The FCC Wireless Bureau approved waivers sought by the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians for tribal licenses to use the 2.5 GHz band. The three parcels of land are held in trust by the tribe and don’t qualify under the tribal window for a license, absent a waiver, the bureau said Monday. The tribe demonstrated the parcels are “either held for the specific benefit of the Tribe or are directly owned by the Tribe,” the bureau said: “The Tribe’s authority over the lands is adequately demonstrated by the fact that the Santa Ynez have built Tribal housing and other Tribal facilities in these areas.”
T-Mobile asked the FCC to end the administrative apparatus run by the 800 MHz transition administrator and declare the 800 MHz rebanding complete. Over 99.99% of the more than 2,000 frequency reconfiguration agreements “have been fully implemented and are closed,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 02-55: “The only exceptions are two signed but still open FRAs.” One is a “no cost” agreement that will be needed if the FCC decides the commercial licensee holds valid licenses that will require a “paper retune.” The second is with “a public safety licensee who just completed its reconfiguration but has not yet fully completed the administrative aspects of its rebanding project,” T-Mobile said. Commissioners approved a rebanding order in 2004.
Boingo Wireless agreed to be sold in a $854 million deal to an affiliate of digital infrastructure investment firm Digital Colony Management for $14 per share in cash, said the Wi-Fi carrier Monday. Boingo canceled its financial earnings call Monday. The stock closed 25.1% higher at $14.26.
T-Mobile objected to the FCC’s data collection order, which required the nine largest Lifeline providers to submit five years of network cost data for the Wireline Bureau's Lifeline market report. The order's questionnaire "violates the Paperwork Reduction Act, exceeds the Bureau’s delegated authority, and has serious design deficiencies,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 20-437: “The exclusion of non-mobile Lifeline providers AT&T and Verizon, limits the usefulness of any data obtained.”
Revised rules for over-the-air reception devices, approved by the FCC in January (see 2101070068), take effect March 29, said a Federal Register notice Thursday.
Wireless has an important role to play in the emergency broadband benefit program, CTIA President Meredith Baker said in a call with FCC acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “Maximize participation” in the EBB by making program administration “as simple as possible" for households and providers and allowing eligible low-income consumers to apply EBB benefits to the services and devices they choose, including mobile wireless services, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 20-445.
The FCC Wireless Bureau granted 21 more licenses in the 2.5 GHz band to tribal communities, mostly in Alaska, it said Wednesday. That brings to 205 the number granted so far. “Tribal communities should have the same access to the opportunities of the digital age as other Americans,” said acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “Tribal communities in New Mexico and Arizona are already using this part of our wireless spectrum to provide the only reliable high-speed wireless signal available in their communities.”
The FCC Office of Economics and Analytics and Wireline Bureau OK'd adjustment factors that took effect Wednesday, said the Federal Register, providing higher reimbursements for low-demand, hilly and mountainous areas for the 5G Fund.
Comments are due March 29, replies April 26, on use of a terrain-based propagation model, such as Longley-Rice, for determining TV white space channel availability, says Thursday's Federal Register. The docket is 20-36.
T-Mobile’s new Magenta Max 5G plan (see 2102220043) shows the company is starting to press its advantages over competitors, New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin told investors Wednesday. It's offering “genuinely unlimited 4G and 5G data,” he said: “Verizon and AT&T can’t match this, at least not without a host of nasty caveats.”