Dish Network filed at the FCC its methodology, mutually agreed to with the Wireless Bureau, for drive tests to measure compliance with the company’s 35 Mbps commitment. “This methodology follows industry standards adapted to DISH’s specific commitment and provides reliable and representative data without unduly burdening DISH, a new entrant into the wireless market,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 22-212. “It offers a statistical approach that will evaluate download speed data collected within DISH’s certified 5G coverage area based upon the predicted propagation model as set forth in DISH’s July 14 … 5G Buildout Status Report.” Dish said it will test 3,019 Hex-7 geographies. Within each Hex-7, the provider “will conduct a minimum of 24 total tests, including a minimum of 12 mobile tests and 12 stationary tests,” Dish said. The company said in June it met its initial commitment, covering 70% of the U.S. population (see 2306150010).

Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced the appointment of Sean McDevitt, a partner with consulting firm Arthur D. Little, as a member of the FirstNet Authority board. McDevitt “brings 30 years of private sector experience specializing in business development, business expansion, leadership, account management, and client project delivery for telecommunications and technology sectors,” NTIA said Tuesday. He replaces former board Chair Stephen Benjamin, who left the authority after being named a senior adviser to President Joe Biden and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement (see 2303010031).

The FCC said T-Mobile agreed to pay a $7.5 million civil penalty to resolve an Enforcement Bureau investigation of whether T-Mobile, doing business as Assurance Wireless, violated the commission’s Lifeline rules “regarding the submission of claims for ineligible subscribers due to non-usage after the effective date” of a 2020 consent decree. In 2020, T-Mobile agreed to pay a $200 million fine to address an investigation of waste, fraud and abuse connected with Sprint receiving Lifeline subsidies for 885,000 subscribers who weren’t using the service (see 2011040050). T-Mobile bought Sprint earlier that year. “In the absence of material new evidence relating to this matter, we do not set for hearing the question of T-Mobile’s basic qualifications to hold or obtain any Commission license or Authorization,” said an order in Monday’s “Daily Digest.”

APCO Chief Counsel Jeff Cohen urged the FCC to “proceed as soon as possible” on rules requiring location-based routing for wireless calls to 911 (see 2309110042), in a meeting with an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Cohen also raised related rules on next-generation 911 communications, said a filing posted Monday in docket 21-479. “The Commission must approach rules for NG9-1-1 in a manner that promotes a common understanding of the public safety community’s goals and expectations for NG9-1-1 and does not conflict with the comprehensive vision and definitions outlined in pending federal NG9-1-1 funding legislation,” APCO said: “The single most important step the Commission can take would be to adopt requirements for achieving interoperability between originating service providers and 9-1-1 service providers, and among 9-1-1 service providers.”

The FCC added a section on cybersecurity and supply chain risk management to the final Further NPRM on a 5G Fund. That was the biggest change from the draft, based on a side-by-side comparison. Commissioner Geoffrey Starks highlighted the additional security questions when the FNPRM was approved by commissioners last week (see 2309210035). The FCC also released comment deadlines -- Oct 23, for initial comments, Nov. 21 for replies. The FCC is seeking comment on “whether to require 5G Fund support recipients to implement cybersecurity and supply chain risk management plans as a condition of receiving … support,” the notice said. It notes a similar requirement in the FCC’s enhanced alternative connect America cost model order (see 2307240064). The FNPRM now asks about requiring submission of plans that reflect the latest version of the National Institute of Standards and Technology “Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, and that reflects an established set of cybersecurity best practices, such as the standards and controls” established by the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency or the Center for Internet Security. “Would it be appropriate for 5G Fund recipients to submit to [Universal Service Administrative Co.] their updated cybersecurity and supply chain risk management plans within 30 days of making a substantive modification thereto, as Enhanced A-CAM recipients must?” the FNPRM asks: “What are the differences (if any) between 5G Fund recipients and Enhanced A-CAM recipients that might warrant different approaches to ensuring cybersecurity?” The FNPRM was in Monday’s “Daily Digest.”

CTIA representatives met with aides to FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington on a draft order revising FCC Customer Proprietary Network Information rules and local number portability rules to address SIM swap and port-out fraud, said a filing posted Monday in docket 21-341. “Any new rules should be grounded in a flexible, reasonable, and future-proof approach that accounts for competing agency regulatory priorities related to service reliability, competition and consumer choice, public safety, and ensuring that providers can continue to offer a wide array of services to customers,” CTIA said.

Members of the ATIS Hearing Aid Compatibility Task Force asked for approval of a waiver sought by the group (see 2304060053) before a Dec. 5 compliance deadline, in a meeting with an aide to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “Timely grant of the Waiver Request will keep the industry on the path to achieving 100% HAC for wireless handsets, while also incorporating testing to ensure that handsets have volume control,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 15-285: “Record support for the Waiver Request is unanimous.”

The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment Friday on the 3.45 GHz Clearinghouse Search Committee’s selection of Summit Ridge Group to manage the clearinghouse (see 2305030037). The notice asks whether the selection satisfies criteria established by the commission and the bureau. Comments are due Oct. 10, replies Oct. 20, in docket 19-348.

The FCC certified Red Technologies to join the ranks of spectrum access system administrators in the citizens broadband radio service band for a five-year period. The Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology also approved Red to support spectrum manager leasing for priority access licenses and to use Key Bridge’s environmental sensing capability to protect federal operations in the 3.55-3.65 GHz portion of the band. The approval was made in consultation with NTIA and DOD, the Friday notice said.

DirecTV slammed Dish Network’s advocacy of revised rules for the lower 12 GHz band (see 2309110061), saying the risk of harmful interference to its direct broadcast satellite system were never addressed. “Any good-faith technical analysis would show massive interference to DBS customers across the country if high-power terrestrial services are authorized,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 20-443. “Rather than submit an analysis that will doom its attempt to radically expand its [multichannel video distribution and data service] licenses for free, DISH instead baldly asserts that ‘Sharing Between Fixed and DBS Services Will Be Simple to Manage,’” DirecTV said: “DISH bases this on its ‘ability to avoid interference from its own base stations into its own DBS customers,’ though it holds licenses for only 82 of the nation’s 214 MVDDS Markets.”