SurgePays, which serves the “underbanked and underserved,” announced the launch of its LinkUp Mobile website and a national expansion of the service. The prepaid wireless service is available online and at convenience stores. "We are excited to deliver this service to the expanding robust prepaid market in North America,” said CEO Brian Cox: “Subscribers enjoy a free first month of service and ongoing savings of up to 10% each month, setting us apart from the competition.”

Momentum is growing behind the launch of stand-alone 5G networks, Heavy Reading analyst Ruth Brown said during a Light Reading webinar on service assurance Thursday. The wireless industry remains in a transitional stage, she said. Carriers are “very eager to start monetizing 5G” and offer “long-awaited advanced 5G services,” she said. “Operators are still working through this long investment cycle,” she said. Carriers feel increasing pressure to ensure they can monitor network operations and “respond dynamically, in real time, to service needs,” Brown said. Moving to the cloud will require service assurance changes and orchestration and life-cycle management, she said. Support “really needs to move to this dynamic, real-time model” and “we need to think about how we’re going to get there.” Brown said automation will be critical, but most carriers report they are already automating their networks. Providers' top priorities are tools for developing and testing software network functions and network diagnostics and the resolution of problems, she said. Cloud native and virtual networks are becoming “more normal” for carriers, said Mark Watts, a member of the Verizon technical staff. “We essentially look at each individual application and whether it fits into the cloud-native” environment, he said. Software-based applications are more nimble than legacy, hardware-based applications, he said, stressing the importance of testing. Verizon prides itself on its reliable network “and that starts with service assurance,” Watts said. “Software testing is … more and more important as we’re embarking on this cloud-native journey,” he said. “Ongoing monitoring” of the cloud-based system “continues to be a very high priority" for Verizon and operators across the globe, Watts said. As carriers introduce different hardware and software into their networks, interoperability is also critical to ensure “the longevity and ongoing reliability of the network,” he said. 5G slicing remains “a hot topic,” as is ensuring that the service offered through slices is automated and “supported more quickly and in a more nimble manner.” Slicing could offer increased security, better gaming, high-throughput or ultra-reliable services beyond what is typically available on Verizon’s network, he said.

Summit Ridge Group “achieved more than $500 million in approved reimbursements for its clients” through multiple FCC programs, it said. That includes through the TV broadcast repack, C-band clearance and Secure and Trusted Communications Program, a Wednesday news release said. Summit Ridge’s “success in reaching the $500 million reimbursement mark reflects its expertise and dedication to understanding and efficiently navigating the intricate landscape of FCC compliance regulations,” the company added.

Shure executives updated the FCC on the needs of wireless mic users in a series of meetings, a filing posted Tuesday in docket 12-268 said. “We discussed the increasing demand for wireless microphone audio technologies … for professional users in the American music, theater, sports, broadcasting and film industries, among other sectors that rely on high-quality professional wireless microphone operations,” Shure said. The company is focused on developing spectrum-efficient technologies for all bands and sharing strategies for frequencies above 1 GHz, the filing said. Shure noted that the 1.2 GHz band is used for wireless mics in other countries, including Japan and France. Company execs met with staff from the Office of Engineering and Technology and Wireless Bureau and aides to Commissioners Anna Gomez, Nathan Simington and Geoffrey Starks.

T-Mobile unveiled a Home Internet Backup service, offering backup for customers of traditional ISPs when their internet service goes out. It costs $30 a month with AutoPay, and $20 for customers with a T-Mobile voice line. The plan offers 130 GB of 5G data per month, “enough to keep a typical household connected with Wi-Fi for up to seven days a month when their primary internet service goes down,” T-Mobile said Wednesday. Subscribers also receive a 5G gateway at no charge.

The future is bright for the tower sector, despite a slowdown in major carriers' 5G deployments (see 402290050), American Tower CEO Steve Vondran said Wednesday at a Raymond James financial conference. The U.S. is seeing 20%-30% annual growth in mobile data “and while that's a little bit lower than the 30% to 40% we saw in 4G, the base is exponentially larger,” Vondran said. “I'm excited for the next decade and the demand for the goods and services we sell has never been more certain than it is today,” he added. Vondran said when he started in the business 24 years ago, consumers viewed cellphones as a luxury and even a few years ago there was speculation about when demand would stop. Carriers will continue to deploy 5G and eventually 6G, he said: “This is a good business, not just historically, but today and going forward.” Crown Castle Chief Financial Officer Daniel Schlanger said at the conference that new CEO Steven Moskowitz is “getting his arms around things” following the company's recent proxy fight (see 2405220071). Unlike other recent CEOs, Moskowitz has an operational background, which the board wanted, Schlanger said. One of the biggest challenges for the tower sector is that no one wants macro towers in their backyard, he said: “They're ugly. … Most people look at them and say, 'I don't want that anywhere near me.'” Small cells can help meet growing data demand, he said, and he discussed the effects of consolidation, most recently T-Mobile’s buy of Sprint. “There has been rationalization of the networks because when two customers come together, they don't need all of the equipment to do everything that they did separately,” he said.

