Wi-Fi Alliance CEO Kevin Robinson and others from the group met with aides to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioner Anna Gomez to warn that NextNav’s proposals for the 900 MHz band are a threat to “Wi-Fi HaLow,” a Wi-Fi technology operating in the band. The technology is “being used to deliver robust, long-range connectivity for a wide range of industrial and consumer [IoT] applications,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 25-110. “We expressed concern that the use of Wi-Fi HaLow devices is imperiled by NextNav’s proposal to reallocate the 900 MHz band to support its 5G-based alternative positioning, navigation, and timing” service (see 2503030023).

Most in-flight Wi-Fi falls well short of the experience of terrestrial service, Ookla said Monday in an airline Wi-Fi performance report. Based on Ookla Speedtest data, Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airways stood out as the best performing airlines in Q1. Both use SpaceX's Starlink system for in-flight connectivity, and it was "the clear standout" in terms of speed and latency, averaging 152.37 Mbps download and 24.16 Mbps upload, Ookla said. It added that airlines are upgrading their in-flight connectivity as they see value and opportunity to provide better Wi-Fi, along with extended services.

Verizon is getting support from police groups for its request that the FCC delete the unlocking commitment stipulated as a condition of approving Verizon’s purchase of Tracfone (see 2505200051).

NTCA supports the NTIA's approach to requiring unlicensed fixed wireless providers to demonstrate compliance with the technical requirements contained in Appendix A of the agency’s BEAD restructuring policy notice (see 2506060052), NTCA said Monday. “Even as certain technical parameters may be worthy of further consideration, Appendix A rightly and prudently directs Eligible Entities to gather data to make a more informed, accurate, and granular assessment of coverage capability,” the group said. “This kind of data-driven effort is critical to mitigate the risk that any consumer could be left behind by mapping claims that offer incomplete and imprecise assurances of coverage.”

Carolina West Wireless asked the FCC for designation as a high-cost eligible telecommunications carrier in eight counties in North Carolina. Carolina West is the lone wireless carrier serving those counties, said a filing posted Monday in docket 09-197.

The FCC shouldn't accept or receive comments on AST SpaceMobile's plans to use the 700 and 800 MHz bands for supplemental coverage from space services until AST makes public its interference analysis on those bands, T-Mobile said. In a posting Friday (docket 25-201), T-Mobile said AST should also first provide more information about the spectrum it will use and the geographic area that its proposed SCS operations cover, including coverage maps for each block of spectrum it leases.

The proposed restoration of the FCC's spectrum authority coming out of the Senate Commerce Committee (see 2506250054) isn't ideal, "but half a loaf and all that," consultant Richard Bennett wrote last week. A better pipeline would have made the whole 3 GHz band available for civilian use, but the 800 MHz of federal and nonfederal spectrum it makes available "will probably hold us over for 5-7 years, at which time we can begin to create a pathway for the next generation of mobile broadband." Unaddressed is a clawback of the overallocation of the upper 6 GHz and lower 7 GHz bands, Bennett said. "This would be a good candidate for reassignment, obviously, but nothing good happens in DC without a fight."

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology approved commercial operations for Axon Networks' 6 GHz automated frequency coordination system. The approval lets Axon's AFC system manage access to spectrum in the 5.925-6.425 GHz and 6.525-6.875 GHz portions of the 6 GHz band for standard power access points and fixed client devices, OET said Friday (docket 21-352). Separately, OET approved a modification of Comsearch's 6 GHz AFC system.

Cisco Systems continues to lobby the FCC 10th floor regarding its proposal that the commission end rules that prevent use of the 6 GHz band for Wi-Fi on cruise ships. In a docket 18-295 filing Wednesday, it recapped a meeting with an aide to Chairman Brendan Carr, during which it argued that earth exploration satellite services migrating out of the 6 GHz band make obsolete the agency's prohibition on 6 GHz low-power indoor access points on boats to protect EESS. Cisco had similar talks with Commissioner Anna Gomez earlier this month (see 2506170061).

The T-Mobile/SpaceX direct-to-device service will be commercially available starting July 23, T-Mobile said Monday. The service, T-Satellite, will include SMS texting, multimedia messaging service and picture messaging, it said. Starting Oct. 1, it will expand to offer data service, T-Mobile added. It said the service will automatically connect with most smartphones made in the past four years, and recent beta testing had nearly 1.8 million users.