Verizon urged the FCC to move forward on a handset unlocking mandate, the focus of an NPRM commissioners approved 5-0 in July (see 2407180037). Some commenters question whether the FCC has legal authority to impose rules (see 2409240038). A 60-day locking period for postpaid phones “is the minimum necessary to help providers combat handset fraud and theft, but a longer, 180-day locking period for prepaid is necessary to enable wireless providers to continue offering subsidies that make phones affordable for prepaid customers,” Verizon said in a filing this week in docket 24-186. Regardless of the time period commissioners agree to, “a uniform unlocking policy that applies to all providers is paramount; the record is replete with evidence that uniformity will benefit both consumers and competition,” the carrier said. Verizon met with staff from the Wireless Bureau and the Office of Economics and Analytics.

FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, who led U.S. preparation for last year’s World Radiocommunication Conference before she was confirmed to the FCC (see 2309120074), warned that the U.S. must prepare now for WRC-27. “Overall, we did very well, but it’s complicated,” Gomez said of WRC-23. “We succeeded in maintaining the 6 GHz band as the home for unlicensed innovation,” though other countries “also claimed victory because they received designations that allow them [to] use parts of the band” for international mobile telecommunications, she said. Gomez spoke Tuesday at the Americas Spectrum Management Conference. The U.S. also won on new allocations for satellite use of the 17 GHz band, she said. “Some countries were seeking to place new restrictions on the ability of countries to authorize satellite systems to provide commercial services in frequencies that have not been allocated internationally for satellite use,” she said: “That did not happen and that is a big win for the U.S. and innovation.” She also discussed the importance of the sharing model offered by the citizens broadband radio service band, developed through “intentional collaboration” between the FCC, the NTIA and DOD. “CBRS has demonstrated that shared spectrum schemes are not only possible but successful and can scale up to incorporate developments, protect incumbents, create more access and encourage new market entrants.” Gomez also stressed the importance of Congress restoring FCC auction authority. Currently, “our agency cannot begin the lengthy preparatory work to hold an auction” and “we are even limited in how we can use staff time for auction planning.” Gomez warned of a talent drain at the commission. “Bright, talented attorneys, economists, engineers and staff that have built years of expertise in spectrum auctions are having to pivot to other work,” she said. “The robust, expert team that we developed and grew in preparation for more auctions is slimming down.”

Tribal-area wireless provider Smith Bagley told the FCC the Navajo Nation this week adopted a legislative resolution supporting the carrier’s April request for a waiver of Lifeline rules. The provider asked the FCC to temporarily provide expanded monthly tribal Lifeline benefits of $25 to $65.75 to make up for the loss of funding following the expiration of the affordable connectivity program (see 2404080030). During the COVID-19 pandemic, Smith Bagley “added 100 Gigabytes of data each month for Tribal ACP customers to use while their Tribal lands were closed down and they were forced to stay home,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 11-42. Now that ACP has lapsed, Smith Bagley “can no longer provide the additional 100 Gigabytes of data to Tribal homes,” the filing said: “With minor adjustments, it has returned to its pre-COVID rate plans, which means that high data use customers must purchase additional bundles of data when needed.”

A new, CTIA-sponsored report argues that “at this stage” Wi-Fi has all the spectrum it needs. “Additional unlicensed spectrum does not provide a practical benefit to Wi-Fi performance,” the report said: “It is only at very close ranges that additional spectrum actually improves performance.” The report’s author, Richard Bennett of the High Tech Forum, discussed his findings in detail last week (see 2409250034). An NCTA spokesperson slammed the report, pointing to WiFiForward's recent study. The positive impact of Wi-Fi has helped “the American economy ... grow from $1.6 trillion in 2024 to $2.4 trillion in 2027, and … opening the 7 GHz band for unlicensed use will generate at least $79 billion in additional economic value between 2025 and 2027,” the spokesperson emailed: “Everyone who uses the internet relies on Wi-Fi to power their apps and experiences, ... freeing up more spectrum for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed uses will be critical for continuing to deliver the gig-speed service that consumers expect.”

Select Spectrum supported Ligado arguments that the FCC should reallocate the 1675-1680 MHz band for shared commercial use, limited to uplink-only use (see 2409240008). “As a company with direct experience in the marketplace for spectrum, Select Spectrum can attest that this band will help meet the growing need for lower mid-band spectrum,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 19-116. “This reallocation will serve the public interest by both strengthening planned networks, which are often mission-critical in nature, and reducing costs, which may be passed to the consumer,” Select Spectrum said.

