T-Mobile announced Wednesday it's beefing up its outreach to rural America, hiring 7,500 new employees in small towns and rural communities and offering $25 million in grants for rural development projects. The carrier also offered free upgrades to a Samsung Galaxy A32 5G smartphone for consumers who trade in any mobile phone. T-Mobile took a swipe at Verizon and AT&T, offering customers with limited data plans unlimited 5G plans, at the same price or lower. “Over the past few years, billions of dollars have been spent to build 5G networks,” T-Mobile said: “Billions more have gone for breathless ads touting the promise of a 5G-powered future. But for most people, 5G has been a total nonevent.” T-Mobile also bowed a home broadband offering at $60 a month. “T-Mobile is just starting to press its advantage,” New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin told investors. He sees the broadband offer as mostly attractive to consumers “in the parts of the country not served by upgraded fixed technology.”

Approve Verizon’s buy of Tracfone only with conditions that protect Lifeline customers, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and a coalition of public interest and other groups urged the FCC. “We consider a robust Lifeline program to be a top priority for the civil and human rights coalition,” said the leadership group in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 21-112: “The current record is devoid of any detailed plans for a long-term, robust investment in quality Lifeline services post-transaction.” The Lifeline program “allows our nation’s most vulnerable and marginalized communities to access vital communications services that would otherwise be unaffordable,” the coalition said: “During the COVID-19 pandemic, communications services have been more critical than ever, and the high level of unemployment that has resulted from it underscores the necessity of the Lifeline program.” The coalition includes Common Cause, Communications Workers of America and the United Church of Christ.

T-Mobile has the fastest 5G network nationwide, reported independent research firm umlaut Tuesday. Umlaut focused on 10 major markets and took 35.2 million samples. “T-Mobile shows clearly faster average 5G download and upload speeds in all measured cities than the other operators,” umlaut said: The carrier’s “5G ‘Ultra Capacity’ download speed exceeds 170 Mbps in average, and goes up to 260 Mbps per market.”

Lumen and T-Mobile said Tuesday they’re working together, combining T-Mobile’s 5G network with Lumen’s Edge Computing platform, to serve business customers. “Enterprises would have the ability to extend applications across a range of environments, including hundreds of thousands of on-net enterprise locations on the Lumen fiber network, with T-Mobile’s industry leading 5G network,” they said.

AT&T, APCO, electric utilities and other plaintiffs said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit should overturn the FCC’s 6 GHz order on the grounds that the regulator never fully addressed the interference threat to band incumbents. “In defending the Order, the FCC and its supporters mischaracterize the basic choice before the FCC,” said a brief (in Pacer) posted Friday in docket 20-1190: “That choice was not whether to allow unlicensed devices to operate in the 6 GHz band at all, but how to mitigate their interference risks. The FCC never faced up to that choice.” Plaintiffs said they challenged the April 2020 order “because it is very likely to result in harmful interference at unpredictable places and times and because, without explanation, it arbitrarily rejects readily available safeguards.”

The FCC Public Safety Bureau seeks comment on recent efforts by mobile wireless providers to improve network resiliency, for a report to Congress. Comments are due April 26 in docket 11-60, says Monday's Federal Register.

RF exposure rule changes, approved 5-0 in December 2019 (see 1912040036), take effect May 3, the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology said Friday. A two-year period for existing parties to ensure compliance with the new rules starts that date, OET said. “The Commission anticipated that few parties would have to conduct reevaluations under the new rules and that such evaluations will be relatively straightforward,” OET said: “It nevertheless adopted a two-year period for parties to verify and ensure compliance under the new rules.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit refused to issue a stay (see 2103240081) in a case brought by the Children’s Health Defense and four individuals challenging revised rules for over-the-air reception devices OK’d by commissioners in January (see 2101070068). “Petitioners have not satisfied the stringent requirements for a stay pending court review,” said an order in docket 21-1075 by Judges Judith Rogers, Neomi Rao and Robert Wilkins, posted Thursday.

The Wireless Infrastructure Association asked the FCC to ignore a procedural issue raised by NATOA and localities in their petition for reconsideration on the FCC compound expansion ruling (see 2103310048). “Petitioners claim that WIA’s Opposition to their Petition for Reconsideration should not be considered because WIA failed to serve them pursuant to Section 1.429(f) of the Commission’s rules,” the group said Thursday in docket 19-250. WIA said that's an “inadvertent oversight,” which it regrets, but it “should be treated as harmless error because Petitioners had actual notice of WIA’s Opposition.”

Localities and NATOA fired back at objections by the Wireless Infrastructure Association to NATOA's petition for reconsideration of the FCC compound expansion order, approved 3-2 last year over dissents by Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks (see 2006090060). “The Order applied the wrong legal standard as articulated by the dissenting Commissioners and failed to address other legal and practical implications raised in the record,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 19-250: “Reconsideration is not only appropriate, it is necessary to ensure the Commission fully addresses the significant implications of the new rules.” CTIA defended WIA. “These rule changes foster collocations on existing facilities that are critical to bridging the digital divide,” the group said: “The rules also preserve the core right of localities to manage local land use, consistent with the Commission’s priority to ‘find common ground with our state, local, and Tribal partners.’” WIA “stands by” its opposition to the petition and “looks forward to working with the commission and any interested stakeholders in promoting broadband deployment to underserved communities across the U.S.,” a spokesperson said.