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.

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.

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.

The FCC Wireless Bureau approved a waiver for Federated Wireless of rules that require environmental sensing capability systems to protect federal incumbents in the citizens broadband radio service band from harmful interference as Hurricane Francine hits the Gulf Coast. The waiver “only applies to periods where the subject ESC sensors are unable to communicate with the Federated [spectrum access system] due to a power outage or backhaul outage,” said the order in Wednesday's Daily Digest. The waiver expires either on Sept. 24 “or when commercial power and backhaul service is restored to the subject ESC sensors,” the bureau 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.

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.

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.

Verizon has focused on AI for more than a decade and sees itself as “very advanced” in the technology, CEO Hans Vestberg said Monday during a Goldman Sachs technology conference. For example, Verizon is experiencing the growth of AI in handling calls from customers, and quickly forwarding them to the best agent to address customer concerns, he said. AI will also mean more personalized service from the carrier, Vestberg added. “Given the amount of data we have on the customer, we can personalize the plans much better.” Generative AI will also help Verizon in its strategy of bringing computing closer to the edge, Vestberg said. The carrier already has agreements with Google, Amazon and Microsoft on mobile-edge compute, he said. Large-language models are still being trained, but “the loads are coming.” In the 1990s, customers changed their phones yearly, and now it's closer to every 40 months, Vestberg said. “People keep the phone because the quality is higher” and “that's partly because … the network is great.” Verizon has two “great” AI phones available today, but so far they’re not driving changes in customer behavior, he said. Cable wireless is making gains, he admitted, though some of the companies use the Verizon network. Cable providers “are an important wholesale partner on the wireless side for us” and “accretive to our bottom line.” We treat them as “important, large enterprise customers. Then we compete with them every day.”

The Michigan Public Safety Communications Interoperability Board and Florida Police Chiefs Association became the latest groups to oppose a proposal to give the FirstNet Authority control of the 4.9 GHz band. “Granting the license to the FirstNet Authority would likely result in that spectrum being incorporated into that network’s existing cellular architecture, which would practically eliminate one of the primary existing applications of the band -- local point-to-point links,” the Michigan organization said in a comment posted Monday in docket 07-100. The Florida chiefs called the proposal “troubling.” Groups have lined up on both sides of the issue. New Street’s Blair Levin told investors last week, that FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel appears supportive of the band's reallocation to FirstNet. “This issue does not appear to be election dependent, but there is a material risk that the order may be overturned by the courts,” Levin said.