AT&T said Wednesday it will offer the new Samsung Galaxy A14 5G starting Jan. 14. The latest handset in the Samsung A series will be available online and in stores for $2 monthly, with an eligible plan and with no trade-in required, the carrier said.

The FCC Wireless Bureau approved a request by Pine Cellular for a one-year extension to meet the tribal lands bidding credit (TLBC) construction requirement to deploy service to Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma communities in eastern Oklahoma using one of its 600 MHz licenses bought in the TV incentive auction. Pine Cellular got a bidding credit of $2 million and was initially required to construct and operate a system capable of serving 75% of the Choctaw Nation communities within the relevant service area by Jan. 9, 2021. The Wednesday order extends the deadline until Jan. 9, 2024. “We find that strict application of the TLBC construction requirement, which would result in either Pine Cellular’s repayment of its TLBC or automatic termination of its license, is not warranted,” the bureau said: “Neither the repayment of the TLBC nor the automatic termination of the license would facilitate the provision of wireless broadband service to the Choctaw Nation communities, and thus would not serve the public interest or the underlying purpose of the TLBC rule.”

Verizon shuttered its 3G network at the end of the year, it confirmed. Both AT&T and T-Mobile closed their legacy 3G networks last year. “Since 2016, we have stated publicly that we have been actively decommissioning our 3G CDMA network,” Verizon said in a statement: “As of December 31, … months after our competitors shut off their networks completely, we decommissioned the network.” Verizon noted the shutdown was initially planned for 2019: “However, we extended our shut off date to the end of 2022 in order to care for our customers and give them every effort to minimize disruptions to their service as they moved to newer and more advanced technologies. That outreach included proactively communicating through billing messages, digital and traditional outreach and even sending some customers updated devices proactively.”

The FCC should rethink a move to new rules designed to prevent unwanted robotexts, proposed in a recent NPRM (see 2212120029), Free State Foundation Director-Policy Studies Seth Cooper blogged Wednesday. Wireless carriers are using machine learning “and other tools using real-time analysis to combat spam,” he said: “They also act on complaints about texts -- including those with suspicious website links or domain names -- to prevent messages from specific bad actors. And consumers can make use of the mobile device layer filters or downloading specialized apps for combatting unwanted texts.” FCC proposals would likely do little good, he said. “To date, the record in the Commission's proceeding does not provide any solid evidence that consumers are receiving texts from invalid, unallocated, unused, or [do not originate]-listed numbers,” Cooper said. “Mobile wireless providers' existing practice of delivering only those messages that come from other consumers or from non-consumers with verified origination information effectively halts illegal texts that originate from suspect numbers,” he said.

Autel Robotics USA asked the FCC for a waiver of the commission's 60 GHz power limit rules for a radar system that could help “avoid collisions” and “ensure the accurate landing and safe flight” of commercial drones. Autel drones are targeted for “high-rise fire protection, forest fire prevention, agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, environmental monitoring, emergency communication, medical rescue and so on,” said a filing posted Friday. By using the proposed “omnidirectional radar system, the drone can work in all-time and all-weather conditions without colliding with structures, wires and other small obstacles,” Autel said.

Marcus Spectrum Solutions called for random testing of wireless emergency alerts and other parts of the emergency alert system. “The Commission and its partners in other agencies must start planning in a careful and deliberate way to implement a small fraction of EAS and WEA testing at times that happen throughout the day and are not precisely announced with the exact date and time,” Marcus said in comments posted Wednesday in docket 15-94: “At present all such tests have the time and date announced with typically 2 months advanced notice.” Marcus noted the EAS became operational Jan. 1, 1997, and 25 years “should have been enough time to allow some random testing at odd hours to verify that no industry changes have resulted in unanticipated issues that are hidden by having only preannounced tests during the prime shift.”

Sirius XM Radio asked the FCC to address issues it raised in a recent petition for rulemaking on certification test procedures for Part 20 wideband consumer signal boosters (WCSBs). “Although the current WCSB test procedures provide a so-called ‘band verification test,’ they do not protect licensees in and around these bands from interference,” SiriusXM said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 10-4: “As a result, WCSBs that are sold for international operations may be properly tested and legally certified for the U.S. market despite having the inherent capability of unlawful operations in the forbidden [commercial mobile radio service] bands.” The filing said the petition “seeks to eliminate this incongruity in the law whereby WCSBs capable of operating outside their authorized bands are eligible for FCC certification, yet ineligible for marketing under the rules and polices” of the Enforcement Bureau.

More than a third of NTIA’s current staff was added in 2022, NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson blogged Friday. “NTIA is like a start-up within the federal government, despite being nearly 45 years old. We’ve had the explosive growth of a new organization in my first year at the helm,” he said: “While NTIA is still a small agency by government standards, we punched above our weight class in 2022. We delivered on programs to improve Internet connectivity while also notching big wins on spectrum policy, international standards, and other important tech policy issues.” Davidson cited as wins this year the spectrum coordination agreement with the FCC (see 2208020076) and the election of American Doreen Bogdan-Martin as secretary-general of the ITU (see 2209290044).

Although Ligado says it's not moving forward for now with a full deployment of its proposed terrestrial network, a stay of the FCC's authorization is still warranted given that Ligado retains the authority to move forward, Iridium said Tuesday in docket 12-340. It dismissed Ligado criticism of the National Academies of Sciences report findings (see 2211170056), and said the NAS committee focused its technical work on the one issue regarding harmful interference that was in dispute. Ligado didn't comment.

Strand Consult warned that 2023 will be a “wild, uncomfortable year,” with the upheaval ahead having big implications for the mobile wireless industry. “There is war in Europe, a global energy crisis, and inflation which has made almost everything more expensive and disrupted many financial markets. China’s menace in Taiwan puts the world’s leaders on edge and imperils the supply of 90 percent of the world’s semiconductor manufacturing,” CEO John Strand blogged Thursday: “Board leaders and directors should ask themselves what is their plan [in the] case of China shutting down supply lines tomorrow.” He warned of implications for wireless. “Rising interest rates depress returns on capital, and investors' willingness to invest in infrastructure,” Strand said. “Relationships with authoritarian governments pose reputational risks,” it said: “An operator can’t stick its head into the ground and pretend nothing is happening. Indeed operators which have opted out of Huawei and ZTE will gain an advantage over those which claim that there are no risks to using Chinese network equipment. … This message will resonate with policymakers, customers, and shareholders.” Strand also noted many questions about spectrum, with Congress failing to reauthorize FCC auction authority beyond a three-month extension. “It’s hard to contemplate a modern nation being so irresponsible,” he said. “It is remarkable that the US has achieved such incredible wireless success to date given the limited access to frequencies. But to compete with China in the future, the US will need a more aggressive approach to making mid-band spectrum available for exclusive licensed use,” he said.