CEO John Legere took to Twitter to defend T-Mobile after a National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge ruled the carrier created an illegal workplace organization in launching T-Voice (see 1704040085). “This is ludicrous,” Legere tweeted. “We’re appealing. Listening to front-line employees tell us what customers need is imperative to our business.” Legere also tweeted: “Being the #Uncarrier is all about listening to customers and solving pain points. That’s what T-voice does & we will always defend them!” The Communications Workers of America alleged the company created T-Voice to subvert creation of a union among its workers.

The FTC and Amazon agreed to withdraw appeals of a federal court decision last year saying the company illegally charged parents for in-app purchases made by children who didn't have parents’ informed consent (see 1604270013). Commissioners voted 2-0 to withdraw the FTC appeal, the agency said in a Tuesday news release. Amazon had appealed the ruling that it violated the law, and the FTC appealed the court’s decision to deny an injunction stopping the website from similar conduct in the future. Ending the litigation allows Amazon to start providing refunds for about $70 million in eligible in-app charges made between November 2011 and May 2016, the FTC said. “This case demonstrates what should be a bedrock principle for all companies -- you must get customers’ consent before you charge them,” said Consumer Protection Bureau acting Director Thomas Pahl. Amazon didn’t comment.

The 800 MHz rebanding is nearing completion, Sprint reassured the FCC in a report filed in docket 02-55. Twelve of the 55 National Public Safety Planning Advisory Committee (NPSPAC) regions remain unfinished, Sprint said. “Excluding the five Regions located within in the U.S.-Mexican Border Area, only two individual licensees (one public safety and one non-public safety) remain to fully complete 800 MHz band reconfiguration in the seven non-border NPSPAC areas of the United States.” The rebanding has been underway since 2004, when the FCC approved its landmark 800 MHz rebanding order, aimed at addressing interference to public safety radios in the band by Nextel, which later combined with Sprint. "By any measure, the multi-year, multi-billion dollar 800 MHz band reconfiguration project is reaching its final stages," Sprint said.

NTIA’s Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee scheduled its second meeting of the Trump administration May 4, said a notice to be published Wednesday in the Federal Register. The meeting starts at 1 p.m. and will be at NAB headquarters, 1771 N St. NW. CSMAC's last meeting was in January, amid concern about its future (see 1701250073). The Trump administration hasn't named someone to head NTIA.

A National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge ruled T-Mobile created an illegal workplace organization as workers for the carrier were trying to organize an independent union, the Communications Workers of America said in a Tuesday news release. ALJ Sharon Levinson Steckler ordered T-Mobile to disband the company-controlled organization, T-Voice. The carrier must “immediately disestablish and cease giving assistance, including administration and financial assistance, or any other support to T-Voice or any other labor organization,” Steckler ruled. The company must also stop “dominating, interfering with the formation or administration, or assisting or otherwise supporting T-Voice or any other labor organization at any of its call center facilities,” she held. “If T-Mobile wants to address its workers’ concerns and ideas, we have democratically-elected representatives ready and willing to meet with management to discuss how we can improve our workplace,” said Angela Melvin, a T-Mobile customer service representative in Wichita, Kansas, in the CWA release. Melvin is on the steering committee of the CWA-sponsored T-Mobile Workers United. The company didn't comment.

Wilson Electronics asked the FCC to skip a further rulemaking and move directly to rules on eliminating the personal-use restriction on consumer cell-signal boosters, replacing it with a multi-provider registration requirement for wideband consumer signal boosters. Replies were due Monday on Wilson’s December petition for a rulemaking (see 1612200061). In initial comments, the change got broad support (see 1703240041). “Any need for the issuance of a FNPRM evaporated when the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau issued a public notice that went beyond soliciting comments on Wilson’s petition,” Wilson replied in docket 10-4. The bureau “asked for comments on specific questions addressed to whether the public interest would be served if the personal-use restriction on wideband boosters was eliminated,” the firm said. “The public notice garnered comments from a wide range of stakeholders that support the proposed rule change. Now that adequate notice and a meaningful opportunity to comment have been provided, the issuance of a FNPRM and the initiation of another round of comments are unnecessary.” The record “overwhelmingly supports the elimination of the personal-use restriction for wideband boosters, as well as for provider-specific boosters,” the company said. The Utilities Technology Council was among commenters supporting Wilson in replies. “Large or small, utilities rely on communications to support the safe, reliable and secure delivery of essential electric, gas and water services to the public at large,” UTC said. “Utilities have an interest in using signal boosters to improve the reception of communications, particularly in buildings and offices where the signal is weak and/or blocked by reflective materials used in the construction of the buildings.” The Telecommunications Subcommittee of the American Petroleum Institute supported the change. “The oil and natural gas industry have holdings and facilities in many remote areas where cellular telecommunication services are fair to poor,” the group replied. “These areas will benefit from a use clarifications on the use of personal boosters, as they will clearly allow their managed installations to proceed forward. While there is certainly this need, there are also several companies that have FCC license holdings, sub-leases, or other operating agreements on frequency bands which may be amplified by broadband boosters.”

ZTE began selling the Prestige 2 smartphone through Best Buy Monday on the Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile networks, it announced.

The American Trucking Associations filed in support of a December petition by Wilson Electronics asking the FCC to launch a proceeding on eliminating the personal-use restriction on consumer cell-signal boosters (see 1612200061). “There is no evidence that consumer signal boosters are creating harmful interference for wireless networks, due to the Network Protection Standards (NPS) established by the Commission which require consumer signal boosters to meet technical specifications to protect commercial wireless networks from harm,” the group said in a filing Friday in docket 10-4. “With the safeguard of the NPS in place, ATA does not believe that the risk of harmful interference will increase with the adoption of the proposed rule change.”

Ligado and the FCC are discussing a license condition on power levels for the company's operations in the 1526-1536 MHz band that would ensure those operations don't interfere with certified aviation devices. In a docket 11-109 ex parte filing posted Monday, Ligado recapped a meeting with FCC personnel in which the company said the model it developed with the Federal Aviation Administration indicated preferable power ranges of 9 to 13 dBW of equivalent isotropically radiated power for tower sites. Those power levels would protect all GPS devices, including certified and noncertified aviation receivers, the firm said. It said it discussed compliance monitoring it would undertake, including submitting submission of each tower site calculation to the FCC. The talks included Ligado Chief Legal Officer Valerie Green and staff from the Office of Engineering and Technology, Office of General Counsel, and Wireless and International bureaus.

The WiMax Forum asked the FCC to promulgate service rules for the Aeronautical Mobile Airport Communication System (AeroMACS), a standardized airport surface communications system. The system is to be used for flight control and safety, plus airline operations, the forum said Friday in a petition for rulemaking. The FCC allocated the 5091-5150 MHz band to AeroMACS in 2015 and the 5000-5030 MHz band this year, the forum said. “Although numerous tests of AeroMACS technology are ongoing in the U.S. and around the world, implementation of AeroMACS in the U.S. is not widespread because the FCC has not yet adopted service rules" for AeroMACS, the forum said. The FCC oversees use of the system by nonfederal government users. The group proposed that nonfederal AeroMACS operations be authorized as a Part 95 licensed-by-rule service, with technical rules codified under Part 87 aviation services rules.