Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld suggested tweaks to the receiver principles teed up for the April 20 FCC meeting (see 2303300070), in a call with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Feld noted a footnote to the draft “refers to the Commission’s Section 154(i) authority as ‘ancillary authority,’” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 23-122: “This misstates the nature of the authority granted by Section 154(i)” which “provides direct authority to the Commission to ‘to perform any and all acts, make such rules and regulations, and issue such orders’ as necessary to fulfill its obligations” under the Communications Act. Feld said “although the Commission distinguishes between specific services and general authorizations under Part 15, the Commission may wish to note that the D.C. Circuit has held that the same standard of what constitutes ‘harmful interference’ applies to unlicensed as well as licensed services.”

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology sought comment Tuesday on a request by Stadler Signalling Deutschland GmbH to operate its automatic train protection system in the 100 kHz band at higher power levels than FCC rules allow. Comments are due May 4, replies May 19, in docket 23-133. “Stadler states its train protection system is intended to protect train movements, prevent red signal overruns, and train-to-train collisions on tracks used for passenger service,” OET said: “Stadler claims its system will provide lifesaving information without the risk of causing harmful interference.”

The FCC Wireless Bureau granted a license in Pennsylvania Tuesday in the 900 MHz broadband segment to PDV Spectrum. The FCC approved an order in 2020 reallocating a 6 MHz swath in the band for broadband, while keeping 4 MHz for narrowband operations (see 2005130057).

Mint Mobile, which T-Mobile has announced plans to buy (see 2303150032), said Monday its low-cost plans now offer more data at the same rates. The cheapest plan, $15 per month for 4 GB, now provides 5GB, Mint said. The $30 plan, which previously included 35 GB of 5G-LTE data and 5 GB for hot spot use, increases to 40 GB and 10 GB. Higher data limits kick in April 14. “Mint keeps things simple -- subscribers don’t need to enroll, register or take action of any kind,” the company said: “All their data will be automatically upgraded so they can immediately start using even more data each month on their existing plans.”

Continental Automotive Systems representatives met with an aide to Commissioner Nathan Simington on concerns over patents for cellular vehicle-to-everything technology. “The Commission’s move to mandate the use of C-V2X in the 5.9 GHz proceeding has unintentionally placed Continental and other suppliers in a precarious situation in relation to the licensing of C-V2X related standard essential patients (SEPs),” said a filing posted Monday in docket 19-138. “With C-V2X now the de facto [intelligent transportation system] communications standard, some C-V2X SEP holders have felt empowered to discriminate against license seekers by refusing to license their technologies at all to some industry participants (e.g., component suppliers like Continental), while other SEP holders insist on license terms that are unfair and unreasonable,” Continental said.

Global 5G wireless connections increased by 76% last year, reaching 1.05 billion, 5G Americas said Monday. North America led the way, with 119 million 5G and 507 million LTE connections by the end of 2022, the group said. ”5G is growing remarkably and scaling faster than any other previous generation of mobile wireless,” said 5G Americas President Chris Pearson: “While deployments and connections are added at a significant pace, the promise of 5G will be realized by technological progress in areas like standalone architecture and network slicing for new use cases.”

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin filed a complaint at the FCC Saturday against the state Republican Party for allegedly distributing a video promoting Supreme Court candidate Daniel Kelly using a text message that looks like an emergency alert. The election has been hotly contested and has gotten national coverage. “The audio began with a series of tones substantially similar to the Common Audio Alert Signal as defined in 10 CFR § 10.520” and transmittal of such audio is a “violation of 10 CFR 10.520(d)(2), which not only prohibits unauthorized use of the Common Audio Alert Signal, but unauthorized use of a ‘simulation’ of such a signal,” the complaint said. False use of emergency alert system codes or wireless emergency alert attention signals “may be considered a ‘false distress signal,’ which is prohibited under 47 U.S. Code § 325,” the complaint said: “The FCC has broad jurisdiction to investigate and remediate offenses under both of the sections cited above, and has proposed or imposed substantial forfeitures for those violations.” The state Republican Party didn’t immediately comment Monday.

Utility, public safety and other groups asked the FCC to launch a proceeding looking at cost recovery for 6 GHz incumbents, “an issue which has not been examined as part of this proceeding.” They also asked for “improvements in interference detection, identification, reporting, tracking, and elimination for the 6 GHz band, including the creation of a centralized interference reporting point that is publicly available” and a public comment period on extending the automated frequency coordination requirements “to all uses of the 6 GHz band to support the interference detection, identification, reporting, tracking, and elimination process,” per a filing Friday in docket 18-295. Among those signing the petition were the American Public Power Association, APCO, Edison Electric Institute, the Enterprise Wireless Alliance, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and the Utilities Technology Council.

Progeny asked for a limited waiver and two-year extension of time to complete the build of its 900 MHz multi-lateration location and monitoring service (M-LMS) licenses in 36 mostly rural markets with low populations. The FCC addressed the construction requirements in an order last week (see 2303290045). Wireless providers are working with Progeny to use its service to locate emergency callers in buildings. The waiver is “warranted because of circumstances that are entirely beyond Progeny’s control, specifically the ongoing failure to fully implement the indoor location accuracy requirements specified” in the commission’s rules, Progeny said, posted Friday in docket 12-202. Progeny also cited “regulatory uncertainty created by the delays in approving Progeny’s use of tall buildings to demonstrate network buildout.” Progeny asked the FCC to extend the deadline by two years, to April 3, 2025. It filed four other requests seeking more limited extensions in other markets.

Comments are due May 3, replies May 18, on a petition filed by ATIS requesting waiver for all entities subject to FCC hearing aid compatibility rules, says a notice for Monday’s Federal Register. “The Petition seeks to allow wireless handsets to satisfy a reduced volume control testing methodology to be certified as hearing-aid compatible,” the notice said: "We seek comment on this waiver request in the context of the Commission’s commitment to attaining 100% hearing aid compatibility of covered wireless handsets, as soon as achievable, as well as the Commission’s previous finding that a volume control requirement is necessary 'to ensure the provision of effective telecommunications for people with hearing loss.'”