FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel asked the nation’s top 15 mobile wireless providers for information on their data retention and privacy policies and general practices. The letters ask about carrier “policies around geolocation data, such as how long geolocation data is retained and why and what the current safeguards are to protect this sensitive information,” the FCC said: “The letters probe carriers about their processes for sharing subscriber geolocation data with law enforcement and other third parties’ data sharing agreements” and ask “how consumers are notified when their geolocation information is shared with third parties.” Providers have until Aug. 3 to respond. The letters are in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. They went to AT&T, Best Buy Health, Charter Communications, Comcast, Consumer Cellular, C-Spire, Dish Network, Google, H2O Wireless, Lycamobile, Mint Mobile, Red Pocket, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular and Verizon. “We do not sell customer location data,” a T-Mobile spokesperson emailed: “That data is released only when we receive a legal demand.” Others didn't comment Wednesday.

AT&T said FirstNet is prepared for hurricane season, with three storm systems already named by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The FirstNet Response Operations Group “led by former first responders … has been to Saint Croix, Saint John and Puerto Rico to ensure public safety agencies in the Caribbean have the mission-centric tools they require” and “on-island portable cell sites from the FirstNet fleet, they can quickly deploy … to provide a ‘bubble’ of connectivity following a major storm,” the carrier said Tuesday: “The team is also connecting with agencies," in Florida and along the Gulf to Louisiana and Texas.

WiMax Forum representatives updated the group’s 2017 proposal on service rules for aeronautical mobile airport communications systems, the subject of a 2019 NPRM (see 1909040057), in an FCC filing posted Monday in docket 19-140. The revisions reflect “new recommended limits for spurious emissions from AeroMACS transmitters … designed to better protect users in adjacent spectrum” provided by the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics, the forum said. The group asked the FCC to finalize the rules.

Sennheiser raised wireless mic issues in a meeting with staff from the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology and Wireless Bureau, said a filing posted Monday in 21-115 and other dockets. “In light of the termination of the Vacant Channel proceeding, Sennheiser discussed potential solutions to help solve the low-band spectrum crunch that wireless microphone operators are experiencing,” the company said (see 2205120031): “As Sennheiser has repeatedly emphasized, wireless microphones are inherently fault intolerant devices that require clean, low-band, UHF spectrum to operate effectively, particularly when deployed for live events that do not offer an opportunity for a second take.” Sennheiser urged the FCC to finalize a proceeding to adopt rules that permit wireless multichannel audio systems (see 2104220056). The company said the FCC should also complete a 2017 proceeding expanding eligibility for Part 74 licenses to include professional wireless mic users that don't routinely use 50 or more microphones (see 1710030020). “This proceeding has been pending for far too long, and the Commission should move expeditiously to adopt the rules associated with it,” the company said.

The NFL asked the FCC to approve its proposed waiver extension of rules for the citizens broadband radio service allowing the league to continue operating a coach-to-coach communications systems in the event of a localized internet outage in stadiums during games. The league noted only NCTA filed comments and supported the extension (see 2207120055). “Before seeking an extension … the NFL engineering team conducted extensive due diligence to see if an alternative approach was available, but after considering many options and consulting with both vendors and staff, the League concluded that a waiver was necessary for these very limited circumstances since a technology ‘work around’ was not available,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 21-111.

Shenandoah, UScellular and NorthWestern agreed to abide by a consent decree with the FCC, ending investigations into whether the carriers violated the four priority access license per market requirement of the agency’s citizens broadband radio service rules. Shenandoah agreed to implement a compliance plan and either amend its long-form application “to remove all licenses that, if granted, would cause it to exceed the four-PAL aggregation limit in an identified market” or amend the form “to remove enough PALs in each identified market to avoid exceeding the four-PAL aggregation limit,” said a Friday notice: “Frequencies that would have been authorized for use with a PAL had Shenandoah or other similarly situated applicants not amended an application pursuant to the Consent Decree may be authorized for use by another eligible licensee with another PAL at a later date and, in the interim, remain immediately available for use pursuant to the applicable General Authorized Access (GAA) rules.” The notice was by the Office of Economics and Analytics and Wireless Bureau. The USCellular and NorthWestern agreements were similar.

AT&T and Verizon are raising monthly fees for some subscribers, but both will be hard-pressed to keep up with the effects of inflation, MoffettNathanson’s Craig Moffett told investors Friday. “By Verizon’s own estimate, about a quarter of their total costs are inflation-sensitive,” Moffett said. “Assuming that those ~$21B of annual costs are rising by something like 5%, their total cost base will rise by ~$1B a year, offsetting all of the [average revenue per user] increase.” AT&T’s situation is similar, he said: “Yes, they will see higher revenue, but their costs, too, are rising more than fast enough to offset the benefit.” Promotions are also costing both, Moffett said. “To stem share losses in their Consumer Wireless segment, Verizon has increased promotional discounts for phones to as much as $800 for some trade-in devices for both new and existing premium unlimited customers,” he said.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, like 911, needs geolocation capabilities, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Friday in Philadelphia at an event marking Saturday's launch of 988 dialing for Lifeline. Saturday's launch "is not the end of things," she said, emphasizing the need for triangulation among cell towers "to know where you are" when dialing the Lifeline. The FCC is studying Lifeline geolocation issues (see (Ref:2206080058]). Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said the success of 988 dialing hinges on governors and tribal governments "owning 988" since it's not a federal program but a state and local one being run with some federal support. That support includes $430 million invested under the Biden administration to boost crisis call center capacity, he said.

As customers’ phone and device usage grows, they’re citing more problems with network quality, and the perception of network quality is declining, reported J.D. Power Thursday. The most common reported problem is slow loading or failure to load content, it said. The most “influential problems on network quality ratings continue to be streaming audio and video quality, low loading times and calls not going through,” said J.D. Power Managing Director Ian Greenblatt. “An uptick in wireless and device usage was bound to catch up to network quality,” Greenblatt said, saying the more wireless customers are growing adept in using data and streaming, the more they’re aware of problems. The number of problems reported is significantly lower when 5G is available, he said. Verizon Wireless ranked highest in five regions evaluated in the study, with the fewest network quality problems per 100 connections in call, messaging and data quality in the Mid-Atlantic, North Central, Northeast, Southeast and West regions. AT&T ranked highest or was tied in the three ratings in the Southwest.

The FCC Wireless Bureau will host a workshop Sept. 13 on the environmental compliance and historic preservation review process for the construction of communications facilities supporting FCC licensed services, the agency said Wednesday. The workshop will be in-person in the Commission Meeting Room at FCC headquarters, starting at 10 a.m. It will also be streamed on the agency’s YouTube channel. “FCC and other federal agency subject-matter experts will provide information on a range of topics related to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), and the FCC’s implementing regulations and related agreements,” the bureau said.