Representatives of Altice met with the FCC's T-Mobile/Sprint transaction team on the proposed deal. “Altice reiterated its prior advocacy" (see 1903010033) and "commitments necessary from New T-Mobile to preserve sustainable competitive entry into the retail wireless market,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 18-179.

Last month's D.C. Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision in Electronic Privacy Information Center v. Department of Commerce and Bureau of the Census confirms that VTDigger lacks standing to bring a Section 208 challenge against DOC on FirstNet privacy, the department said last week in a letter (in Pacer) to the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. The local news publication claimed that, under Section 208 of the E-Government Act, DOC must prepare a "Privacy Impact Assessment" for FirstNet. “Plaintiffs urge that they have standing to bring a challenge under Section 208 based on the kind of informational injury the D.C. Circuit rejected” in the EPIC case, Commerce said. The D.C. Circuit expressly ‘reject[ed] the possibility that §208 can support an informational injury theory ... in the absence of a colorable privacy harm of the type that Congress sought to prevent through the E-Government Act’ on the ground that ‘Section 208 was not designed to vest a general right to information in the public.’”

Sprint turned on 5G in the "heart" of Chicago, covering approximately 700,000 POPs, it said Thursday. Sprint 5G is already available in areas of Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and Kansas City.

The FCC released its order on the 2.5 GHz educational broadcast service band Thursday, approved Wednesday over partial dissents by Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks (see 1907100054). Released as well were bidding procedures for the third high-band auction, also approved Wednesday (see 1907100050).

Qualcomm Technologies and Ericsson said they achieved the world’s first low-band 5G data session using a commercial modem. The test took place in in T-Mobile’s lab in Bellevue, Washington, using the 600 MHz band, the spectrum T-Mobile bought in the TV incentive auction and plans to use to deploy 5G nationwide. “This is a key step toward achieving our vision of 5G for All,” said Neville Ray, T-Mobile chief technology officer, Thursday. “If regulators approve our merger with Sprint, we’ll have the crucial mid-band spectrum and resources needed to supercharge our network and deliver broad AND deep, transformational 5G across the U.S.”

The New York City Emergency Management Department (NYCEM), Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management and Harris County, Texas, Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management expressed interest in taking part in targeted tests of the wireless emergency alert system later this year or in early 2020. The FCC Public Safety Bureau sought expressions of interest last month (see 1906110065) and the three filed in docket 15-91 (see here, here and here) this week. “NYCEM considers WEA to be a mission-critical communication system and applauds the Commission for seeking participation of alert originators to test the accuracy of geo-targeting,” the department said. “NYCEM has conducted similar analyses of WEA delivery in the past.” WEA is a “powerful tool that is currently met with some skepticism in the City,” Philadelphia said: “Given the City's threat and hazard profile, we are very much interested in better understanding this tool and gaining confidence in its use.” Harris County, which includes Houston, offers “a very large sample population of 4.75 million,” it said: “We will work with the providers to help determine the best way to reach and recruit members of the public who subscribe to their services. We will be sensitive to privacy concerns and work to establish a methodology that will return the maximum amount of data while minimizing exposure of personal information.”

Three of the five FCC commissioners agree T-Mobile's buying Sprint is good for competition and the public interest, the would-be buyer said Tuesday as it answered (in Pacer) a state attorneys general complaint in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Sprint also filed that day (in Pacer). “After one of the most exhaustive and thorough premerger investigations in history, the FCC Chairman and two other Commissioners have voiced their support for the merger,” wrote T-Mobile, referring to the agency’s Republicans. “FCC action is expected in the near future,” and the agency “secured legally binding commitments from the parties to accelerate their promised business plan,” including to expand 5G coverage, increase speeds and keep prices low, it said. The carrier contended AGs “reject engineering and physics realities, which show that the combination of Sprint’s and T-Mobile’s complementary spectrum and assets will create a far better network with much greater capacity at lower cost than either could do separately,” and they "ignore major players in the wireless marketplace."

The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency published safety tips for mobile devices. When consumers download an app, it may ask for access to personal information -- including email contacts, calendar inputs, call logs and location data from the device -- that might be used for legitimate purpose, such as location data for a ride-hailing app. “Be aware that app developers will have access to this information and may share it with third parties, such as companies who develop targeted ads based on your location and interests.” CISA suggested Tuesday avoiding potentially harmful apps by limiting download sources to official app stores. Malicious apps have been known to “slip through the security of even reputable app stores,” it said, so read reviews and research developers. Users should understand the information an app will access before downloading it and “consider foregoing the app if the policy is vague regarding with whom it shares your data or if the permissions request seems excessive.” CISA warned about connecting a smartphone to a computer or charging station a user doesn’t control.

The Alarm Industry Communications Committee asked the FCC to clarify that alarm companies' notifications are the types of communications providers can't block, seeking reconsideration or clarification of new call blocking rules (see 1906060056). AICC also asked the FCC to make clear that call blocking must be done in a nondiscriminatory way, in a petition posted Tuesday in docket 17-59. “AICC member companies protect a wide range of sensitive facilities and their occupants from fire, burglaries, sabotage and other emergencies,” the group said. “Protected facilities include government offices, power plants, hospitals, dam and water authorities, pharmaceutical plants, chemical plants, banks, schools and universities.”

The 5G Automotive Association said it filed two reports at the FCC, arguing for a waiver allowing the deployment of cellular vehicle-to-everything technology (C-V2X) in the upper 20 MHz of the 5.9 GHz band (see 1902270041). The first report, “V2X Functional and Performance Test Report; Test Procedures and Results” is an amended version of the initial report attached to the 5GAA waiver petition, the group said Tuesday: “As previously referenced in the record, 5GAA discovered in February of this year a discrepancy in the configuration of [dedicated short range communications] devices used in this initial testing. 5GAA thus expanded its testing to collect updated C-V2X and DSRC data while using a corrected configuration for the DSRC devices.” A second report is an addendum to the initial report, containing test results demonstrating that “C-V2X messages transmitted over a 20 MHz channel are delivered with the same reliability as those sent over a 10 MHz channel,” 5GAA said. The filing was posted in docket 13-49. Wi-Fi advocates see the band as offering critical mid-band spectrum for unlicensed use.