The FCC should approve rules that allow emergency broadband benefit enrollees to easily migrate to the new affordable connectivity program (ACP), CTIA representatives told an aide to Commissioner Nathan Simington. “An affirmative customer opt-in process for ACP,” as proposed in a public notice, “is likely to lead to large-scale de-enrollment of eligible households, which would disserve the program’s goals,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 21-450. Ensure “that a broad cross-section of broadband providers continues to participate in the program, ensuring competition and multiple options,” CTIA urged.

The FCC should act on wireless multichannel audio systems rules, teed up in an April NPRM (see 2104220056), including for unlicensed operations, Shure told Office of Engineering and Technology staff. Shure presented results of a new survey by the Professional Audio Manufacturers Association, which found 94% of organizations usually use fewer than 50 mics and aren’t eligible for a license under Part 74 rules. “There are many professional users operating on an unlicensed basis -- Part 74 licensees are far from the only professionals in this domain,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 21-115. “It underscores the importance of permitting unlicensed wireless microphone users to use WMAS devices if there is to be a viable market for WMAS operations.”

T-Mobile supported a September CTIA petition asking for partial consideration of rules on combating contraband cellphones in prisons (see 2112210032). CTIA asked the FCC to drop a requirement that providers act on qualifying service termination requests within two business days and instead allow up to five. “Because the Commission failed to provide a basis for its rationale here, it must reconsider its decision,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 13-111. The deadline “rests principally on comments from correctional facilities, which urge the Commission to require wireless providers to terminate service within 24 hours -- or even an hour -- of receiving a qualifying request,” T-Mobile said: “Correctional facilities are not well positioned to accurately assess the capabilities of wireless networks or the processes required for terminating service to contraband devices.” Comments were due Thursday. Two days is “unreasonable and places undue burden on the carriers,” said OmniProphis, a managed access system provider, the only other commenter.

T-Mobile and Crown Castle signed a new 12-year agreement supporting the continued buildout of T-Mobile's nationwide 5G network, allowing increased access to Crown Castle's towers and small cells. The agreement “helps Crown Castle generate long-term tower and small cell revenue growth,” said a news release Thursday. “This agreement is another integral piece of T-Mobile’s ongoing efforts to rapidly expand what is already America’s largest 5G network,” said Neville Ray, T-Mobile president-technology.

Verizon’s no-contract Visible service is offering prospective customers a free trial so they can compare their existing service to Visible, with no commitment or credit card needed, it said Thursday. The 15-day trial requires an eligible iPhone: SE 2020, XR, XS, and the 11, 12 series and 13 series models. Users can continue to use their current service and phone number, Verizon said. The promotion is part of Visible’s “commitment to eSIM,” launched in February, which it sees as a growth driver. The service plans to become 100% eSIM-centric in the future, it said. Visible’s unlimited plans start at $25 monthly.

T-Mobile released early numbers for Q4 Thursday, reporting 844,000 postpaid phone net adds and 244,000 adds to its new home internet service. Reporting a metric not offered by most carriers, it said it had 315,000 postpaid account net adds. AT&T said Wednesday it added 880,000 postpaid phones in the quarter (see 2201050044). In Q3, AT&T beat T-Mobile in postpaid phone adds, 928,000 to 673,000 (Ref:2111020071). T-Mobile said it had 2.9 million postpaid phone net adds in 2021, up 32% over the previous year.

President Joe Biden’s “intervention” on the C band (see 2201040070) “signals that the several month-old dispute about potential interference with air travel from 5G services … is over, with the carriers now in a position to start services on January 19,” New Street’s Blair Levin told investors Thursday. Investors were concerned a long delay would harm Verizon and AT&T as they compete with T-Mobile, he said: “In settling the matter, the carriers might have had to alter their service (such as with power levels in a broad geography) or pay a cost (such as paying for new equipment for airlines) that would have affected the companies’ financial results. The carriers’ concessions do neither and we don’t think will have any short-term or long-term impact on those results.” Biden’s involvement may also strengthen the FCC’s hand in resolving future spectrum disputes, Levin said. It also alerted “important decision makers, particularly in the White House, to the risk of inter-agency spectrum disputes hurting American economic interests,” he said.

Satellite interests resisted keeping non-terrestrial services out of the 70/80/90 GHz bands or making fixed satellite service (FSS) secondary to terrestrial use there (see 2112030056), in docket 20-133 reply comments this week. The FCC is considering high-altitude platform systems operations in the bands. Amazon Kuiper said it backs a "unified, service-agnostic, light-licensing and link registration framework -- such as the one proposed by SpaceX for 'pencil-beam' antennas" as a way to increase use of the bands while fostering coexistence. It said FSS being secondary in the bands would be inefficient, especially since that spectrum's terrestrial use is limited to high-throughput transmissions over very short distances. Geneva Communications also said it backs SpaceX's proposal. The Satellite Industry Association said there are already co-primary FSS spectrum allocations in the bands and some satellite operators are developing networks that will operate there. SpaceX suggested coexistence in the bands via equivalent isotropically radiated power limits toward the horizon for FSS gateways, creating small coordination areas and eliminating the need for keep-out zones or caps on the number of earth stations. Aeronet Global's study of coexistence between scheduled dynamic data links and FSS in the 71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz bands doesn't take a broad-enough look at possible SDDL interference to geostationary and non-geostationary operations in the bands, with GSO earth stations particularly susceptible to interference from SDDL aircraft transmissions, Hughes said. It said the Aeronet study claims that any alignment of SDDL aircraft beams and GSO satellite beams will be brief don't consider the stationary position of GSOs relative to the ground, which contributes to a longer aircraft/GSO beam alignment. Aeronet outside counsel didn't comment. TechFreedom said the FCC should allow use of 70 MHz beyond 5G. “The lone holdouts to broadening the uses of the 70 GHz are some 5G users, who covet the spectrum for wireless backhaul operations, to the exclusion of new uses (and apparently to the exclusion of existing allocations as well),” the group said: “Engineering changes, history changes, and we can’t afford to go ‘all in’ on 5G if it means robbing all other users of spectrum and shutting down technological innovation. Instead, the FCC must balance the need for more 5G spectrum with existing allocations and other spectrum users’ needs.”

Verizon's 5G Ultra Wideband network will cover 100 million people in more than 1,700 cities by the end of the month, the carrier announced Tuesday.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, toured a tower in Huffman, Texas, hosted by the National Association of Tower Erectors and member Enertech, NATE said Tuesday. They “surveyed the multi-carrier tenet network equipment that is installed on the tower” and saw how drones are used for safety inspections, the group said. Industry representatives discussed “some of the challenges facing the industry” as the FAA “continues to work on regulations impacting commercial drone usage,” the group said.