stance on spectrum used for supplemental coverage from space (SCS), holding a series of meetings with FCC commissioner aides. The FCC shouldn’t create a satellite allocation in the U.S. Table of Frequency Allocations permitting SCS operations, said a filing posted Friday in docket 23-65. “Adding a Mobile-Satellite Service (MSS) allocation, either on a co-primary or secondary basis is unnecessary for the provision of SCS,” T-Mobile said: “Current allocations for terrestrial spectrum should remain as-is, confirming, among other things, that the affected spectrum is allocated for terrestrial purposes.” Terrestrial licensees already holding licenses that cover their subscribers’ devices should “obtain a second license for the same devices, covering the times when those subscribers receive service from space stations,” T-Mobile said.

The Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition objected to changes Aeronet sought (see 2401120048) to the FCC’s draft 70 and 80 GHz band order, set for a vote Thursday (see 2401040064). The FCC shouldn’t allow “Aeronet’s eleventh-hour ex parte filings to derail adoption of the draft order,” said a filing posted Friday on docket 20-133. The agency’s practice of releasing draft orders before open meetings “has appropriately allowed interested parties to ask the Commission to clarify the language in an order before adoption,” the coalition said: “However, Aeronet’s proposal amounts to a wholesale change in the proposed rule that would eliminate a coordination trigger protecting existing [fixed service] links.” CTIA raised similar concerns (see 2401180062).

The Electric Power Research Institute briefed the FCC about the analysis it used that led to file challenges to various public trials of 6 GHz automated frequency coordination (AFC) systems (see 2312220043). EPRI submitted test vectors consisting of locations along fixed-service system centerlines "with line of sight to an FS receive station,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 21-352. “The AFC operator response for each test vector was compared to a free space path loss (FSPL) calculation,” EPRI said: “Locations where it was found that the AFC operator assigned co-channel maximum power spectral density (PSD) was more than 3 dB in excess of the maximum PSD based on the FSPL calculation were included in the challenge letter.” EPRI understands the metrics it used were different from those the FCC specified, the filing said.

The FCC should approve Samsung Electronics America and Ericsson waiver requests for 5G base station radios that work across citizens broadband radio service and C-band spectrum, CTIA said (see 2303280054). “Commenters in this proceeding have highlighted that use of a single radio covering two bands, rather than two separate radios operating in the same bands, has substantial benefits,” a filing posted Friday in docket 23-93 said. A multiband radio “reduces the weight and physical footprint of tower collocations, which allows for additional equipment, potentially by different operators, to be deployed,” CTIA said. They are also more energy efficient than using multiple radios, the group said: Samsung maintains the proposed radio will increase energy efficiency by 30%-45% “as compared to two standalone units.”

EchoStar and RKF Engineering slammed criticism in the latest Dish Network report on safe use of fixed wireless in the lower 12 GHz band by DirecTV (see 2312270045). The report showed that higher-power point-to-multipoint fixed service in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band is “eminently feasible,” said a filing Wednesday in docket 20-443. “DIRECTV offers no concrete data or analysis establishing actual risk of interference from properly coordinated Fixed 5G deployments,” EchoStar said: “It would disserve the public interest to foreclose high-power fixed broadband in the 12.2 GHz band based on unproven ‘what ifs.’”

USCellular representatives met virtually with staff for FCC Commissioners Anna Gomez and Nathan Simington, completing a cycle of meetings with commissioner aides on the carrier’s proposed changes to the proposal for a 5G Fund (see 2401170034). Among the carrier’s suggestions is harmonizing the fund with broadband equity, access and deployment program-deployed fiber “to reduce the costs of building 5G and thus allow 5G Fund support to cover a greater geographic area,” said a filing Thursday in docket 20-32.

National Emergency Number Association representatives met with staff for FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez on the group’s i3 standard and an ATIS standard for IP multimedia subsystems. “All known” next-generation 911 systems in the U.S. and Canada are “operating under the i3 specification,” said a filing Wednesday in docket 21-479.

CTIA supports the FCC’s draft 70 and 80 GHz band order revising rules for the spectrum, set for a vote at the FCC’s Jan. 25 meeting (see 2401040064), but it opposes some of the changes Aeronet sought (see 2401120048), said a filing Thursday in docket 20-133. The commission “should maintain the protection for existing services from interference caused by new point-to-point links to endpoints in motion communications, as proposed in the Draft Order, and reject Aeronet’s eleventh hour request that non-federal fixed service receivers alone be left without protection,” CTIA said.