Summit Ridge, the 3.45 GHz Clearinghouse, told the FCC it’s still waiting for NBCUniversal to complete its “relocation activity” and submit final invoices. “Total Clearinghouse costs and clearing costs are running very close to their original estimated costs,” Summit Ridge said in a report filed Monday in docket 19-348. “However, due to costs that the Clearinghouse will incur while it continues its operations, the longer the Clearinghouse exists in operations, the less likely it is that the Clearinghouse will be able to stay within its initial budget,” the firm said. Summit Ridge made similar points in its last quarterly report in July (see 2407030063).

T-Mobile announced Tuesday it’s eliminating data caps for its Ultra Mobile prepaid offering. Ultra customers “no longer have to wonder if they have enough high-speed data to stream non-stop,” T-Mobile said: “The upgrade is effective immediately and applies to new and existing customers on Ultra Unlimited and Ultra Unlimited+ plans.” Ultra Unlimited plans start at $49 per line per month.

NTIA will release a report “later this fall” on the agency’s May request for comment about the state of 6G development (see 2405230010), Lauriston Hardin, NTIA chief technical adviser, said during RCR Wireless’ 6G Forum on Tuesday (see 2410010033). Comments were filed at NTIA in August (see 2409040032). “We’re working through it now,” he said. “I’m not allowed to give any more comment than that at the moment.” NTIA’s Office of International Affairs issued the request, so some of the focus will be international, he noted. “Our job, in part, is to stay ahead and talk about the policies that will be put in place, or possibly regulations that will be put in place, to help foster as well as maintain new developments in the marketplace,” Hardin said: “We’ve asked the marketplace, ‘Tell us about 6G. Tell us about your use cases. Tell us about when new things will happen. Tell us about the policies you think should be in place that would promote things.’” Hardin stressed the importance of focusing on what 6G can do for consumers. “Engineers like to engineer and think technology is in and of itself a great thing.” We’re still dealing with “the unfulfilled promises of 5G.” Hardin said one of the big questions NTIA is addressing is whether a way can be found to “effectively share” the lower 3 GHz band with DOD (see 2409050032). “One of the things there is airborne radar.” Dynamic spectrum sharing isn’t “a silver bullet,” he said. “Most of the spectrum that we look at, especially sub-6 [GHz], is going to have to be shared.” Anton Monk, senior vice president-strategy at Cohere Technologies, said people view 5G as early in its deployment because carriers have been unable to identify many new use cases. “The consumer hasn’t really seen any significant changes, certainly not enough to pay an extra $10 a month for,” Monk said. “There is a lot of valid concern” that we’re just “following the 10-year cycle” and trying to keep up with other countries that “have huge government-funded initiatives to keep pushing the nest generation,” he said: “Regardless, this is the pace that we’re on, and we just need to make sure that we set expectations correctly” and that we pick use cases “that are really valuable and have paying customers.” Marketing for 5G started early and made too many promises, said Michele Polese, research assistant professor at Northeastern University.

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell in a meeting with FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel urged that the agency authorize commercial operations of its direct-to-device service, according to a posting Monday in docket 23-135. The agency's Space Bureau signed off late last year on SpaceX conducting limited supplemental coverage from space operations for testing purposes (see 2312050029).

Verizon Communications will sell tower company Vertical Bridge “exclusive rights” to lease, operate and manage 6,339 Verizon towers for approximately $3.3 billion, including an upfront payment of $2.8 billion, the companies said Monday. The towers are located in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Verizon agreed to lease back capacity on the towers for 10 years, serving as the anchor tenant, with options for extending the lease term up to 50 years, the companies said: “Verizon will also have access to certain additional space on the towers for its future use, subject to certain restrictions.” Reports that Verizon was seeking to sell towers emerged in July (see 2407160026). In 2015, Verizon sold the rights to lease and operate 11,000 towers to American Tower for an upfront payment of $5 billion (see 1502050059). “This transaction builds on our existing relationship with Vertical Bridge while realizing substantial value for this unique set of assets and allows us to be agile in optimizing the network with one of the best operating partners,” said CEO Hans Vestberg. "We are pleased to have been selected by Verizon as the counterparty in the largest US tower transaction in almost a decade," said Ron Bizick, CEO of Vertical Bridge. In March, Vertical Bridge agreed to pay $310.3 million in cash to buy more than 200 towers from Shentel. Vestberg said during Verizon’s last earnings call in July that while he wouldn’t comment on rumors of a tower sale, the company was seeking additional cash flow. “The focus on cash flow is extremely important because it goes straight into our capital priorities,” he said.