Supplemental coverage from space of terrestrial wireless networks requires FCC spectrum regulation, and additions to 5G non-terrestrial network standards in 3rd Generation Partnership Project Releases 17 and 18 will help manage the complexity and performance of low earth orbit satellites, 5G Americas said in an NTN briefing paper update Thursday. Satellite systems' global coverage will allow dedicated providers to get into narrowband IoT service and provide limited capabilities to smartphones, it said. Roaming agreements with mobile network operators "can help realize this vision for global connectivity while remaining cost-efficient -- thanks to the reduced cost of launching into orbit," it said.

DLA Piper’s Smitty Smith is leaving the law firm to replace Kathleen Ham as T-Mobile senior vice president-government affairs, when Ham retires Oct. 2, T-Mobile said Thursday. Smith’s title will be senior vice president-public policy and government affairs. Smith is a former FCC and NTIA staffer, who was once seen as a contender to chair the FCC under President Joe Biden (see 2101010001). Smith was also a member of the Biden FCC transition team. At the FCC, he was an aide to former Chairman Tom Wheeler and led the Incentive Auction Task Force. Ham is a longtime T-Mobile official and an FCC veteran where she was deputy chief of the Wireless Bureau and the first chief of the spectrum auctions program, working on some of the first FCC auctions. “Kathleen’s contributions to T-Mobile are numerous,” a spokesperson emailed: “Over nearly 20 years at T-Mobile, she has played a critical role in driving key policy and regulatory efforts, including the completion of the transformational T-Mobile/Sprint merger and obtaining critical spectrum assets that have secured the company’s 5G leadership position.”

Midland Radio officials urged FCC staff to OK the company’s request for a waiver of FCC rules for general mobile radio service devices in the 462 MHz band (see 2110120061), said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 21-388. “Midland discussed proposed conditions to their pending waiver request, and the impact those conditions would have on the user experience in rural areas,” the company said: “Midland proposed that the FCC consider permitting faster transmission rates in census tracts with population densities of 100 or fewer persons per square mile.”

Metro by T-Mobile announced a new rate plan for customers in Southern California, offering free calling and texts to Mexico, Peru, Columbia and Brazil, with more limited free calls to other Latin American countries. Customers must choose or switch to a qualifying unlimited plan starting at $40/month. “Calling and texting family and friends just got easier ... and cheaper,” T-Mobile said Wednesday.

Representatives from the ATIS Hearing Aid Compatibility Task Force asked FCC staff to act on a waiver sought by the group (see 2304060053). The representatives “highlighted the unanimous record support for the Waiver Request and discussed various technical details related to the consensus interim testing standard,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 15-285. The representatives said they remain committed to “achieving 100% hearing aid compatibility for wireless handsets.” They had a videoconference with staff from the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs and Wireless bureaus and Office of Engineering and Technology.

ARRL representatives asked an aide to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr to address limits on the symbol, or baud, rate for amateur communications (see 1907160016). “ARRL and most stakeholders favor both deleting the symbol rate and replacing it with a 2.8 kHz individual signal bandwidth limit,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 16-239. “This would maintain the status quo with regard to the signal bandwidth commonly employed by radio amateurs on these frequencies while removing the limitation on baud rate that impairs spectrum efficiency and innovation by capping the amount of data transmitted within each signal,” ARRL said. The net effect would be to “increase spectrum efficiency by allowing higher baud rates, which would lessen the time needed to transmit a given message,” the group said.

The FCC released a "Small Entity Compliance Guide" Wednesday on changes to TV white spaces rules. The guide incorporates changes to the rules approved by the Office of Engineering and Technology in April (see 2304140056). “The steps taken by the Commission … further its goals of providing clarity to white space device users and manufacturers, while also optimizing the use of white space devices,” the guide said.

T-Mobile achieved the highest overall 5G score nationwide, independent research firm umlaut reported Tuesday. T-Mobile had the highest 5G coverage and stability scores, followed by AT&T, umlaut said. T-Mobile also led on active download and upload speeds, followed by Verizon, while AT&T was third. Verizon scored the highest on 5G latency. T-Mobile also took the top honors on 5G reliability.

NCTA raised questions on an NFL request for a two-year waiver extension of rules for the citizens broadband radio service, allowing the league to continue operating a coach-to-coach communications system in the event of a localized internet outage in stadiums during games. The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comments, due Monday in docket 21-111 (see 2307050028). NCTA was the only commenter as of Tuesday. “NCTA does not oppose the 2023 Waiver Extension Request, but questions the need for a further extension of the waiver, particularly a long-term extension, when the NFL concedes that it has not ever had to utilize the waiver over the last two years,” NCTA said. Any relief should be “narrowly tailored to the NFL’s specific and unique circumstances,” the group said.

Alaska’s GCI became the latest carrier to raise timing concerns on an FCC proposal that carriers more precisely route wireless 911 calls and texts to public safety answering points through location-based routing (LBR) (see 2212210047). “A longer timeline than proposed in the NPRM would likely be required for non-nationwide and regional carriers such as GCI to both deploy and use LBR in their networks,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-64. GCI also said implementing LBR for SMS- and MMS-based texts-to-911 “would be much more difficult than for IP-originated wireless calls, and that significant additional standards development and industry agreement should occur prior to any FCC requirement.” GCI representatives met with FCC Public Safety Bureau staff.