A lawyer for Apple, Broadcom and Meta Platforms spoke with Ira Keltz, acting chief of the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology, on tweaking a draft order that would allow the use of very-low-power (VLP) devices across the 6 GHz band. For example, the lawyer noted that the draft says a June report on interference risks assumed 2% of people were outdoors, but the report said 6%. Other suggested changes were mostly technical. “While some parties have asserted that mandatory firmware updates could have benefits, it is important to note that the Commission has never made this determination, and we agree with the Commission that the record does not support making that conclusion in this order,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-295. Commissioners will vote on the draft Dec. 11 (see 2411200050).

The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals tentatively scheduled for the week of Feb. 3 oral argument on AT&T’s challenge of a $57 million fine the FCC levied in April (see 2404290044) for allegedly not safeguarding data on customers' real-time locations. AT&T called the penalty arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion within the meaning of the Administrative Procedure Act (see 2405130030). Verizon challenged the FCC’s fine against it in the 2nd Circuit (see [Ref:2411060008) and T-Mobile in the D.C. Circuit (see 2411260048). “If you have a serious, irresolvable conflict, contact us IMMEDIATELY via e-mail,” said a Monday notice from the 5th Circuit : “Do not ask to reschedule argument unless you can find no other solution.” The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, meanwhile, filed an amicus brief in support of T-Mobile in the D.C. Circuit. T-Mobile was fined $80 million for its violations, plus $12 million for Sprint's, which it subsequently acquired. The FCC “abused its investigative and enforcement authority to violate the companies’ Seventh Amendment right to a jury,” the Chamber said: “It announced and applied novel legal interpretations of the Communications Act to calculate and impose staggering forfeitures for activities that were not at the time of conduct a violation of any agency rule or law.” The brief said the FCC’s role in overseeing data privacy and security “is limited to specific regulatory activities directed by Congress, such as the regulation of ‘customer propriety network information’ -- statutorily defined term.”

The Utilities Technology Council supported not raising power levels for new very-low-power (VLP) devices across the 6 GHz band, the approach taken in an order teed up for an FCC commissioner vote on Dec. 11 (see 2411200050). UTC representatives met with aides to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “Unlicensed operations in the 6 GHz band, including VLP, pose a significant potential of harmful interference to utility fixed microwave licensed systems, which in turn could compromise the safety, reliability and security of utility critical infrastructure and personnel,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 18-295. “UTC is concerned that higher power VLP operations would pose an even greater risk of causing harmful interference to utility fixed microwave licensed systems,” the filing said. The group also spoke with an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks.

Foldable smartphone shipments worldwide were down 1% year over year in Q3, ending six consecutive quarters of year-over-year growth, Counterpoint Research blogged Tuesday. It said the dip was due mainly to Samsung’s "relatively underwhelming performance with its new Galaxy Z6 series." While Samsung has 56% of the market globally, its market presence in China is small, where there's growing foldable demand, it said. Samsung also is facing increasingly strong competition in North America from Moto's Razr flip foldables and in Western Europe from Honor.

Smith Bagley Inc. (SBI) asked the FCC for prompt action on a petition it filed in September seeking a waiver of revised FCC rules for the Lifeline program. “Several weeks ago, FCC staff advised SBI that it should begin tracking its contract customers and disconnecting service for those not using their devices,” said a filing this week in docket 11-42. “In SBI’s view, disconnecting Tribal citizens living in the most difficult of circumstances is a remedy of last resort,” the carrier said: “Accordingly, while we are following staff’s advice to track our customers and identifying those that do not use their devices within the prescribed period, we are not disconnecting them.” SBI noted that for more than 15 years, thousands of its Tribal Lifeline customers have signed one-year contracts for mobile voice and data service, paying the entirety of the customer’s portion up front. “These households, among the most in need of the federal Lifeline benefit, have relied on this contractual arrangement to receive service,” SBI said.

