Verizon Wireless reached a settlement with Seattle-based retail worker Jesse Mason after terminating him last year, Communications Workers of America said Thursday. “The settlement includes Mason’s reinstatement at his Seattle and Shoreline stores as well as compensation for back pay and damages,” CWA said. The union filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board last year. “Mason’s return to work marks another major victory for Verizon Wireless workers, who have been organizing at stores across the country to secure living wages, better working conditions and staffing levels,” CWA said, saying Verizon retail workers first organized at three stores in Brooklyn, New York, in 2014 and “have since been gaining momentum, organizing and forming unions in Washington, Oregon and Illinois.”

Officials from the Open Technology Institute at New America and Public Knowledge asked about the status of two unlicensed bands, in calls with aides to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Nathan Simington, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 18-295. On 5.9 GHz, “we encouraged the Commission to move rapidly to authorize outdoor use at full Part 15 power levels just as soon as NTIA reports that it has resolved any remaining federal agency coordination issues,” the groups said: On 6 GHz “we encouraged rapid resolution of the critical issues in the [Further] NPRM, of which the authorization of Very Low Power devices and higher power for indoor-only use are particularly crucial for consumers and U.S. leadership in innovative next generation Wi-Fi.”

The FCC Wireless Bureau OK’d two additional licenses Thursday in the 900 MHz broadband segment for PDV Spectrum. Both are in Texas, a notice said. 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).

The O-RAN Alliance signed a memorandum of understanding with the OpenAirInterface Software Alliance, the ORAN group said. The alliances agreed to “co-operate on open Radio Access Network issues, open source software development, and 5G as well as next generation platforms for demonstrating O-RAN technology,” said a Wednesday news release: “Both organizations will encourage sharing of information in areas of mutual interest and may hold joint meetings and workshop.” The alliance also announced completion of O-RAN Release 3, with additional security features.

New GPR CEO Moran David and others from the company discussed its “innovative ground penetrating radar technology” in a meeting with staff from the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology and the Wireless Bureau, said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 19-241. The company, formerly known as WaveSense, offers “assisted driving and autonomous capabilities” using the technology. Among topics discussed were “GPR’s ability to deploy its technology in Europe,” GPR said: The GPR representatives “emphasized that the record reflects a negligible risk of harmful interference” from the technology “to incumbents, even in worst-case scenarios.” In 2019, the FCC sought comment on a waiver request for use of the technology, which operates at 103-403 MHz, for automotive safety (see 1908280009).

An order on the FCC’s equipment authorization program is mostly the same as the draft proposed by Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel (see 2302230059), based on a side-by-side comparison. None of the commissioners released statements. The order, approved earlier this week (see 2303130049), updates FCC rules to incorporate “four new and updated standards that are integral to equipment testing,” all from ANSI or the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The FCC added new text in the section on the implications for smaller companies. “The Commission cannot, at present, definitively quantify the cost of compliance and cannot determine whether small entities will have to hire attorneys, engineers, consultants, or other professionals when using the standards adopted in the Report and Order to comply with the Commission’s rules,” the order says. It notes some commenters, including Public Resource Org. and iFixit, “have requested free and unrestricted access” to relevant materials used in evaluations: “Such an approach, if implemented, would pose a burden to test laboratories, manufacturers and other businesses that could possibly qualify as small entities because the inability to continue to use the incorporation by reference process could jeopardize our ability to recognize state-of-the-art technical standards that have been adopted and are frequently updated through the consensus-driven standards development process.”

T-Mobile announced plans to buy Ka’ena, best known for Mint Mobile, a low-cost prepaid wireless brand partly owned by actor Ryan Reynolds, for $1.35 billion in cash and stock. T-Mobile also gets Ultra Mobile, which offers international calling options and wholesaler Plum. Clearance by the FCC and DOJ likely won’t be a problem, New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin told investors. Mint runs on T-Mobile’s network. “T-Mobile is acquiring the brands' sales, marketing, digital, and service operations, and plans to use its supplier relationships and distribution scale to help the brands to grow and offer competitive pricing and greater device inventory to more U.S. consumers seeking value offerings,” the carrier said Wednesday: “The Un-carrier will also be able to leverage Mint’s industry-leading digital [direct-to-customer] marketing expertise as part of its broader portfolio to reach new customer segments and geographies.” Mint founders David Glickman and Rizwan Kassim are expected to manage the brands, “which will generally operate as a separate business unit,” T-Mobile said. Reynolds “will continue on in his creative role on behalf of Mint.” Reynolds and T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert appeared together in an announcement on Twitter. “T-Mobile has assured me that our incredibly improvised and borderline reckless messaging strategy will also remain untouched,” Reynolds says in the posting. “I don’t remember the word reckless, Ryan,” Sievert deadpans. Reynolds assured the CEO he had added the word to the contract in crayon.

New Competitive Carriers Association President Tim Donovan met with officials from the FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology, including on the “recent lapse” of the FCC’s auction authority and the need of CCA members for certainty on the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program “before the July 15 deadline for participants to submit their first reimbursement requests.” The future of the affordable connectivity program is “front of mind for many of CCA’s carrier members,” CCA said in a filing posted Wednesday in 18-89 and other dockets. CCA continues to work with the commission and Congress to develop a “strong” spectrum pipeline and “3.1-3.45 GHz offers a chance for valuable mid-band spectrum,” the filing said. CCA also discussed the C band, citizens broadband radio service band and 12 GHz.

T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert signed an “amended and restated employment agreement” that extends his tenure at the company by five years, said an SEC filing last week. Sievert took over from former CEO John Legere, who largely engineered T-Mobile’s turnaround, three years ago (see 2004010069). Sievert’s annual base salary is $1.75 million, with annual long-term incentive awards of at least $18.5 million, to be awarded through stock.

Acconeer, which asked the FCC to revise rules for short-range radars in the 60 GHz band (see 2202090064), updated the FCC in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 21-48. The band was the topic of a 2021 NPRM (see 2107130066). This was the company's first filing in the docket since last summer. Acconeer noted it’s “the only company involved in the proceeding that is developing a 60 GHz pulse radar device for the U.S. market.”