The Communications Workers of America said Friday the FCC took the right steps in sending letters to Verizon and Tracfone on their proposed deal (see 2104140064). “CWA and a growing coalition, including seventeen state attorneys general, have been urging the FCC to more closely scrutinize how Verizon intends to serve TracFone’s millions of low-income families who rely on the Lifeline program,” said Brian Thorn, CWA senior researcher.

Building open radio access networks could be difficult, warned the Marconi Society in a filing posted Friday in FCC docket 21-63. “In Open RAN, the network integration has no single owner and is therefore problematic,” said the society. “While integration is easier in a private/enterprise network, public networks are much more complex and integrating network elements into a coherent, efficient RAN is proving to be difficult. Solving this integration gap requires new technology intervention and investments.” Commissioners approved an ORAN notice of inquiry 4-0 last month (see 2103170049).

Strand Consult questioned whether T-Mobile is keeping a commitment to add jobs, made as part of its buy of Sprint, in a report Friday on four-to-three combinations. Carriers sometimes oversell what they can do after a combination, Strand said. “When mobile operators fail to keep their promises, this reflects poorly on future consolidations,” the firm said: “Consider how T-Mobile promised to increase jobs following the merger. While there may be hiring in specialized areas, the total employment of the new entity is well below the total number of jobs of the two parties before.” T-Mobile didn’t comment.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit sent back to the National Labor Relations Board a dispute over whether T-Mobile unlawfully set up a shadow labor organization, T Voice, to undermine support for the Communications Workers of America. “Essential to the Board’s decision here was its view that an organization does not engage in ‘dealing with’ an employer unless it makes ‘group proposals’ to the employer,” said a unanimous Friday decision, written by Judge Judith Rogers, in docket 20-1044. “The ‘group proposals’ requirement is in tension with the cases cited by CWA in which the Board found there was a labor organization without examining whether employee proposals had been embraced by the group through any formal process.” Rogers said NLRB must consider the difference between a group proposal, which is protected under the National Labor Relations Act, and feedback from workers to management. The court said it normally would defer to the NLRB, but in this case, given unanswered questions, it remanded the case for further consideration. “The court is left uncertain about what the record must show for the Board to find that an organization made group proposals, as opposed to engaging in mere brainstorming. Is it enough that an employee representative makes a proposal while acting in a representative capacity?” Rogers wrote. Judges Harry Edwards and David Tatel were the other panel members. T-Mobile and CWA didn't comment.

Puerto Rico’s DWireless agreed to pay an $11,000 civil penalty, implement a compliance plan and admit it operated unlicensed devices in an unauthorized manner, causing interference to FAA terminal Doppler weather radar, the FCC said Thursday. The bureau initially proposed a $25,000 penalty, but the wireless ISP “demonstrated that it could not pay the full amount of the proposed fine,” the bureau said. The violations concerned devices configured to operate on a 40 MHz channel centered on 5.585 GHz, which affected radar at San Juan International Airport, the bureau said.

Verizon is “pleased the FCC's process continues to progress” and is “reviewing the FCC's request,” a spokesperson said in response to a Wednesday letter posing questions on the company’s proposed Tracfone buy (see 2104140064). “We feel confident that the FCC will recognize the consumer benefits of strengthening competition for value-conscious prepaid customers and of bringing facilities-based competition for wireless Lifeline services,” the spokesperson said.

Microsoft is pleased the FCC’s draft proposal on wireless mics “takes into account the potential impact on white space devices,” company representatives told an aide to acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “Microsoft reviewed a series of wireless microphone proceedings and noted its view that for technical reasons, the Part 74 wireless microphone industry seems to care most about the UHF band operations rather than the bands authorized above and below,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 21-115. Commissioners are to vote next week on the wireless mics NPRM (see 2104010056).

Qualcomm said it completed 5G data calls combining millimeter wave with frequency-division duplexing or time division duplex sub-6 GHz spectrum by using 5G stand-alone mode dual connectivity. It combined the company's Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF system and QTM545 mmWave antenna module inside a smartphone form-factor device, demonstrating the ability to aggregate low, mid- and high bands across global combinations, said the company Tuesday. Spectrum aggregation, including dual connectivity using mmWave and sub-6 GHz frequencies, is “critical to delivering multi-Gigabit speeds and massive capacity required for a new generation of consumer and enterprise applications,” said the company. Combining different types of radio spectrum will enable mobile 5G devices to achieve wired broadband-class speeds, even in challenging conditions such as crowded venues and transit hubs, it said.

Michigan’s Consumers Energy asked the FCC for special temporary authority to use Part 22 spectrum in four market areas while a more permanent application is pending. “This spectrum is used for Emergency communications, internal security, plant fire & EMS communications, fuel handling, plant maintenance as well as general use corporate voice communications,” said a Wednesday posting.

Despite concerns expressed by some 6 GHz incumbents (see 2103290028), the Wi-Fi Alliance said it has been active in the 6 GHz Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG), in a call with an aide to FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “Some 6 GHz stakeholders wrongly assert that Wi-Fi devices are urgently required to support interference testing,” the alliance said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-295: “But the general issue of unlicensed device coexistence with incumbent services is not within the scope of the MSG’s work,” and the FCC addressed it in its April 2020 order.