Comments on an NPRM proposing changes to Part 87 aviation radio service rules, approved by commissioners 5-0 in June (see 1906060056), are due Sept, 3, said a notice for Tuesday's Federal Register. Replies are due Sept. 30 in docket 19-140.

The FCC should “improve the viability of its proposed overlay auction of spectrum in the 2.5 GHz” educational broadband service band, AT&T executives said in meetings with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel on the 2.5 GHz order teed up for a commissioner vote next week (see 1906190063). “Strive to remedy the comparative information advantage of existing EBS licensees and lessees by making critical details, including lease terms and existing and planned deployments, available to all auction participants," said a filing posted Monday in docket 14-177. "To ensure adequate buildout of this critical spectrum, the Commission should also apply the new buildout obligations to, at a minimum, all 2.5 GHz EBS spectrum licensees that have leased their spectrum for commercial services.”

T-Mobile and Sprint executives met with FCC General Counsel Thomas Johnson and others from his office on their proposed combination. They discussed issues “including the network improvements and efficiencies achievable through the merger and projected in the Applicants’ network and economic modeling as well as the variety of participants in the wireless market,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-197: “The representatives also discussed the relevant market definition, general framework for the competition analysis, and the FCC’s relevant authority under the Communications Act.”

Wireless ISP Association President Claude Aiken said it backs most aspects of the draft 2.5 GHz band reallocation order on July's agenda (see 1906190063), but using small business and rural provider bidding credits would encourage more participation by small providers in or near rural areas. His comments came in a phone call with an aide to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. In the docket 18-120 ex parte posting Friday, WISPA also said it's disappointed with the proposed spectrum block sizes, with the 100 MHz band being likely beyond what a small provider could pay and the 16.5 MHz block being too small on a stand-alone basis. The FCC should at least cleave the 100 MHz block into 60- and 40-MHz blocks, with one bidder able to buy both in a county, it said.

Multiple vehicle safety technologies require use of the 5.9 GHz band that auto companies and state transportation departments already are deploying in, with European and Asian nations also expanding their use of the same tech, the Transportation Research Board, a division of the National Academy of Sciences, said in an FCC docket 18-357 posting Friday. It said it has argued repeatedly for keeping the band dedicated to traffic safety applications and that connected vehicle technology could substantially improve traffic safety. The auto industry also has been lobbying to keep exclusive use of the band for vehicle safety applications (see 1906270023).

Some 900 MHz band incumbents are interested in discussing voluntary agreements to relocate out of the broadband segment and the limitations on accommodating them because of the FCC Wireless Bureau freeze on 900 MHz site-based channels, an Anterix representative told bureau staffers, according to a docket 17-200 ex parte posting Friday. Anterix said it also noted the Association of American Railroads effectively has a nationwide authorization in the band and there's a need to address requirements of freight railroads that use this spectrum.

Tech players told Chief Julius Knapp and others in the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology that the 6 GHz band can safely be used for radio local access networks without threatening fixed-service users of the band. “We discussed the analysis in the record showing that RLAN operations will protect FS links, including the detailed engineering study prepared by RKF Engineering,” the companies said in docket 18-295, posted Tuesday. Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intel, Marvell Technology and Qualcomm were represented on what some see as a key band for Wi-Fi (see 1903190050).

The Commerce Department failed to refute any VTDigger reasons to reverse a lower court’s ruling in its Freedom of Information Act case against FirstNet, the Vermont news publication said in a late-filed reply (in Pacer) Tuesday at the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. FirstNet is subject to FOIA under plain language, and the law establishing the authority didn’t preclude such review, VTDigger said. Commerce failed to prove it was futile to look for the records sought, but U.S. District Court in Burlington misassigned burden of truth to the challengers, the publication said. VTDigger’s attorney filed one day late “due to excusable neglect,” including oral argument the same day and “complications on the train,” he said an accompanying motion (in Pacer).

Representatives of the 5G Automotive Association asked the FCC to act on its waiver request to allow vehicle-to-everything technology (C-V2X) in the 5.9 GHz band, in meetings with an aide to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Chief Julius Knapp and others from the Office of Engineering and Technology, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-357. Pai was ready to circulate an NPRM on the band for the June 6 commissioners' meeting, but postponed seeking a vote after the Transportation Department asked for a delay (see 1905150053). After earlier endorsing an NPRM (see 1904080048), the 5GAA representatives said C-V2X operations in the band “can make American roadway travel safer, smarter, and more efficient. Because the Commission’s rules do not currently permit C-V2X operations in the 5.9 GHz band, we discussed how a grant of the waiver request … would help remove the most significant regulatory roadblock standing in the way of stakeholders deploying this technology.”

CTIA representative pushed for more work on streamlining wireless infrastructure rules, in a meeting with FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr. He's leading agency efforts on wireless infrastructure revisions, which led to major orders last year in March and September (see 1810020027). Carr has said repeatedly since that he hasn’t decided on next steps on infrastructure. “Members continue to confront entities and local governments that ignore, misapply, or leverage perceived ambiguities in the Commission’s rules and directives, with the result that members are being delayed or effectively prohibited from installing needed infrastructure, often indefinitely,” CTIA representatives told Carr. “Take actions that build off of prior reforms and help achieve the intent of those Commission actions -- eliminating regulatory and other barriers that inhibit wireless deployment.” A filing posted Tuesday in docket 17-79.