The Wireless ISP Association asked the FCC to change how it characterizes the group’s stance on letter of credit issues in a draft order teed up for a commissioner vote Dec. 11 (see 2411200050). A footnote states “WISPA suggests that all letters of credit should be reduced to one year of support,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 10-90. “WISPA’s Comments can more fairly read to support the Commission’s proposed decision to allow RDOF recipients to reduce their letters of credit to one year of support if they have consistently met their deployment milestones,” WISPA said.

The FCC Wireless Bureau approved a waiver giving SiriusXM additional time to deploy satellite-based emergency communications for public safety agencies, in combination with AT&T. The order covers spectrum in the C and D blocks of the 2.3 GHz wireless communications service band, which the commission addressed in a 2017 order (see 1701180088). “Working with Sirius XM, AT&T has put forth a plan for the beneficial use of the C and D Blocks -- assigning the C and D Block licenses to Sirius XM so that Sirius XM could lease the bandwidth at no cost to one or more public safety agencies,” said an order in Tuesday’s Daily Digest. The service “would permit public safety agencies access to satellite communications services, using Sirius XM satellites, by pre-staging satellite receivers designed for WCS reception within the service area of each license to be deployed, as needed,” the order said. The bureau said AT&T tried developing a network for utilities in the spectrum: “Despite preliminary successes, according to AT&T, the service is no longer viable because of alternative spectrum available to utilities for smart grid operation.”

The Enterprise Wireless Alliance disputed NextNav's arguments about the company’s proposal for reconfiguring the 900 MHz band. NextNav's Oct. 31 filing addressed concerns that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and EWA raised (see 2409090015). “NextNav states that EWA’s concerns about interference are ‘misplaced’ because ‘EWA appears to envision two separate network deployments -- one for 5G and another for next-generation geolocation,’” EWA said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 24-240: “That is not and never has been EWA’s understanding. Its Comments made clear EWA’s understanding that there would be a single network.” EWA added it’s “the impact of that prospective commercial broadband network that will host NextNav’s proposed [terrestrial positioning, navigation and timing] operation that is of significant concern to EWA.”

The FCC Wireless Bureau said it's examining carriers' numbering resource utilization and forecast (NRUF) reports and carrier-specific local number portability (LNP) data as it examines the T-Mobile/UScellular deal; it doesn't plan to disclose the data publicly. Consistent with past practices, "we will make such information available to participants in this proceeding, but limit such access to their Outside Counsel of Record and Outside Consultants whom they retain to assist them in this proceeding, and their Outside Counsel’s and Outside Consultants’ employees,” said a Tuesday order in docket 24-286. The bureau said in a separate notice providers have until Dec. 6 “to oppose the limited disclosure of their NRUF and LNP data pursuant to the protective order.” T-Mobile announced in May a plan where it will acquire “substantially all” of UScellular’s wireless operations in a deal valued at about $4.4 billion, including $2 billion in assumed debt (see 2405280047). Also Tuesday, the FCC referred the transaction to the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Service Sector. The agency wants a review of “national security or law enforcement concerns related to the applications." DOJ requested that step (see 2411200013). The committee is informally known by its former name, Team Telecom.

Global mobile network data traffic could grow by almost 200% between 2024 and the end of 2030, Ericsson said in its much-watched mobility report, released Tuesday. Ericsson forecasts 6.3 billion global 5G subscriptions by the end of 2030, with 60% stand-alone 5G. 5G stand-alone (SA) and 5G-advanced “are expected to be key focuses for communications service providers for the remainder of the decade as they deploy new capabilities to create offerings centered on value delivery rather than data volume,” Ericsson said. A quarter of all mobile subscriptions are expected to be 5G at the end of this year. 5G is expected to overtake 4G as the dominant mobile access technology in 2027, the report said. That’s a year earlier than previous predictions. Of the 320 carriers offering commercial 5G services, fewer than 20% are 5G SA, the report said: “The densification of mid-band and 5G SA sites is seen as a key catalyst to capitalize on the full potential of 5G, including programmable and intelligent network capabilities.” Fixed wireless access is growing rapidly, with 350 million global FWA connections expected by the end of 2030, the report said.