T-Mobile unveiled a Home Internet Backup service, offering backup for customers of traditional ISPs when their internet service goes out. It costs $30 a month with AutoPay, and $20 for customers with a T-Mobile voice line. The plan offers 130 GB of 5G data per month, “enough to keep a typical household connected with Wi-Fi for up to seven days a month when their primary internet service goes down,” T-Mobile said Wednesday. Subscribers also receive a 5G gateway at no charge.

Shure executives updated the FCC on the needs of wireless mic users in a series of meetings, a filing posted Tuesday in docket 12-268 said. “We discussed the increasing demand for wireless microphone audio technologies … for professional users in the American music, theater, sports, broadcasting and film industries, among other sectors that rely on high-quality professional wireless microphone operations,” Shure said. The company is focused on developing spectrum-efficient technologies for all bands and sharing strategies for frequencies above 1 GHz, the filing said. Shure noted that the 1.2 GHz band is used for wireless mics in other countries, including Japan and France. Company execs met with staff from the Office of Engineering and Technology and Wireless Bureau and aides to Commissioners Anna Gomez, Nathan Simington and Geoffrey Starks.

The future is bright for the tower sector, despite a slowdown in major carriers' 5G deployments (see 402290050), American Tower CEO Steve Vondran said Wednesday at a Raymond James financial conference. The U.S. is seeing 20%-30% annual growth in mobile data “and while that's a little bit lower than the 30% to 40% we saw in 4G, the base is exponentially larger,” Vondran said. “I'm excited for the next decade and the demand for the goods and services we sell has never been more certain than it is today,” he added. Vondran said when he started in the business 24 years ago, consumers viewed cellphones as a luxury and even a few years ago there was speculation about when demand would stop. Carriers will continue to deploy 5G and eventually 6G, he said: “This is a good business, not just historically, but today and going forward.” Crown Castle Chief Financial Officer Daniel Schlanger said at the conference that new CEO Steven Moskowitz is “getting his arms around things” following the company's recent proxy fight (see 2405220071). Unlike other recent CEOs, Moskowitz has an operational background, which the board wanted, Schlanger said. One of the biggest challenges for the tower sector is that no one wants macro towers in their backyard, he said: “They're ugly. … Most people look at them and say, 'I don't want that anywhere near me.'” Small cells can help meet growing data demand, he said, and he discussed the effects of consolidation, most recently T-Mobile’s buy of Sprint. “There has been rationalization of the networks because when two customers come together, they don't need all of the equipment to do everything that they did separately,” he said.

The Wireless ISP Association is another group challenging the FCC’s net neutrality order in the D.C. Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals (see 2406030053). On Monday, the challenge was consolidated with other cases in docket 24-1169. The FCC order “marks a radical departure from the status quo and will have profoundly negative consequences for the internet and the national economy -- all without Congressional authorization,” WISPA said: “The Order will deter innovation and investment in broadband for WISPA’s small and rural members who may lack resources adequate to absorb the Order’s compliance costs and enforcement risks.” WISPA also said the order was “contrary to law, arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion; exceeds the FCC’s authority; and otherwise violates the Administrative Procedure Act.” Petitioner statement of issues is July 3.

Members of the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee have reviewed and don’t object to a Liberty Defense request for three waivers of Part 15 rules so that the company can obtain FCC equipment authorization to upgrade full-body screening scanners at U.S. airports, NTIA told the FCC. The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology sought comment last year (see 2307200030). Upgraded equipment would allow the Transportation Security Administration to “enhance the legacy fleet of body scanners to operate at a higher performance level, resulting in improved airport security,” a filing posted Tuesday in docket 23-245 said.

The Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure (CERCI), the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and the 4.9 GHz Coalition jointly urged that the FCC name a national band manager in the 4.9 GHz band. “It has been almost 18 months since the FCC adopted its decision to designate a nationwide Band Manager” and a freeze remains on new licenses in the public safety band, a filing posted Tuesday in docket 07-100 said. The groups noted they oppose FirstNet Authority “licensing, leasing, or other controlling use of this spectrum.” Instead, they favor a plan that would appoint the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, AASHTO and other public safety frequency coordinators as the band managers. “The wholesale licensing or leasing of this band to FirstNet and, therefore, to AT&T for integration into its commercial, consumer-focused network (or an arrangement that accomplishes the same end under a thinly veiled ‘shared use’ nomenclature), would be antithetical to the FCC’s locally controlled public safety primacy commitment,” they said. Meanwhile, top officials from the Major Cities Chiefs Association and the National Sheriffs’ Association met with Commissioner Brendan Carr They warned Carr against giving FIrstNet control of the band. “We discussed how it is important for public safety to continue to have access to multiple service providers in the 4.9 GHz band and how giving the band to the FirstNet Authority would eliminate choices for public safety since the FirstNet Authority has an exclusive contract with a single network provider, AT&T,” the police groups said.

