Anterix representatives spoke with an aide to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, seeking action on a rulemaking authorizing 5/5 MHz broadband deployments in the 900 MHz band (see 2405210041). “The FCC decision to create a 900 MHz broadband segment has already enabled utilities across the nation, including rural areas, to design, deploy, and operate private broadband networks tailored to their highly demanding specifications,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 24-99. “900 MHz broadband spectrum will play an increasingly important role in enabling the grid to withstand escalating external and weather-related threats, as well as growing internal demands for power during the transition to renewable energy,” Anterix said.

Wi-Fi has been a huge win, offering broadband access in many locations, with more than 18 billion Wi-Fi devices in use and its success based on a “foundation in permissionless innovation,” the Competitive Enterprise Institute said in a report Tuesday. The U.S. approach contrasts with China's, where Wi-Fi is seen as a “threat,” CEI said. “Wi-Fi shows that when America embraces permissionless innovation it creates competitive advantages.” The report quotes inventor Nikola Tesla saying “when wireless is fully applied, the Earth will be converted into a huge brain, capable of response in every one of its parts.” CEI noted that people consume up to 80% of data indoors and Wi-Fi is largely used for indoor broadband. “Permissionless innovation is optimistic,” the report said: “It embraces human innovation and ingenuity as overall good things. It allows that harms from innovation can be addressed as they occur. Government need not attempt to anticipate or attempt to prevent potential harms, in large part because it is rarely possible to accurately predict what will go wrong and head that off at the pass.”

Sirius XM filed a complaint at the FCC against China’s Shenzhen Tongwei Electronics' wideband signal boosters and California’s MiCOM Labs, which certified the devices. The boosters can operate in the 2300 MHz band, licensed for the terrestrial wireless communications service, in violation of FCC rules, the complaint said. “Testing has shown that these devices produce out-of-band emissions … that cause harmful interference” to satellite digital audio radio service and aeronautical mobile telemetry, the complaint said. The booster models are sold on Amazon under the trade names Beyle, Tonve or Becky, the complaint said. SiriusXM said AT&T, which uses the WCS band, supports the complaint.

Comments are due Dec. 20 about a proposed requirement that covered text providers, including wireless providers, support georouting text messages made to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline to the appropriate local crisis center, said a notice for Wednesday's Federal Register. Replies are due Jan. 9. Comments are to be filed in docket 18-336. The 988 call georouting order approved unanimously at the FCC's October meeting included an NPRM about text georouting (see 2410170026).

The FCC will provide information on how to challenge the mobile broadband coverage data in the national broadband map, the Wireless Bureau said Tuesday. On Dec. 3, officials will offer a session on “Mobile challenge thresholds & other things to keep in mind when conducting a test.” The focus of a Dec. 10 session is “Collecting and submitting bulk challenge data in accordance with Broadband Data Collection (BDC) Data Specifications.” Both sessions run 3-4:30 p.m. EST, the bureau said. “During each session, FCC staff will provide a brief overview of the topic, followed by a Q&A in which staff will be available to offer hands-on support.”

EchoStar urged the FCC to move forward on handset unlocking rules for prepaid and postpaid devices. As the FCC recognized in its unlocking NPRM, “such rules are a means to improve consumer choice and flexibility and to enhance competition across the mobile wireless marketplace," the company said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 24-186: “EchoStar agrees, as do the majority of commenting parties: the benefits of a standard unlocking policy are widely cited in the record. Indeed, industry-wide unlocking requirements have support from parties ranging from the public interest community to Verizon and Comcast.” Commissioners approved an NPRM 5-0 in July (see 2407180037).

Using the correct antennas is a key part of helping providers cut their energy use, Andrzej Mikolajczuk, sustainability program director at Ericsson, blogged Tuesday. “Passive antennas are like tires on a car,” Mikolajczuk wrote: “You can have an impressive car with a massive engine, but if the car has bad tires, a lot of energy gets wasted. The same applies to antennas. If more of the propagation of the electromagnetic field is going in the desired direction, then the radio power can be reduced by up to 29%.” With improved antennas, handsets on the network also use less energy, he said. Updated antennas themselves are also more energy efficient, with a lighter structure and 100% recyclable radome, the weatherproof enclosure that protects an antenna, he said. “With the significant rise in connectivity demand, responsible resource management and environmental action are more urgent than ever,” he said. “Mobile network operators are key to keeping the world connected, but their operations often come with high energy costs and a sizable environmental footprint.”

The FCC’s controversial 4.9 GHz order, allowing FirstNet to use unutilized parts of the band, takes effect Dec. 20, said a notice for Wednesday’s Federal Register. Commissioners approved the order 5-0 in October (see 2410220027). Opponents are threatening litigation (see 2411130027).

T-Mobile plans on using the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix this weekend as a 5G showcase. “Fans tuning into the race will enjoy first-person trackside and sweeping aerial views of the race and Las Vegas thanks to new 5G-connected cameras and a 5G-connected drone,” T-Mobile said Monday. Fans can also watch instant replays “so they don’t miss a second of the action.” The carrier is using 5G slicing “to enhance event operations by powering all point-of-sale and ticketing transactions so fans can seamlessly get into the event and make purchases without delay.”

Brattle Group officials and others representing NextNav met with an aide to FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez on NextNav’s plan to reconfigure the 902-928 MHz band to enable a terrestrial complement to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services (see 2404160043). The Brattle representatives discussed their assessment of the potential economic benefits, said a filing posted Monday in docket 24-240. They “explained the conservative valuation methodology they employed in preparing their analysis, and they reviewed both the economically quantifiable benefits NextNav’s proposal would generate, which figured into their valuation estimate, and the potential for significant benefit in terms of lives saved, which did not,” the filing said.