Nationwide commercial mobile radio service providers must enable georouting of texts sent to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by April 16, 2027, the FCC Wireline Bureau said Tuesday (docket 18-336). The compliance deadline for non-nationwide providers is Oct. 16, 2028. FCC commissioners adopted a 988 text georouting requirement during the agency's July meeting (see 2507240055).
Amateur operator Yael Ossowski, deputy director of the Consumer Choice Center, warned against NextNav’s proposal to offer a terrestrial complement to GPS using 900 MHz spectrum (see 2507280039). “A growing community of hobbyists and enthusiasts have benefited from an open band of spectrum … to communicate with each other, test various devices, and ensure a free and open ‘net’ for our own amateur radio communications,” said a filing Monday in docket 24-240.
Srini Gopalan, former CEO of Deutsche Telekom’s Germany business, will replace Mike Sievert as CEO of T-Mobile starting Nov. 1, the company announced Monday. Sievert will move to the new role of vice chairman. The move had been rumored for several months (see 2506100058), with Gopalan, who has served as COO since March 1, as the expected replacement.
The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe slammed the FCC’s approach to seeking tribal input on how the agency enforces National Environmental Policy Act and National Historic Preservation Act rules, according to a letter posted Monday in docket 25-217. Comments in the proceeding, due last week, showed tribes and states leading the opposition to proposals included in an August NPRM (see 2509190053), part of a broader Trump administration move to limit enforcement of environmental laws.
T-Mobile asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Monday to rehear en banc the August decision by a three-judge panel upholding the FCC’s data fines against it and Sprint, which it subsequently purchased (see 2508150044). The 2nd Circuit recently upheld a similar fine against Verizon, while the 5th Circuit rejected one against AT&T (see 2509100056).
SpaceX expects that the spectrum it's buying from EchoStar, along with the technology in the satellites it plans to deploy, will allow the company to provide LTE-like service. The 50 MHz of spectrum that SpaceX will get from EchoStar "will deliver unparalleled performance" to off-the-shelf mobile phones and IoT devices, SpaceX said Friday in an application seeking approval of the transfer. The $17 billion cash-and-stock deal, announced earlier this month, came shortly after EchoStar also agreed to sell its 3.45 GHz and 600 MHz licenses to AT&T (see 2509080052).
The 5G download and upload speeds of EchoStar's Boost Mobile network are slightly slower than those of its wireless rivals, Ookla said last week. Citing its Speedtest and RootMetrics data, Ookla said Boost "relies heavily" on AT&T's wireless network, often connecting to it in U.S. metro areas and using it the majority of the time along rural state routes. Boost also hasn't yet launched its network in some major California cities, it noted.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau ordered Andrew Mart of Naperville, Illinois, to explain within 10 days his operation of an amateur radio that was found to be transmitting at 20.8 MHz, outside permitted bands. No amateur radio license, issued by the U.S. or another country with reciprocal U.S. operating privileges, “allows transmissions on frequencies outside the authorized amateur bands, including the transmissions you admitted making,” the letter said.
The FCC Public Safety Bureau on Friday reminded carriers with supplemental coverage from space “arrangements” that they must file annual reports by Oct. 15. The reports must cover “911 voice calls, text messages and emergency call center data,” said the notice in docket 24-318. The commission “adopted these reporting requirements in 2024 as part of interim 911 requirements for terrestrial providers that use SCS arrangements to extend their coverage service areas.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Friday scheduled oral argument for Nov. 24 on challenges to the FCC’s 4.9 GHz rules (docket 24-1363). The FCC approved the order during the last administration with support from current Chairman Brendan Carr (see 2411130027).