Patti Kukula, executive director of the Detroit Public Safety Foundation, withdrew a filing at the FCC made in August opposing FirstNet control of the 4.9 GHz band (see 2408290015). The filing "is not reflective” of the foundation’s “position or stance on this public safety communications matter,” said the new filing posted Wednesday in docket 07-100. “The submission of the Foundation’s original filing did not adhere to our organization’s process for review,” Kukula said. The foundation was “operating on an incomplete set of facts regarding this regulatory proceeding and a mistaken assumption regarding the proposal.”

Working with Starlink last week, T-Mobile successfully transmitted and received a wireless emergency alert via satellite for the first time in the U.S., the carrier said Wednesday. “The breakthrough opens up the 500,000 square miles of lightly populated, mountainous and/or uninhabitable land across the country to critical, life-saving emergency alerts,” T-Mobile said: The test alert “was sent 217 miles into space where it was received by one of the more than 175 Starlink direct-to-smartphone satellites currently in low-earth orbit that effectively function as cell towers in space.” The process took only seconds to complete, the carrier said.

NCTA told the FCC that giving wireless providers six months to unlock handsets after they’re activated, not the FCC’s proposed 60 days, would allow providers time to “ascertain whether a handset has been subject to fraud.” Comments were filed this week in docket 24-186, on an NPRM commissioners approved 5-0 in July (see 2409100048). A six-month mandate would mean “increased competition among providers, and, in turn, lower service prices and more competitive offerings than under existing unlocking policies,” NCTA said. Comcast also urged a six-month unlocking requirement. The longer period “would give wireless providers a sufficient opportunity to detect and combat handset fraud as well as a greater opportunity to identify other payment issues, while promoting increased competition and consumer choice in the wireless marketplace,” Comcast said. The Cloud Communications Alliance supported an order requiring unlocking by default when a phone is activated. That would “further enhance competition, avoid any consumer confusion, and prevent wireless providers from interposing delays or objections,” the alliance said: Unlocking by default "is the rule in several other countries and has long been supported by consumer advocates.” The Coalition of Rural Wireless Carriers said the mandate should apply only to handsets customers buy outright. “The proposed rule will interfere with contractual arrangements in ways that will disproportionately harm financially vulnerable consumers,” the coalition said. For smaller providers, “the incentive to offer device installment contracts to credit-challenged consumers will likely decrease if consumers can more easily break these agreements and take devices -- without paying for them -- to other carriers,” the group said. But EchoStar backed a requirement that applies to all devices “whether prepaid or postpaid and regardless of financing status.” It also called on the FCC to issue a Further NPRM on porting practices. “Carriers today impose varied and often onerous requirements on consumers seeking to port their phone numbers to new carriers that -- like unlocking rules -- may hinder their ability to switch providers,” the company said. The Advanced Communications Law and Policy Institute at New York Law School advised the FCC not to “micromanage” handset policy. “Unfortunately, the Commission, notwithstanding its confidence in the need for prophylactic regulation, fails to offer persuasive data, analysis, or legal justification for its proposed handset unlocking rules,” the institute said: “In reality, the U.S. wireless sector is robustly competitive, vibrantly innovative, and incredibly responsive to consumer demands, including those related to handset unlocking.”

Competing air-to-ground networks in the in-flight connectivity space face a far bigger business threat from low earth orbit satellite operators than from one another, Valour Consultancy blogged Tuesday. SpaceX has entered the commercial aviation sector and is making headway in business aviation, while OneWeb is signing hardware deals with a variety of commercial partners, Valour said. "The consequence for ATG has been staggering," with close to 1,000 commercial aircraft moving from ATG to satcom in coming years. Pointing to SmartSky Networks shuttering operations last month, Valour said Amazon’s Kuiper and Telesat's Lightspeed increasing LEO options for aircraft operators in coming years points to continued momentum for LEO.

The FCC opened a new docket, 24-286, on T-Mobile’s proposed buy of “substantially all” of UScellular’s wireless operations, including some of its spectrum (see 2405280047). “Applications seeking Commission consent to the transaction are expected to be filed in the coming days,” the FCC said Wednesday. The agency said under its “permit-but-disclose” proceeding rules, anyone making an ex parte presentation “must file a copy of any written presentation or a memorandum summarizing any oral presentation within two business days after the presentation (unless a different deadline applicable to the Sunshine period applies).” The companies unveiled the deal in May, valued at about $4.4 billion, including $2 billion in assumed debt.

As Tropical Storm Francine approaches the Gulf Coast, Federated Wireless asked the FCC for a waiver of rules that require environmental sensing capability systems to protect federal incumbents in the citizens broadband radio service band from harmful interference. The storm is expected to bring “intense winds and rainfall that could cause widespread power outages,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 15-319. “If such outages occur, the Impacted Systems will lose commercial power and be unable to operate normally,” Federated said.

The FCC Space and Wireless bureaus are pressing SpaceX for further details about its pending requests for commercial supplemental coverage from space (SCS) service authorization and operating satellites at altitudes in the 300 km range. In a letter posted Tuesday in docket 23-135, the bureaus asked for clarification about whether the company's orbital debris mitigation plan has changed in light of its iterative design process for satellites. It also asked for details about how SpaceX will ensure its 300 km satellite operations don't interfere with crewed space stations, including the Chinese space station. It also requested more technical details about the company's requested waiver that would allow higher aggregate out-of-band emissions for its SCS service.

Survivors of domestic violence can now request that their service provider separate their mobile phone lines from family plans if an abuser is on the account, the FCC said in a news release Tuesday (see 2311150042). In addition, survivors may also apply for the Lifeline program, it said. The agency made the announcements ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act. Survivors experiencing financial hardship are eligible for up to six months of "emergency Lifeline support," the agency said. "Rebuilding a life after escaping an abusive relationship is already hard enough for survivors of domestic violence," said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel: "Maintaining phone service shouldn't add to that hardship." To participate in Lifeline, survivors can confirm their eligibility by providing documentation or self-certify that they participate in a qualifying program.

Wireless carriers are unlikely to “get more promotional in a way that would drive demand for the iPhone” following Monday’s release of the iPhone 16, New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin told investors Monday. “The big question is whether there will be organic demand for the device that will drive an upgrade cycle; based on the comments from industry executives and the extensive work done by our Global Tech team … we think the answer is ‘no,’ but we’ll be watching for clues to the contrary,” Chaplin said.

The Enterprise Wireless Alliance welcomes innovation in spectrum but can’t support NextNav’s proposal for reconfiguring the 900 MHz band, the group said in a filing last week in docket 24-240 (see 2409060046). “EWA’s established commitment to encouraging innovative spectrum approaches has always been conditioned on an appropriate balancing of the potential benefits of those initiatives and the continued viability of incumbent operations that also serve vital public interests,” EWA said. In most cases, it’s possible “to craft an approach that accommodates both objectives,” but “EWA is not confident that spectrum equilibrium can be achieved in this instance and thus cannot support the Petition.”