Banks asked the FCC to grant Capital One a declaratory ruling that financial institutions getting an "opt-out" request from the recipient of an autodialed text message can follow up asking whether the request applies to all informational texts or a particular type. Comments posted through Tuesday in docket 18-152. The American Bankers Association said "banks often confront ambiguous expressions of intent to revoke consent," and customers could "face real harm" if they don't receive fraud alerts or data breach notifications. Consumers may partially revoke consent, the National Consumer Law Center said. The National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions supports "a reasonable, uniform opt-out method." Clarify the opt-out confirmation issue for all legitimate businesses, said the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dismissed a challenge of Verizon roaming rates by Flat Wireless. It "largely runs counter to Commission rules that deliberately eschew cost-based regulation of roaming rates,” wrote Judge Laurence Silberman Tuesday for himself and colleagues David Tatel and Thomas Griffith. “Flat nonetheless asserts that its challenge is not to the rules themselves but to how the FCC applied the rules to Verizon’s proffered rates,” the D.C. Circuit said: “Either way, we reject Flat’s petition.” The company didn’t comment. Flat had argued that Verizon’s rates “are unreasonable because its costs of providing roaming allegedly are far lower than the rates it charges,” the court said in docket No. 18-1271: The FCC refused to consider Verizon’s costs “in accordance with its regulations and denied Flat’s complaint.”

Groups representing automakers and state highway officials lobbied FCC members to keep the entire 75 MHz of 5.85-5.925 GHz for vehicle-to-everything technology for now, and supporting deployment of dedicated short range communications (DSRC) and cellular vehicle to everything (C-V2X). A draft rulemaking set for commissioners' vote Thursday proposes keeping the upper 30 MHz of the 5.9 GHz band for intelligent transportation systems and vehicle safety communications, repurposing the lower 45 MHz for unlicensed like Wi-Fi (see 1911200055). Intelligent Transportation Society of America and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials have "concerns about the paucity of data regarding the ability of unlicensed devices, DSRC and C-V2X to share the 5.9 GHz Band in the manner proposed," said postings (here and here) Monday in docket 19-138. "Withhold [the] NPRM until test results regarding the potential for harmful interference throughout the band are available," they asked. ITS America CEO Shailen Bhatt and AASHTO Deputy Director Brandye Hendrickson were among attendees at meetings including FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. The groups "would support sharing of the band between licensed and unlicensed services provided that testing is completed and demonstrates that unlicensed devices will not cause harmful interference to licensed services," emailed ITS America lawyer Robert Kelly of Patton Boggs, who wrote the filings. Others back the NPRM, including NCTA, with a filing also posted Monday. The agency declined to comment.

Using 1 dB as the best metric for protecting GPS from interference (see 1912050070) is flawed, using "the magician’s sleight of hand" to conflate 1 dB noise floor and harmful interference, Roberson and Associates President Dennis Roberson blogged Friday. He said no regulator has used that metric to define harmful interference or safeguard services operating outside of assigned spectrum. He said 1 dB doesn't indicate harmful interference since it doesn't correlate with a change in GPS device functionality, and it's not reliable as noise floor can fluctuate by several dB even without terrestrial transmissions. The GPS Innovation Alliance didn't comment.

A standard forward auction seems best for 280 MHz of the 3.7-4.2 GHz band, T-Mobile officials told an aide to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, per a docket 18-122 posting Friday. The company said the FCC has authority to require winning bidders of a standard auction make payments to incumbent licensees that include costs above those needed to reimburse relocation, such as payments to the Treasury and a spectrum relinquishment payment. It said the FCC should require that individual satellite operators accommodate existing users in the manner chosen by those users. It said spectrum relinquishment payments to operators should come after they certify end-user accommodation. Satellite operators should keep any money left over from relocation, the carrier said, saying will incentivize them to look at lower-cost options like fiber.

DOD arguments against Ligado's L-band license modification applications (see 1911210055) are similar to what other agencies did when trying to derail the FCC's 24 GHz spectrum band plan, Free State Foundation Senior Fellow Seth Cooper blogged Thursday: It's not uncommon for agencies or other institutions to disagree with the FCC on technical matters, but it has final say on nongovernmental spectrum use. The Pentagon referred to the Defense Secretary's Nov. 18 letter.

Deregulation supporters backed FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's move to reallocate most of the 5.9 GHz band away from dedicated short-range communications for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed use. In a docket 19-138 posting Wednesday, 21 signers including Americans for Tax Reform, American Legislative Exchange Council, National Taxpayers Union, TechFreedom and the Institute for Policy Innovation said Pai's "thoughtful compromise proposal [will let] severely underused spectrum ... be put to work." They said segmenting the band with the lower 45 MHz for Wi-Fi and the top 30 MHz for vehicular safety will support deployment of auto safety technology and meet unlicensed spectrum needs.

Consumers are increasing aware of 5G pros and cons. Deloitte reported that of 2,000 U.S. consumers canvassed online in September, most are familiar with 5G, including more than 70 percent among the youngest two generations. Twenty-eight percent of consumers and about 40 percent of Gen Z and millennials would “very likely” buy a 5G smartphone when service is available in their area. Thirty-eight percent of U.S. consumers plan to buy a smartphone within 12 months. As consumers bring more connected devices and online services into their residences, they're more aware of how their personal data is being collected and sold, the consultant said. Over 90 percent say they should be able to see and delete data that companies collect about them. Though consumers are satisfied with their mobile service, 43 percent have had issues watching videos on their smartphones, and 41 percent believe their mobile data speeds are too slow. Nearly 20 percent plan to switch carriers next year. Those sticking with theirs want stronger network performance. Gen Z and millennial respondents say once they have 5G, they plan to consume augmented and virtual reality content that requires high-speed, low-latency connections. Some 62 percent of consumers who have home internet say they will likely replace their service with 5G Wi-Fi service if it delivers speeds similar to fiber. Later Wednesday, the FCC revealed plans for subsidizing some 5G (see 191204003).

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai sidestepped comment on Hawaii and Native American requests to amend priority filing window eligibility rules for tribes seeking 2.5 GHz licenses (see 1911260054), in letters dated Monday to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, New Mexico's Pueblo of Jemez and the National Congress of American Indians (see here, here and here). "The digital divide is most keenly felt in Indian Country," he said. "That’s why I insisted on, and the Commission included, a Tribal priority filing window in our order opening the 2.5 GHz band for additional use; that early opportunity to access this spectrum will help some of the most marginalized communities in the country."

Former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt urged “rapid closing” of T-Mobile's buy of Sprint. The deal is important for developing 5G and to stop the U.S. from falling behind China, Hundt, who's advising Sprint, wrote for CNBC Monday. Trial starts Monday at U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in states’ lawsuit to stop the transaction (see 1911270049). Hundt's at least the third ex-FCC member working on the deal. Tuesday, Magistrate Judge Robert Lehrburger scheduled a pre-hearing conference for 10:30 a.m. Friday. Parties asked to meet about “confidentiality issues that may arise at trial relating to materials on the parties’ exhibit lists that have been designated Highly Confidential Information and/or Confidential Information by the Defendants and non-parties.”