Qualcomm representatives spoke with FCC Office of Engineering and Technology staff about 6 GHz automated frequency coordination system “implementation issues” and a proposal to create a geofenced variable power (GVP) device class (see 2404290035). “Qualcomm indicated its support for GVP operations at variable power levels that would protect incumbents by limiting operations to areas outside the exclusion zones and further explained the operations and GVP system architecture,” a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-295 said.

The FCC Tuesday announced a new Mobile Speed Test app it will use in helping the agency collect information for broadband mapping. Replacing the original FCC Speed Test app, the new version “features an enhanced user interface that makes challenging the accuracy of the provider-reported mobile coverage data even easier,” the FCC said. The app lets users conduct repeated tests without entering and certifying information before each test, allowing for “hands-free mobile tests while driving,” the agency said. It’s available for Apple and Android devices. “Consumers deserve to know where they have mobile coverage and at what speeds and the FCC wants to include their experiences in our effort to create a more precise map of available coverage,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said.

New America's Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge attacked the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA) proposal that assigns the 4.9 GHz band to FirstNet, “either directly through a nationwide license or indirectly through a sharing agreement.” PSSA is “effectively proposing that the Commission reallocate the band for a single use (mobile broadband) and assign it exclusively, without competitive bidding, to AT&T,” the groups said in a Tuesday filing in docket 07-100. If the FCC agrees with the PSSA, it would allow the band to be used “predominantly for commercial use, but only by one user: AT&T,” the filing said: “Contrary to the original Congressional vision of a separate interoperable public safety mobile network, over time FirstNet has become little more than a priority access tier on AT&T’s commercial mobile network.” PSAA’s proposal “would amount to an enormous windfall for AT&T that could distort mobile market competition,” PK and OTI said. The band's future is hotly contested. AT&T last week noted the support for giving FirstNet access to the spectrum (see 2407110012). The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association also opposed FirstNet control in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 07-100. “The PSSA plan would take the 4.9 GHz band away from local public-safety entities and give it to FirstNet, which would effectively hand control over to AT&T, a commercial provider,” the association said.

NCTA representatives asked the FCC to reject Axon's waiver request that would allow the marketing of three investigative and surveillance devices operating at higher power levels than allowed under agency rules in the heavily used 5 GHz spectrum. The devices target the law enforcement market. NCTA discussed “the central importance of the U-NII-3 band for Wi-Fi in homes, businesses, schools, and healthcare settings, and the significant negative impact that operation of Axon’s devices would have on nearby consumers using Wi-Fi devices,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 24-40. The representatives met with aides to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. “Wi-Fi’s success in supporting a great number of users and devices using unlicensed spectrum is due in large part to its use of a listen-before-talk protocol to support spectrum sharing,” NCTA said. The proposal has proven controversial (see 2403080044).

An Extreme Networks representative urged the FCC Office of Engineering to move forward on the company’s request for a waiver of rules for low-power indoor (LPI) devices for 6 GHz access points (APs), to be installed exclusively in indoor-only sports venues. “Fans demand reliable Wi-Fi coverage when they attend events at stadiums and arenas,” a filing posted Monday in docket 23-282 said. “Extreme partners with major stadiums and arenas across the country and is ready to install LPI APs to support fans’ needs,” the company said. The proposal proved controversial when the FCC took comment last year (see 2310170045).

Tracfone Wireless will pay $16 million and take other steps to resolve investigations into whether it failed to reasonably protect customers’ information from unauthorized access in connection with three data breaches, the FCC said Monday. Verizon is Tracfone's owner. The breaches involved exploitation of application programming interfaces (APIs), the agency said. “The Commission takes matters of consumer privacy, data protection, and cybersecurity seriously, including in the context of emerging security issues,” said Loyaan Egal, chief of the Enforcement Bureau. The investigations and consent decree “make clear that API security is paramount and should be on the radar of all carriers,” Egal added. The breaches occurred between 2021 and last year, according to the consent decree. “While APIs greatly improve the modularity and flexibility of software, they dramatically expand the potential attack surface area,” the decree said: “Without adequate protection, an attacker may be able to make an API request to any one of these components to perform a malicious action or retrieve private information, including consumer information.” Among other things, Tracfone agreed to develop a security compliance plan and implement “a comprehensive information security program,” SIM change and port-out protections. "We're pleased that we were able to reach this settlement to address these past TracFone matters,” a Verizon spokesperson said in an email: “Since we purchased TracFone, our combined cybersecurity teams have been working to enhance its security protocols and extend the same robust protections to all Verizon customer accounts."

The FCC Wireless Bureau said it added “an enhancement” to the universal licensing system by adding tribal-specific “entity types” to some ULS forms. “This enhancement will improve identification of how and where Tribal Nations are directly accessing licensed wireless spectrum, and use of the new entity types will exempt applications filed by Tribal Nations and Tribally controlled business entities from related FCC Application Fees,” a notice in Friday’s Daily Digest said.

Utilities Technology Council President Rusty Williams and others from the group met with FCC Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Brendan Carr to discuss UTC concerns about 6 GHz interference and utility interest in having access to the 4.9 GHz band. “Utilities need highly reliable mission critical communications and additional licensed spectrum with sufficient capacity and coverage to meet increasing demands to meet emerging grid modernization and clean energy requirements and protect against greater and more sophisticated physical and cybersecurity threats and increasingly severe weather events, as well as wildfires,” the filing on the Starks meeting, posted Friday in docket 18-295 and other dockets, said.

T-Mobile unveiled a “Your Name, Our Wireless” offering aimed at making it easier for mobile virtual network operators to launch. The service is “an end-to-end managed and operated solution, which simplifies backend set-up and day-to-day operations, allowing companies to focus on enhancing customer engagement and driving new revenue opportunities,” a Thursday news release said. The carrier cited as an example its work with rapper Leon "Roccstar" Youngblood to launch Roccstar Wireless. Launching an MVNO “can be complex” and “companies must navigate signing agreements with multiple suppliers, resulting in a prolonged time-to-market," said Daniel Thygesen, senior vice president of T-Mobile Wholesale. T-Mobile noted it already powers more than 200 MVNO brands.

NTIA proposed modifications to FCC rules that protect the Department of Commerce’s Table Mountain Field Site and Radio Quiet Zone, which is located north of Boulder, Colorado. The site is used to study the characteristics and propagation of electromagnetic radiation and spectrum coexistence in a real-world environment. “For frequencies of 15.7 GHz and above, the field strength limit should increase with frequency,” an undocketed filing posted Friday said. For those same frequencies, the field strength limit “should be defined as a spectrum density, of field strength (power) per megahertz instead of total signal power,” NTIA proposed. NTIA said it was similarly modifying its rules.