AT&T said Tuesday it's the first carrier to launch location-based routing to automatically transmit wireless 911 calls to the appropriate public safety answering point, using technology from Intrado. “AT&T can quickly and more accurately identify where a wireless 9-1-1 call is coming from using device GPS and hybrid information to route the call to the correct 9-1-1 call center,” the company said: “With location-based routing, a device can be located and routed within 50 meters of the device location. Prior to this launch, wireless 9-1-1 calls were routed based on the location of cell towers, which can cover up to a 10-mile radius.” The carrier rolled out the service to 16 states and Guam, with full nationwide coverage expected to be completed by the end of next month, it said.

Wireless telecom “has escaped the worst effects” of the global semiconductor shortage, and chips for cellular infrastructure equipment “will continue to dodge significant shortages going forward,” reported Strategy Analytics Monday. SA expects availability of chips for Wi-Fi access points and smartphones “will continue to improve through next year,” it said. “Tight supplies of semiconductors will gradually ease through the remainder of 2022 into 2023 as new foundry capacity comes online,” said SA analyst Christopher Taylor. China increased its production of semiconductors by more than 17% in 2021, “and production expansion in China will accelerate this year, helping to ease the global shortage,” said Taylor. Semiconductor investments in the U.S., EU, South. Korea, India and other countries “have also started to bear fruit, with the most significant capacity expansions due to start in 2023,” he said.

A Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson blasted as “groundless and denigrating” remarks by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in Africa that countries that choose Huawei for their 5G deployments risk “giving up their sovereignty” by “turning over their data” to the Chinese government. Chinese companies, including Huawei, “have conducted mutually beneficial cooperation with many countries in Africa and the world beyond,” said the spokesperson Monday: “There is not a single case of cybersecurity accident, surveillance or wiretapping in the course of cooperation.” Countries that do business with Huawei “may find themselves bringing in a surveillance capability they didn’t even know was there,” Sherman told African journalists in a digital media briefing Friday from Libreville, Gabon.

With Dish Network’s "spectrum portfolio" and “our rural roots,” there’s “certainly an opportunity” for the company to play in “fixed wireless in rural America,” said Chairman Charlie Ergen on a Q1 earnings call Friday. “We’re watching closely what T-Mobile and Verizon are doing,” he said. “I think it’s very creative in terms of what they’re doing. I think there’s maybe other ways to do it, depending on where you are and the densities you have.” Dish thinks the 12 GHz band, flexible use of which is being considered in an FCC rulemaking, is “the ideal frequency” for fixed wireless, said Ergen. “We’re hopeful the FCC will make some rulings on that,” he said. "In a funny sort of way," there may be more "upside" to fixed wireless than "the belief you have in linear TV," he said. Dish lost about 228,000 satellite TV subscribers in Q1, said CEO Erik Carlson on the call. "We still remain focused on acquiring and maintaining long-term, profitable customers, and we continue to play where we're strongest, in rural America, with higher-credit-quality subscribers," he said. Dish has an Analyst Day event scheduled for Tuesday in Las Vegas, its first 5G commercial deployment (see 2205040057).

APCO urged the FCC to proceed cautiously in granting requests for special temporary authority for experimental operations in the 6 GHz band, in a call with FCC Public Safety Bureau staff. “Given the risk of interference from unlicensed devices operating on the same channels licensed for public safety microwave links, these applications must be carefully evaluated,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 18-295. “While real-world testing was not conducted prior to adoption of the 6 GHz Order, subsequent testing has confirmed the potential for interference and demonstrated that fundamental assumptions in the Order were incorrect,” APCO said. How and where devices are used “is important for evaluating the risk of interference and should therefore be noted in the applications,” APCO said: “The types, numbers, and locations of user devices should also be specified.”

CTIA officials stressed the importance of formal contracts between licensees and the 3.45 GHz relocation payment clearinghouse, in a call with FCC Wireless Bureau staff. “Appropriate oversight of the Clearinghouse can be assured by confirming that licensees covering some reasonable proportion of the total relocation liability have negotiated contracts with the Clearinghouse,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 19-348. “Because the percentage of the 3.45 GHz transition costs that will be owed by each licensee is directly proportional to the number of licenses acquired in the auction, identifying key stakeholders among the 3.45 GHz Service licensees is relatively simple,” CTIA said: “The top three winning bidders will be responsible for more than 80 percent of the transition costs and the top five winning bidders will be responsible for more than 90 percent.” The FCC last week awarded licensees won in the 3.45 GHz auction (see 2205040057).

The Wireless Innovation Forum is seeking “individuals interested in crafting comments in response to the current” FCC notice of inquiry on receiver standards, on behalf of the forum, CEO Lee Pucker told members in an email sent Thursday. “This topic seems to come up about every 10 years, with a similar NOI on 2003,” and a public notice by the FCC’s Technology Advisory Council in 2013, he said. Commissioners approved the NOI 4-0 last month (see 2204210049). “It's just standard operating procedure within the WInnForum to pull together a group such as this in response to any new NOI related to our mission statement, but scope of what they will comment, if anything, is still very much” to be decided, Pucker emailed Friday. “If they do decide to comment, nothing will be public until it goes through the ballot process so all member organizations can weigh in,” he said.

The FCC rejected T-Mobile’s proposed changes to the list of licenses that will be offered in the 2.5 GHz auction (see 2204270062), scheduled to start July 29. “After reviewing the ex parte filing, we decline to adjust the current inventory of licenses,” said a Friday notice by the Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics. “We do not anticipate any need to publish further revisions to the inventory, except for changes that may be required by disposition of pending Rural Tribal Priority Window (RTPW) applications.” The FCC said, “Extensive review of the current license data already has been conducted, and potential bidders have been advised to conduct their own further due diligence with respect to any offered licenses that are of interest to them, especially in light of the fact that the amount of unassigned area or unassigned spectrum for some licenses is very small.”

T-Mobile has no plans to raises rate for service despite inflation, CEO Mike Sievert said Thursday. T-Mobile has been locked in a battle with AT&T to sign up smartphone subscribers and AT&T said this week it will raise rates for some older plans (see 2205030066). “Investors, customers, and employees have all been asking: when will T-Mobile raise rates?” Sievert blogged: “Our answer is Price Lock. Even as the price of everything else is going up, the Un-carrier is making a commitment to customers joining T-Mobile that we won’t raise the price of their wireless rate plans.”

Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety urged FCC action on revised rules for radars in the 60 GHz band, the subject of an NPRM last summer (see 2110180062), in a call with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “Advocates reiterated its support for expanding operational flexibility to enable the introduction of technology into motor vehicles to address the issue of hyperthermia deaths..., in particular children who have unknowingly been left in or entered vehicles without adult supervision,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 21-264. They “noted that radar-based occupant presence detection systems may be necessary for the safety of occupants when autonomous vehicles (AVs) are introduced to the fleet. Advocates foresees the need for AVs to be able to identify seat occupancy and restraint use so that all occupants are safely restrained before initiating any movements.”