Groups asked the FCC to quickly approve additional rule changes proposed in a Further NPRM on the 6 GHz band (see 2006300042). Very-low power “devices with sufficient power to be fully functional will prove central to the entire 5G wireless ecosystem,” the Public Interest Spectrum Coalition filed in docket 18-295: “Widespread access everywhere to untethered, solar- or battery-powered VLP devices will facilitate not only Wi-Fi 6 networks, but will also make 5G mobile networks far more valuable.” New America’s Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge, Consumer Reports and the Consumer Federation of America were among the groups on the filing.

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau seeks comment on three requests for waiver of rules requiring smaller carriers to meet a June 30 deadline for supporting real-time text (RTT) instead of traditional text technology for IP-based voice services. The bureau sought comment on a Competitive Carriers Association request on behalf of six members for a temporary waiver (see 2006170039), plus requests by US Cellular and East Kentucky Network. Comments are due July 31, replies Aug. 17 in docket 16-145, said Wednesday's notice. Commissioners approved an order on a common standard for the transition in December 2016 (see 1612150048).

The FCC is proposing lump sum payments to C-band MVPD earth station operators that could cover as little as 7% of the expected average relocation costs, and that "unjustifiably inadequate" amount undermines the whole point of the lump sums letting MVPDs do the transition on their own instead of involving C-band satellite operators, said ACA Connects. Its docket 18-122 posting Tuesday was on a conversation including ACA President Matt Polka, ACA Chairman and Boycom Vision President Patricia Jo Boyers and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. ACA said the FCC proposal that the lump sum amount would differ depending on the number and type of antennas and tech upgrades needed at each earth station, and that some relocation costs would be reviewed after the MVPD earth station operators opt for the lump sum, goes against FCC design of the lump sum option as it requires declaration of a single, per-earth station lump sum amount to be available upfront. The association said the Wireless Bureau should seek comment on a proposed new lump sum amount for MVPD earth stations that's more consistent with the C-band order, and the bureau should disclose its assumptions and methodologies underlying its revised lump sum proposal. That wouldn't delay the transition because MVPD earth stations are a minority of those that will need transitioning, it said.

The FCC is watching the 2.5 GHz tribal window for license applications with an eye on extending it past an Aug. 3 end, Chairman Ajit Pai told senators who raised questions. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel repeatedly urged keeping the window open because of the pandemic (see 2004290055). The window opened Feb. 3. “We are sensitive to the interests of both current applicants and potential ones, particularly given the COVID-19 pandemic,” Pai wrote in letters posted Tuesday. “We continue to monitor the situation as much of the country, including many Tribal Nations, reopens for business, and have yet to make a decision on whether to extend the window. ... Commission staff stand ready to provide assistance to any Tribes seeking to avail themselves of this opportunity.”

FirstNet countered T-Mobile arguments that the FCC should impose interoperability requirements on the public safety network (see 1910150038). T-Mobile made its case in a recent filing in docket 19-254. “Congress made the FirstNet Authority the agency expressly responsible for carrying out the provisions implementing and overseeing” the network, FirstNet said, in a letter posted Monday. The system opposes related petitions by the Boulder Regional Emergency Telephone Service Authority.

Industrial Internet of Things Coalition members “described the difficulties critical industries experience in acquiring much-needed spectrum, in particular broadband spectrum, both in the auction process and in the aftermarket,” in a meeting with FCC Wireless Bureau staff, said a filing posted Monday in docket 19-38: “Their spectrum needs are defined by industrial operational requirements that do not necessarily conform to FCC population or geographic criteria designed to ensure optimal wireless coverage for consumer use.” Southern Linc, the Enterprise Wireless Alliance, Edison Electric Institute, Anterix and Utilities Technology Council participated.

Three electricity associations support an Edison Electric Institute request for a stay, pending judicial review, of an April FCC order opening the 6 GHz band for unlicensed use (see 2004230059). “EEI is likely to prevail on the merits; utilities would suffer irreparable harm absent a stay, and other parties would not suffer immediate harm if the stay is granted,” said the American Public Power Association, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and Utilities Technology Council in a filing posted Monday in docket 18-295. The Wi-Fi Alliance and NCTA opposed the stay, as did Apple and other tech companies (see here). “All of EEI’s arguments -- those it is likely to make to the Court and on which its Petition is premised -- rest on the baseless assertion that harmful interference will occur,” the alliance said: Objections “amount to little more than disagreement -- without facts --with the Commission’s decision.” NCTA said the commission “carefully analyzed an extensive technical record and correctly determined that ‘fixed microwave links will have an insignificant chance of experiencing harmful interference from indoor low-power unlicensed operations.’”

The FCC rejected Anthem's request for clarity that health plan providers can enroll customers in message programs without “prior express consent” and instead require they take affirmative action to prevent calls and texts. The company sought to exempt certain nonemergency, urgent healthcare calls from TCPA requirements. “The mere existence of a caller-consumer relationship does not satisfy the prior-express-consent requirement for calls to wireless numbers, nor does it create an exception,” the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau said in an order in Friday’s Daily Digest.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau released a new version Friday of an April notice of apparent liability against TracFone proposing a $6 million fine against the Lifeline prepaid wireless service provider. The bureau alleges the company obtained support for hundreds of ineligible subscribers in Florida in 2018 (see 2004020070). Among the details is the number of subscribers “improperly enrolled” -- 1,288. Another added detail is that the provider “de-enrolled the subscribers that it had claimed during the relevant time period” the day after filing a response to the FCC. TracFone didn’t comment Friday. “Because TracFone has not submitted a petition for reconsideration nor sought a judicial stay of the Commission’s denial of its confidentiality request within the ten-day period prescribed by the Commission’s rules, the less redacted version of the NAL is now being made publicly available,” the bureau said.

A December FCC order making various “non-substantive, editorial revisions to the Table of Frequency Allocations” consistent with the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference (see 1912230069), is effective July 27, says Friday's Federal Register.