The FCC Tuesday announced a new Mobile Speed Test app it will use in helping the agency collect information for broadband mapping. Replacing the original FCC Speed Test app, the new version “features an enhanced user interface that makes challenging the accuracy of the provider-reported mobile coverage data even easier,” the FCC said. The app lets users conduct repeated tests without entering and certifying information before each test, allowing for “hands-free mobile tests while driving,” the agency said. It’s available for Apple and Android devices. “Consumers deserve to know where they have mobile coverage and at what speeds and the FCC wants to include their experiences in our effort to create a more precise map of available coverage,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said.

GCI CEO Ronald Duncan and others from the Alaskan carrier, in separate meetings with FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Brendan Carr, urged that the agency approve the Alaska Connect Fund. GCI is deploying “5G where doing so makes sense -- typically in areas with fiber that are due for a radio network upgrade,” a filing posted Tuesday in docket 23-328 said. “Deploying 5G in these areas -- rather than the 4G LTE called for in GCI’s current Alaska Plan commitments -- provides a better experience for these Alaskans as well as a network that will last longer into the future,” GCI said.

Ligado Networks and GCT Semiconductor said on Tuesday GCT’s Luna Cat-12 LTE module is FCC-certified and commercially available. "The module is a foundational technology for a new ecosystem of commercial devices operating on LTE Band 54 spectrum at 1670-1675 MHz,” the companies said. The band “stands out as a highly distinctive mid-band spectrum resource for the utility and enterprise segments,” standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project and offering a 5-MHz time division duplex block “available nationwide,” said Sachin Chhibber, Ligado chief technology officer: “Licensed spectrum assures availability and enhances security to enable more robust and secure private networks.”

New America's Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge attacked the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA) proposal that assigns the 4.9 GHz band to FirstNet, “either directly through a nationwide license or indirectly through a sharing agreement.” PSSA is “effectively proposing that the Commission reallocate the band for a single use (mobile broadband) and assign it exclusively, without competitive bidding, to AT&T,” the groups said in a Tuesday filing in docket 07-100. If the FCC agrees with the PSSA, it would allow the band to be used “predominantly for commercial use, but only by one user: AT&T,” the filing said: “Contrary to the original Congressional vision of a separate interoperable public safety mobile network, over time FirstNet has become little more than a priority access tier on AT&T’s commercial mobile network.” PSAA’s proposal “would amount to an enormous windfall for AT&T that could distort mobile market competition,” PK and OTI said. The band's future is hotly contested. AT&T last week noted the support for giving FirstNet access to the spectrum (see 2407110012). The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association also opposed FirstNet control in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 07-100. “The PSSA plan would take the 4.9 GHz band away from local public-safety entities and give it to FirstNet, which would effectively hand control over to AT&T, a commercial provider,” the association said.

Qualcomm representatives spoke with FCC Office of Engineering and Technology staff about 6 GHz automated frequency coordination system “implementation issues” and a proposal to create a geofenced variable power (GVP) device class (see 2404290035). “Qualcomm indicated its support for GVP operations at variable power levels that would protect incumbents by limiting operations to areas outside the exclusion zones and further explained the operations and GVP system architecture,” a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-295 said.

Most of Paris seems “5G-ready” with the Olympic Games starting Friday, Ookla reported Tuesday. “Our analysis of Speedtest data across Paris shows that 5G is available in almost every corner of the city,” Ookla said. There are coverage gaps in or near the Montparnasse and Pere Lachaise cemeteries and in major parks, “but for the most part you’ll have a hard time finding an area where you cannot connect at all.”

An Extreme Networks representative urged the FCC Office of Engineering to move forward on the company’s request for a waiver of rules for low-power indoor (LPI) devices for 6 GHz access points (APs), to be installed exclusively in indoor-only sports venues. “Fans demand reliable Wi-Fi coverage when they attend events at stadiums and arenas,” a filing posted Monday in docket 23-282 said. “Extreme partners with major stadiums and arenas across the country and is ready to install LPI APs to support fans’ needs,” the company said. The proposal proved controversial when the FCC took comment last year (see 2310170045).

NCTA representatives asked the FCC to reject Axon's waiver request that would allow the marketing of three investigative and surveillance devices operating at higher power levels than allowed under agency rules in the heavily used 5 GHz spectrum. The devices target the law enforcement market. NCTA discussed “the central importance of the U-NII-3 band for Wi-Fi in homes, businesses, schools, and healthcare settings, and the significant negative impact that operation of Axon’s devices would have on nearby consumers using Wi-Fi devices,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 24-40. The representatives met with aides to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. “Wi-Fi’s success in supporting a great number of users and devices using unlicensed spectrum is due in large part to its use of a listen-before-talk protocol to support spectrum sharing,” NCTA said. The proposal has proven controversial (see 2403080044).

Tracfone Wireless will pay $16 million and take other steps to resolve investigations into whether it failed to reasonably protect customers’ information from unauthorized access in connection with three data breaches, the FCC said Monday. Verizon is Tracfone's owner. The breaches involved exploitation of application programming interfaces (APIs), the agency said. “The Commission takes matters of consumer privacy, data protection, and cybersecurity seriously, including in the context of emerging security issues,” said Loyaan Egal, chief of the Enforcement Bureau. The investigations and consent decree “make clear that API security is paramount and should be on the radar of all carriers,” Egal added. The breaches occurred between 2021 and last year, according to the consent decree. “While APIs greatly improve the modularity and flexibility of software, they dramatically expand the potential attack surface area,” the decree said: “Without adequate protection, an attacker may be able to make an API request to any one of these components to perform a malicious action or retrieve private information, including consumer information.” Among other things, Tracfone agreed to develop a security compliance plan and implement “a comprehensive information security program,” SIM change and port-out protections. "We're pleased that we were able to reach this settlement to address these past TracFone matters,” a Verizon spokesperson said in an email: “Since we purchased TracFone, our combined cybersecurity teams have been working to enhance its security protocols and extend the same robust protections to all Verizon customer accounts."

Competitive Carriers Association and Nex-Tech Wireless representatives met with an aide to FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez to discuss potential gaps in the agency’s broadband data collection, a filing posted Friday in docket 19-195 said. Nex-Tech discussed issues it saw as it collected data for the broadband maps. “In Kansas, the outdoor stationary 5G 7/1 Mbps mobile broadband layer of the most recent FCC national broadband map shows 63% of the state to be currently covered, whereas in-vehicle mobile coverage at 7/1 Mbps shows only 30% … covered,” the filing said: Even if the reported coverage were accurate, “this methodology would leave 70% of Kansas below even the 7/1 Mbps 5G bar for those using mobile phones while mobile.” The representatives warned about the implications “of overstated maps and a flawed challenge process” for “the success of the 5G Fund.”