The FCC granted waiver requests by Comcast and Midcontinent Communications (see 2004280039), which Comcast partially owns, allowing both to bid in the citizens broadband radio service auction. “In light of Comcast’s limited role in the management and decisions of Midco under a long-standing agreement unrelated to the auction and the internal controls implemented by the parties, we find that application of the prohibition against commonly controlled applicants would not serve its intended purpose in these specific circumstances and that waiver serves the public interest,” the Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics said in an order in Wednesday’s Daily Digest.

Xcel Energy supports the FCC’s approach to reallocating the 900 MHz band, which will allow for broadband (see 2005010038), but sought a tweak on coverage benchmarks that takes into account that the most likely users will be utilities. “Clarify and confirm … that in determining whether the relevant coverage benchmarks have been met, the ‘license area’ to be covered will exclude those areas where use of the broadband segment is precluded, such as by the requirement to protect incumbent operations within the county and/or within 70 miles of the county border,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 17-200.

T-Mobile said it had the most postpaid net adds of any of U.S. carrier in Q1, reporting for the first time since completing the buy of Sprint. Front-line employees “stepped up big” during COVID-19, but the company is feeling financial effects, new CEO Mike Sievert told analysts Wednesday. “As the nation starts to emerge” after COVID-19, the company expects customers to be looking for better value in a weakened economy and T-Mobile will benefit, he said. Temporary closing of many company stores meant lower subscriber adds, service and equipment revenue “in the very short term,” he said. Chief Financial Officer Braxton Carter said profit took a $117 million hit due to the cost of closing the Sprint deal, with an $86 million hit from the pandemic. T-Mobile will have a better view of pandemic effects as Q2 continues, he said. The company plans to provide full-year guidance on the Q2 call, Carter said. “What a crazy quarter this was,” Sievert said: “The crisis has highlighted how crucial connectivity has become to our daily lives.” The carrier is deploying 5G on 2.5 GHz spectrum from Sprint in New York and Philadelphia and 5G on 600 MHz now covers 215 million customers, T-Mobile said. Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray said T-Mobile will soon deploy on the 2.5 GHz band across the Northeast. Revenue was $8.7 billion, up 5% over last year, and profit $951 million, also up 5%. T-Mobile reported record low postpaid churn of 0.86% and free cash flow of $732 million headed into the first of two big spectrum auctions this year.

T-Mobile appears poised to close 1,500-2,000 Metro by T-Mobile prepaid brand stores across the country “not as a result of the pandemic, but due to the merger” with Sprint, the Communications Workers of America said Tuesday: “The move will eliminate thousands of jobs, and comes despite promises by T-Mobile not to cut jobs following the merger.” T-Mobile allegedly “engaged in an intense union busting campaign” at a store in Del Rio, Texas, where workers are trying to organize to join CWA, the union said. “A T-Mobile manager from Laredo has driven three hours to the store multiple times to meet with the workers indoors for captive audience meetings to pressure them to vote against union representation." The company didn’t comment.

The FCC said Monday it's approving special temporary authority for many wireless ISPs to use the lower 45 MHz of the 5.9 GHz band. More than 100 STAs were granted to more than 100 WISPs, and many “reported that the spectrum is helping to address the increased demand for broadband associated with the COVID-19 pandemic,” said a news release.

The National Rural Education Association urged the FCC to act on rules allowing TV white space (TVWS) devices to operate with higher power in less-congested areas. Commissioners approved an NPRM 5-0 in February (see 2002280055). “Many of our rural students are outside the reach of existing broadband networks, but better TVWS spaces rules could change that,” the group said in a filing posted Monday in docket 20-36. The American Society for Health Care Engineering of the American Hospital Association raised concerns, citing wireless medical telemetry service use of TV channel 37. “Allowing higher power for unlicensed White Space operations … could cause potential interference to licensed operations on co-channel or adjacent channel frequencies,” the group said. Comments were due Monday.

Filings are due May 12 on preliminary categories and estimates of expenses incumbents may incur as they clear fixed-satellite operations from the 3.7-4.0 GHz portion of the C band and fixed service operations from the entire band, said Friday's Federal Register. The FCC docket is 18-122.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau extended to June 30 its May 4 deadline for finalizing findings that Huawei (docket 19-351) and ZTE (19-352) are a national security threat, it said Friday. The bureau wants more time to examine comments.

Sprint postpaid net adds were 502,000 in Q1, with adds offset by postpaid phone losses of 348,000, T-Mobile said in an SEC filing Friday, reporting on Sprint’s last months as a stand-alone company. Postpaid churn was 1.86%, up 5 basis points year over year. Prepaid net losses were 10,000 in Q1. T-Mobile will release its results this week with a call Wednesday, its first since completing its buy of Sprint. End-of-period connections were 54.7 million, up from last year's 54.5 million. Financial and operational results for Sprint are expected to be released in May after an audit is complete, T-Mobile said.

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology approved a Massachusetts Institute of Technology waiver request for its WiTrack System, a swept-frequency ultra wideband indoor medical monitoring device (see 1903290014). Chairman Ajit Pai tied the approval to the FCC’s response to COVID-19. Pai said he saw a prototype in action when at MIT in 2018. “Devices like these can be the difference between life or death, especially now when remote monitoring is critical for patients, seniors and their caregivers as we all practice social distancing,” he said Thursday. The device is designed to “measure physiological characteristics such as gait, breathing, heart rate, and sleep, and facilitates the detection of potentially life-threatening events, such as falls,” the order said.