AT&T experienced an outage Tuesday that affected some wireless connections with other carriers, the company acknowledged on X. “Sorry for the inconvenience,” AT&T tweeted late Tuesday: “There is a known issue affecting calls between carriers. Industry providers are working as quickly as possible to diagnose and resolve the issue.” The FCC is “aware of reports that consumers in multiple states are unable to make wireless calls and we are currently investigating,” the agency said. 911 calls weren't affected. An interoperability issue between carriers “has been resolved,” an AT&T spokesperson wrote Wednesday in an email. “We collaborated … to find a solution and appreciate our customers' patience during this period.” AT&T customers experienced a nationwide wireless outage Feb. 22 (see 2402220058).

The Wireless ISP Association is another group challenging the FCC’s net neutrality order in the D.C. Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals (see 2406030053). On Monday, the challenge was consolidated with other cases in docket 24-1169. The FCC order “marks a radical departure from the status quo and will have profoundly negative consequences for the internet and the national economy -- all without Congressional authorization,” WISPA said: “The Order will deter innovation and investment in broadband for WISPA’s small and rural members who may lack resources adequate to absorb the Order’s compliance costs and enforcement risks.” WISPA also said the order was “contrary to law, arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion; exceeds the FCC’s authority; and otherwise violates the Administrative Procedure Act.” Petitioner statement of issues is July 3.

The FCC Wireless Bureau on Tuesday approved MatrixSpace's petition for waiver of the U.S. table of frequency allocations and the commission’s Part 87 rules for radars mounted on drones that could provide radionavigation or radiolocation in the 24.45-24.65 GHz band, for a period of five years. T-Mobile opposed and then withdrew its opposition to the proposal (see 2310260016). The waiver is subject to the outcome of an Echodyne petition seeking rules for the band, the order said. “This request would serve the underlying purpose of our ruling to establish permanent rules for secondary use of the 24.45-24.65 GHz band for radiolocation operations (see 1906130051), as we already permit use of the 24.45-24.65 GHz band” for uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) detection “as part of a ground-based air traffic control system, thus allowing use of the band for other UAS detection does not conflict with that purpose,” the bureau said: MatrixSpace says the radar “can be used for UAS detection in security systems, target tracking systems, and UAS or other drones” and “all opposition to this request has been withdrawn in light of the updated technical information MatrixSpace submitted in the record.” The bureau also extended for five years the waiver for Ecodyne, which uses the band for its EchoGuard offering. “Echodyne again emphasizes the public interest benefits that EchoGuard can support, including protection of infrastructure, stadiums, prisons, and the U.S. border,” a Tuesday order said.

The Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure (CERCI), the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and the 4.9 GHz Coalition jointly urged that the FCC name a national band manager in the 4.9 GHz band. “It has been almost 18 months since the FCC adopted its decision to designate a nationwide Band Manager” and a freeze remains on new licenses in the public safety band, a filing posted Tuesday in docket 07-100 said. The groups noted they oppose FirstNet Authority “licensing, leasing, or other controlling use of this spectrum.” Instead, they favor a plan that would appoint the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, AASHTO and other public safety frequency coordinators as the band managers. “The wholesale licensing or leasing of this band to FirstNet and, therefore, to AT&T for integration into its commercial, consumer-focused network (or an arrangement that accomplishes the same end under a thinly veiled ‘shared use’ nomenclature), would be antithetical to the FCC’s locally controlled public safety primacy commitment,” they said. Meanwhile, top officials from the Major Cities Chiefs Association and the National Sheriffs’ Association met with Commissioner Brendan Carr They warned Carr against giving FIrstNet control of the band. “We discussed how it is important for public safety to continue to have access to multiple service providers in the 4.9 GHz band and how giving the band to the FirstNet Authority would eliminate choices for public safety since the FirstNet Authority has an exclusive contract with a single network provider, AT&T,” the police groups said.