The FCC Wireless Bureau on Tuesday approved MatrixSpace's petition for waiver of the U.S. table of frequency allocations and the commission’s Part 87 rules for radars mounted on drones that could provide radionavigation or radiolocation in the 24.45-24.65 GHz band, for a period of five years. T-Mobile opposed and then withdrew its opposition to the proposal (see 2310260016). The waiver is subject to the outcome of an Echodyne petition seeking rules for the band, the order said. “This request would serve the underlying purpose of our ruling to establish permanent rules for secondary use of the 24.45-24.65 GHz band for radiolocation operations (see 1906130051), as we already permit use of the 24.45-24.65 GHz band” for uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) detection “as part of a ground-based air traffic control system, thus allowing use of the band for other UAS detection does not conflict with that purpose,” the bureau said: MatrixSpace says the radar “can be used for UAS detection in security systems, target tracking systems, and UAS or other drones” and “all opposition to this request has been withdrawn in light of the updated technical information MatrixSpace submitted in the record.” The bureau also extended for five years the waiver for Ecodyne, which uses the band for its EchoGuard offering. “Echodyne again emphasizes the public interest benefits that EchoGuard can support, including protection of infrastructure, stadiums, prisons, and the U.S. border,” a Tuesday order said.

The FCC unveiled an email address that state officials can use when requesting activation of the agency’s Mandatory Disaster Response Initiative for wireless providers. Released Tuesday, the information was contained in a public notice and a press release tying the agency's recent public safety moves to preparations for Atlantic hurricane season. “After each hurricane, we examine what worked, what didn’t work, and what lessons we can apply to improve access to communications during future disasters,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in the release. “That led us to adopt the new Mandatory Disaster Response Initiative, which requires wireless providers to collaborate during disasters so that people can stay connected when they most need it.” The MDRI requires wireless providers and public safety officials assist each other during disasters to prevent outages and facilitate service restoration. In Tuesday’s PN announcing procedures for state activation requests, the Public Safety Bureau said state officials must email the requests to activate the MDRI rules to: MDRI@fcc.gov. “In their requests, states will need to demonstrate that they have activated their State Emergency Operations Center, activated mutual aid, or proclaimed a local state of emergency.” The Public Safety Bureau “will announce grant of a state request to activate the MDRI by releasing a Public Notice stating the counties of interest for which the MDRI activation applies,” Tuesday’s PN said. Along with the MDRI procedures, the FCC’s release listed improvements to outage reporting and increased sharing of that information with state officials as among its preparations for the hurricane season. In addition, it added rules and proposed rules aimed at making emergency alerts multilingual.

The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment Monday on IDS GeoRadar's (IDSG) request for modification of its 2018 waiver allowing use of its 76-77 GHz band Hyper Definition Radar (Hydra) system for mining safety (see 1808130022). IDSG asked that use of the Hydra system be expanded to allow for “structural health monitoring” and “quarry, cut-slope and natural landslide monitoring,” the bureau said. The company also asked permission to use an updated version of Hydra. Comments are due July 3, replies July 18 in docket 17-358.

CTIA representatives met with aides to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and advocated against any proposal to use the 5G Fund to promote cybersecurity risk management planning. Instead, CTIA advised following the cybersecurity framework (CSF) that the National Institute of Standards and Technology is developing, CTIA said in a filing posted Monday (docket 20-32). Accordingly, 5G Fund recipients should "align their cybersecurity risk management plans with Tier 2 of the CSF, [which] accomplishes the Commission’s goal of incorporating appropriate best practices, while avoiding introducing inconsistency that could undermine the Administration’s efforts to ‘harmonize baseline cybersecurity requirements for critical infrastructure,’” CTIA said. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated an order on the fund in March (see 2403260052).