T-Mobile responded to questions from the FCC Wireless Bureau on drive test data submitted in the carrier’s third annual progress report following its acquisition of Sprint. T-Mobile filed the report at the agency in January. All the data was redacted from the filing, posted Wednesday in docket 22-211. T-Mobile said it followed the “procedures and methodologies” agreed to by the FCC in performing the drive tests.

T-Mobile views the loss of the affordable connectivity program as a larger concern for cable than for the wireless industry, CEO Mike Sievert said Tuesday during a J.P. Morgan financial conference. “Our operating assumption is that it goes away,” though there could be a “Hail Mary” to restore the program, he said (see 2405210056). “I do not believe [ACP's ending] will result in people disconnecting their mobile service,” Sievert added. He stressed the importance of Congress reauthorizing the FCC’s auction authority, which, like ACP, lawmakers are considering. “Our nation's competitiveness depends upon our networks being the best in the world, and we can't afford to sit and watch while other countries ... deploy spectrum in a smarter way,” he said. T-Mobile has the spectrum it needs short term and has yet to deploy “in a material way” the licenses it bought in the C-band auction, he said. “We have lots of room to run” and “we’re really well positioned.” Sievert said that while T-Mobile is investing in fiber (see 2404250047) the carrier is happy with its current business model and loves being “the nation's leading mostly wireless pure play company.” In addition, Sievert said he’s not worried about a potential downturn in the consumer wireless market. “Doesn't matter whether the market is rapidly growing or not because most of our business comes from share taking,” he said: “If the market is rapidly growing … we'll partake in that. If it's growing more slowly, we won't be harmed.”

Samsung Electronics America urged the FCC to act on the company’s request for a waiver for a 5G base station radio that works across citizens broadband radio service and C-band spectrum (see 2309130041). Samsung summarized the record so far in the proceeding, in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 23-93. “Over the past 21 months, Samsung and others have provided information to the FCC numerous times explaining the benefits of this waiver, its compliance with the FCC’s rules (apart from the narrow waiver), its lack of any material impact on the noise environment in the CBRS band, and the fact that it would set no precedent for any future waivers for other, hypothetical equipment that (unlike the Samsung device) potentially would affect the CBRS noise environment,” Samsung said.

Crown Castle said Wednesday that “based on preliminary information from the Company’s proxy solicitor,” shareholders approved its slate of 12 nominees to the board. The slate defeated a group Boots Capital Management proposed (see 2405170054). “We thank our shareholders for the trust they have placed in our highly qualified board members as they oversee the creation of a stronger, more valuable Crown Castle,” the company said: “The board continues to take action, including conducting the strategic and operational review of our fiber and small cell business already underway, to improve performance and unlock shareholder value.”

Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg offered more clarity Tuesday about the carrier’s view of its spectrum needs. The wireless industry eventually will need more licensed spectrum for the U.S. to remain “competitive” with other markets, particularly Asia, Vestberg said during a J.P. Morgan financial conference. “You need predictability, you need ownership, you need spectrum” to justify investments, he said. Like Sowmyanarayan Sampath, Verizon Consumer Group CEO, who mentioned the issue last week (see 2405140055), Vestberg said the company doesn’t face short-term needs, with an average of 161 MHz of C-band in markets nationwide, about half of which is now in use. “I sit really good on the 161 MHz of C-band that we bought,” he said. On another issue, Vestberg said the end of the affordable connectivity program is bad news. The program “is very important for the U.S. economy,” he added. Verizon has about 1.1 million customers receiving ACP funding, he said. Low-income families “should have a possibility to have broadband wireless,” he said, noting other Verizon programs can serve them. Vestberg also said the wireless industry's importance is “sort of underestimated.” Wireless and broadband “are two of the most essential and critical services for people, for organizations, for companies,” he said. People need broadband to work, for education, to access healthcare and to “have some joy in life,” he said. Vestberg said network slicing will be critical to the launch of private networks. Slicing will allow the setup of a private network “probably 10 times faster than … today, because today I need to break out part of the radio network and part of the core network,” he said: “In the future, I can just do a slice and I can probably do it in hours.”

Representatives of the Commercial Drone Alliance (CDA) met with FCC commissioner aides in support of initial rules allowing drone use of the 5030-5091 MHz band, circulated for a commissioner vote by Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in April (see 2404080065). “We discussed the many ways that CDA members are using [uncrewed aircraft systems] to deliver benefits to communities today, and how access to spectrum will support the continued growth of this innovative industry,” a filing posted Tuesday in docket 22-232 said. They met with aides to Rosenworcel and Commissioners Brendan Carr, Geoffrey Starks and Nathan Simington.

Various groups supported arguments by the Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure (CERCI), which opposed the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance's (PSSA) move giving FirstNet effective control of the 4.9 GHz band (see 2405100061). The groups “fully endorse the legal analyses supporting both the CERCI April 15 Letter and the more recent CERCI filing explaining why the PSSA’s suggestion that the FCC is free to do indirectly what it cannot do directly is equally legally infirm,” the filing said: Not considering the CERCI arguments would “risk embroiling the 4.9 GHz band in an ongoing legal dispute, thereby perpetuating the underutilization of this spectrum that prompted the FCC to initiate this proceeding.” Posted Tuesday in docket 07-100, the filing was signed by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the American Petroleum Institute, the Enterprise Wireless Alliance, the Forestry Conservation Communications Association, the International Municipal Signal Association, the National Sheriffs’ Association and the Utilities Technology Council.

APCO representatives met with aides to the FCC commissioners, except Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, on the public safety group's top issues. Among the topics was the 6 GHz band, said a filing posted Tuesday in 18-295 and other dockets. “APCO remains concerned that the expansion of unlicensed devices in the 6 GHz band presents a substantial threat of interference to public safety,” it said: “Real-world testing has raised doubts over the technical assumptions underlying the Commission’s decision to open the band.” APCO also remains concerned about wireless 911 location accuracy. “Further Commission action is needed to improve the transparency and reliability of testing to evaluate location technologies and to provide stronger requirements for carriers to deploy methods, several of which are feasible today, to derive dispatchable location,” APCO said.

The Major County Sheriffs of America urged the FCC to approve a waiver request allowing Axon Enterprise to market three investigation and surveillance devices to law enforcement agencies. The devices would operate at higher power levels than allowed under FCC rules in heavily used 5 GHz spectrum and proved controversial when the FCC took comments (see 2403080044). “Law enforcement’s use of these devices in high-risk situations could help avoid potentially violent confrontations, preserving and protecting the safety of law enforcement officers and the public,” a filing posted Tuesday in docket 24-40 said.

Lycamobile USA, which opposed T-Mobile’s proposed buy of Mint Mobile and other assets from Ka’ena, met with FCC officials about the buyer's alleged anticompetitive behavior. Among those who met with representatives of Lycamobile was Wireless Bureau Chief Joel Taubenblatt. Many details of the complaint were redacted from a filing, made Friday in docket 23-171. “The totality of T-Mobile’s conduct points to an attempt to lessen competition” in the mobile virtual network operator “space,” Lycamobile said: The “ultimate consequence is less competitive discipline on market participants, leading to higher prices and/or lower quality for consumers.” Lycamobile has been in a business dispute with T-Mobile (see 2404180023). T-Mobile didn't comment Monday.