3.5 GHz Auction Procedures Open for Comment

At the September Open Meeting, the FCC issued a Public Notice seeking comment on procedures for the auction of Priority Access Licenses (PALs) in the 3.5 GHz band (Vol. XVI, Issue 36).  The Notice seeks comment on several proposed aspects of the auction including upfront payment and minimum opening bid amounts, bidding round format, and the option for bidders to bid at a Cellular Market Area (CMA) level in the 172 CMAs classified as Metropolitan Statistical Areas.  Comments and reply comments are due on October 28 and November 12, 2019, respectively. 

FCC Investigates Sprint Lifeline Subsidies

The FCC announced last week that Sprint is under investigation for violating the “non-usage” rule of the Lifeline program by allegedly receiving subsidies for roughly 885,000 Lifeline subscribers even though those subscribers were not using the service.  Under the non-usage rule, providers are only reimbursed for a Lifeline subscriber if that subscriber has used the service at least once in the past thirty days.  Providers must also de-enroll inactive subscribers after giving them 15 days’ notice.  Sprint’s 885,000 subscribers represent almost 30% of Sprint’s Lifeline subscriber base and nearly 10% of the entire Lifeline program.  

NG911 Institute Hosts Congressional Staff Briefing

On September 27^th, the NG911 Institute hosted a Lunch and Learn Briefing at the Russell Senate Office Building on the current state of 911 and the need to modernize the Nation’s 911 system.  The event offered input from different perspectives of the public safety and emergency response community, such as originating service providers, niche 911 service providers, and public safety access point (PSAP) professionals.  Speakers included Eric Hagerson (T-Mobile), Matthew Gerst (CTIA), Brian McNealy (Comtech), Walt Kaplan (RapidDeploy), Chris Freeman (Marshall County, KY) and Dave Mulholland (Arlington, VA).  

Electronic Filing NPRM Published in Federal Register

Today, the FCC’s NPRM seeking comment on requiring all Universal Licensing System (ULS) filings to be made electronically (Vol. XVI, Issue 37) was published in the Federal Register.  The NPRM also proposes mandatory electronic filing in the Antenna Structure Registration (ASR) System as well as for certain filings and communications made in the Tower Construction Notification System (TCNS) and E-106 System. Comments and Reply Comments on the NPRM are due October 30, 2019 and November 14, 2019, respectively.