The FCC Wireless Bureau approved a conditional waiver allowing the NFL to continue to operate its coach-to-coach communications system in the citizens broadband radio service band in the “limited circumstance” of an internet outage at stadiums during games. The league must have a “valid and active authorization” from a spectrum access system operator, said Friday's order. The league must use "at least two independent, unaffiliated” ISPs “with separate physical connections at each NFL stadium throughout the season,” it said.

T-Mobile is partnering with driverless car company Halo in Las Vegas, using the carrier’s 5G network. A customer orders the car, which shows up without a driver, for travel to a destination, said the companies Thursday. Halo has operated on the T-Mobile 5G network since it began driving on public Las Vegas roads earlier this year, they said.

Wireless ISP Association President Claude Aiken spoke with Commissioner Brendan Carr on WISPA supporting FCC efforts "to make broadband mapping more accurate and more granular,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 20-34. “Developing accurate data about ‘where broadband is and is not’ is a necessary first step before awarding subsidies.”

The Utilities Technology Council, Edison Electric Institute and Southern Co. urged the FCC to pause further certification for unlicensed equipment in the 6 GHz band, pending further interference testing, in a call with aides to acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “The probability of interference to licensed microwave systems and the risk to the safety, security, and reliability of critical infrastructure energy and water utilities, as well as public safety and commercial communications systems which rely on 6 GHz microwave systems is simply too great,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-295.

Comments are due Aug. 6, replies Aug. 23, in docket 21-282 on Gogo Business Aviation's requested waiver of effective radiated power limits for air-to-ground operations in the 849-851 MHz and 894-896 MHz bands, said an FCC Wireless Bureau public notice Wednesday. The bureau said Gogo claims it needs the waiver for transition to an orthogonal frequency division multiplex technology system that will improve coverage, reliability and throughput for inflight connectivity in North America.

Incompas and the Computer & Communications Industry Association urged the FCC to “follow the robust record” and open 12 GHz for terrestrial mobile. This "would accelerate mobile market competition" and "strengthen America’s 5G edge,” they said. “This action would in no way undermine the utilization of the 12 GHz spectrum band for satellite services and would protect incumbents from interference.” Replies were due later Wednesday in docket 20-443.

Comments are due Aug. 6, replies Sept. 7, in FCC docket 21-230 on an NPRM, OK’d by commissioners 4-0 in June (see 2106160062), on rules and use of the automatic identification system for devices used to mark fishing equipment, says Wednesday's Federal Register.

Commercial Drone Alliance representatives urged a rulemaking to develop service and licensing rules allowing drone use of the 5030-5091 MHz band, in a call with an aide to acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The alliance supports allowing command and control operations in other flexible-use bands, said a filing posted Tuesday in RM-11798.

Facebook, Intel and Qualcomm urged a tweak to the FCC draft NPRM on short-range radars in the 57-64 GHz band, set for a commissioner vote next week (see 2106220060). The draft repeatedly cites European Telecommunications Standards Institute standard EN 305 550 as “its basis for recommending” a 20 dBm average effective isotropic radiated power limit, but the standard is undergoing “a major revision with the likely outcome that new requirements will be established for multiple diverse use cases targeting the 60 GHz band,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 21-264. The draft should note possible changes, the companies said.

Automakers urged the FCC to require reimbursement for relocating dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) out of the 5.9 GHz band, in replies posted Tuesday in docket 19-138. Disagreements continue on the 5-0 November order reallocating the spectrum for Wi-Fi and cellular-vehicle-to-everything technology (see 2011180043). The Alliance for Automotive Innovation wants a program in which unlicensed users in the lower 45-MHz would have to pay to move DSRC. The alliance cited costs incurred by states and cities. “The request for reasonable compensation is a bipartisan concern,” the group said: “It would be extraordinary for the Commission to transfer spectrum worth billions of dollars from traffic safety use by the auto industry to commercial use by the cable and unlicensed communities without at least requiring the new entrants to pay relocation costs.” The alliance wants more spectrum for auto safety. The Intelligent Transportation Society of America urged reimbursement “consistent with almost thirty years of precedent” that “any licensees displaced by the Commission’s action be provided with reasonable compensation of their expenses incurred in complying with an otherwise unfunded mandate.” Paying relocation costs would be “unworkable and unprecedented,” NCTA countered. Information from DSRC users “demonstrates that all or the vast majority of the asserted costs to those licensees are attributable to the transition from DSRC equipment and operations to C-V2X equipment and operations,” NCTA said: “None of the parties seeking to require consumers, schools, and businesses who purchase Wi-Fi devices to compensate them explain why the costs of shifting from DSRC to C-V2X should fall on broadband consumers.” There's “no obligation to reimburse incumbents for their investments in a failed technology … that never deployed and left virtually the entire … band vacant nationwide,” said Public Knowledge and New America. The auto industry is “shifting to C-V2X whether or not the Commission moved to reallocate the 5.9 GHz band,” the groups said. The Wi-Fi Alliance said a reimbursement program would require congressional action: When the FCC has required that moving costs be paid, it's “in the context of the reallocated spectrum being licensed through competitive bidding, to new entrants, with the new entrants paying relocation costs.” The 5G Automotive Association urged the FCC to act quickly on rules for C-V2X in the band. The group said there's broad agreement the proposed emission limit for the unlicensed use of the band outdoors won’t protect auto safety. T-Mobile sought “flexible technical rules that will allow C-V2X operators to innovate” and protections for safety from Wi-Fi interference.