Wireless needs to be part of the broadband equation as the government awards money to build infrastructure approved under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (see 2204180045), said CTIA in a statement. “Fixed wireless is emerging as a consumer favorite for home broadband, and those same 5G signals can connect school buses, farm tractors, first responders and an array of mobile solutions,” the group said: “When you factor in the cost and speed of deployment, we’re confident that NTIA and the states will recognize that a truly connected nation requires a mix of technologies, including wireless.”

The 5G for 12 GHz Coalition updated aides to FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington on the group's push for revised rules to use the band for 5G, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 20-443. The proposal “continues to gain support from a wide array of policy thought leaders, public interest groups, and service providers,” coalition representatives said. The filing highlighted the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society’s recently announced support (see 2203210056).

T-Mobile wants to explore the use of the 6 GHz band in its operations. The carrier sought special temporary authority to run tests to “evaluate additional Wi-Fi 6 capabilities and performance utilizing 6 GHz spectrum” in the Alexandria and Falls Church, Virginia, markets. T-Mobile said in its application it hopes to start the tests now, to run through Sept. 1.

Comments are due May 2 on a petition by T-Mobile to be allowed to use stage 2 mobile support through a program providing emergency relief to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to pay for the deployment of distributed antenna systems. Replies are due May 9, in docket 18-143, said a Monday FCC Wireline Bureau notice. “DAS networks in approved buildings would remain operational with redundant signal sources and power even if the surrounding network is not operational,” T-Mobile said in its petition: “The deployments will make the network more resilient, particularly in the event of an emergency, and are fully consistent with the rules.”

Representatives of Broadcom, Kyrio and the Wi-Fi Alliance asked the FCC to start approving automated frequency control operators for the 6 GHz band, in a call with Office of Engineering and Technology staff. “The next steps are for OET to conditionally approve applicants that demonstrate that their proposed systems would comply with all AFC requirements and begin the trial period,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 18-295: “There’s no reason to delay granting conditional approvals.”

The FCC revised its list of licenses that will be available in the 2.5 GHz auction, taking 19 off the list Friday (see 2203220066). A March notice “did not account for all canceled, terminated, or expired licenses that were granted waivers for late-filed renewals,” said a notice from the Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics. “The analysis that resulted in the March 21 inventory incorrectly reduced the geographic service area of certain active licenses because it assumed that those active licenses had their geographic service areas reduced by the canceled, expired, or terminated licenses,” the FCC said: “Upon further analysis, Commission staff found 19 instances where county/channel block combinations that had been listed in the March 21 inventory in fact had no unassigned spectrum.” The licenses are in Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York, Tennessee and Vermont and are listed in a footnote of the notice. The FCC will offer some 8,000 licenses in the auction, which starts July 29.

T-Mobile will host its Q1 earnings call April 27 at 8 a.m. EDT, said the carrier Thursday. This is a change for T-Mobile, which customarily released quarterly results and held the call after the markets closed. The AT&T and Verizon Q1 calls are set for April 21 and 22, respectively, both also before the markets open.

Wireless mic maker Sennheiser completed its rounds of FCC commissioners’ offices, meeting with an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks on the vacant channel issue (see 2204120061). The FCC is expected to deny a petition for reconsideration by the company of a December 2020 order closing the agency’s 2015 vacant channel NPRM (see 2204060068). “Sennheiser has repeatedly demonstrated that this spectrum that is essential for wireless microphones is in short supply and at risk of disappearing entirely,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 12-268.

Third-party speed test app developers can immediately start submitting their apps to the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology for review and approval, OET and the FCC Broadband Data Task Force said in a Thursday docket 22-152 notice. OET said it will try to complete its review of proposals received by June 9, "in advance of the FCC’s publication of the initial versions of the broadband availability maps required under the Broadband DATA Act.” The timetable will allow “third-party apps, in addition to the FCC Speed Test app, to be made available to consumers and other entities to begin submitting mobile challenge and crowdsource data … once the mobile broadband availability maps are published,” the notice said.

CTIA raised concerns about an FCC proposal that would require carriers to report and measure the performance of wireless emergency alerts, in a Further NPRM set for a commissioner vote next week (see 2203310065). A CTIA representative spoke with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 15-91. “According to the Commission’s 2021 Nationwide WEA Test Report, the test WEA was received by the overwhelming majority of respondents with a compatible device that opted into the test -- approximately nine out of ten -- within two minutes of transmission,” CTIA said: Proposals to require carriers to track delivery or display of WEAs “do not appear to be compatible with the foundational cell-broadcast technology used to meet the public safety mission of WEA and may undermine the voluntary nature of the WEA program as directed by Congress.”