The House Communications Subcommittee plans a May 24 hearing on wireless legislation, including the newly filed Extending America’s Spectrum Auction Leadership Act (HR-7783) to renew the FCC’s auction authority for 18 months to March 31, 2024, the House Commerce Committee said Tuesday. The FCC's current auction authority expires Sept. 30. The hearing will discuss "the urgent need to reauthorize the FCC’s spectrum auction authority, as well as requiring mobile service providers to protect survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking, and other related crimes from abusers with whom they share mobile service contracts,” said House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Communications Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa. “We’ll also review bills to strengthen the FCC’s Lifeline program and improve federal spectrum testing and management.” Other bills House Communications will examine are the Ensuring Phone and Internet Access for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Recipients Act (HR-4275), the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences Codification Act (HR-4990), the Simplifying Management, Reallocation and Transfer of Spectrum Act (HR-5486) and Safe Connections Act (HR-7132). The hearing will begin at 11 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.

Vermont National Telephone claims of fraud by big winners in the 2015 AWS-3 auction are heading back to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Tuesday reversed the lower court's dismissal of VTEL's Fair Claims Act suit. The FCC doesn't have the authority to assess financial civil penalties during licensing proceedings, so its evaluation of Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless long-form applications and of petitions to deny them doesn't count as an "administrative civil money penalty proceeding" under the federal False Claims Act, the D.C. Circuit said (docket 21-7039). The act doesn't allow actions based on allegations or transactions subject to a civil suit or an administrative civil money penalty proceeding where the government is a party. The Circuit Court said it disagreed with the lower court finding that VTEL hadn't plausibly alleged any false claims that could influence Northstar and SNR eligibility for bidding credits in the auction. They said there are perhaps other reasonable justifications for SNR and Northstar actions in the auction, but VTEL allegations of undisclosed agreements to act on behalf of Dish Network and transfer AWS-3 spectrum rights to Dish are plausible. "We are pleased with the D.C. Circuit’s decision, and Vermont National Telephone Company looks forward to pursuing its claims against DISH and other defendants in federal district court," VTEL outside counsel emailed. Northstar, SNR and Dish outside counsel didn't comment. Deciding the appeal were D.C. Circuit Judges David Tatel, Judith Rogers and Cornelia PIllard, with Tatel penning the decision. Oral argument was March 3. The Dish designated entities are separately challenging the FCC's 2020 rejection of the AWS-3 bidding credits -- the second time the agency did so (see 2011230062).

Supporters of a proposal to reallocate the 12 GHz band for 5G think the proposal will likely move forward in coming months, buoyed by responses by FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Brendan Carr to members of Congress last week, as a follow-up to the recent House hearing. Meanwhile, Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen offered a candid assessment of the future of DBS spectrum in a presentation to analysts.

The wireless industry isn’t contributing its fair share of regulatory costs and broadcasters are being charged too much, said NAB in a call with the FCC Office of General Counsel and the Office of Managing Director Tuesday, according to an ex parte filing posted in docket 21-190 Friday. NAB said it “has no idea” how it's “remotely possible” for the Wireless Bureau to spend as much time and work as it does on auctions, “especially in light" of the auctions division no longer being housed in the bureau and the wireless industry "not contributing its fair share" to funding offices such as the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. NAB also renewed calls for the FCC to expand the base of payors to include “broadband internet-service providers, Big Tech companies, and other unlicensed spectrum users” that generate work for the FCC. “Continuing to require broadcasters to pay for broadband activities that do not benefit them is plainly unlawful,” NAB said.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel backed making more spectrum available for 5G but didn’t discuss any additional target bands during remarks to a CTIA conference that were posted in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. “We need to replenish the spectrum pipeline for new commercial innovation if we want to continue to lead the world in Wireless,” Rosenworcel said: “We also need to be creative. I think that creativity is in our national DNA. Let’s speculate that’s what Marconi saw here, too. Because remember that spectrum auctions, incentive auctions, unlicensed authorization, and dynamic spectrum access systems all got their start in the United States. We’ve turned spectrum scarcity into abundance before. We can do it again.” Rosenworcel also noted the importance of open radio access networks: “Open and interoperable equipment is the future, and we are working to ensure that Open RAN technology is being built here and now.”

The FCC rejected T-Mobile’s proposed changes to the list of licenses that will be offered in the 2.5 GHz auction (see 2204270062), scheduled to start July 29. “After reviewing the ex parte filing, we decline to adjust the current inventory of licenses,” said a Friday notice by the Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics. “We do not anticipate any need to publish further revisions to the inventory, except for changes that may be required by disposition of pending Rural Tribal Priority Window (RTPW) applications.” The FCC said, “Extensive review of the current license data already has been conducted, and potential bidders have been advised to conduct their own further due diligence with respect to any offered licenses that are of interest to them, especially in light of the fact that the amount of unassigned area or unassigned spectrum for some licenses is very small.”

The aviation safety concerns the FAA and airlines voiced about top U.S. wireless carriers’ use of 5G on the C band “won’t be completely resolved by this summer,” though ongoing “dialogue and collaboration” between all parties means “we’re on a better path” now, said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg during a Thursday Senate Appropriations Transportation Subcommittee hearing. Buttigieg’s assessment of the current situation kicked off a new case of heartburn among some communications sector stakeholders.

T-Mobile will finish moving all Sprint customers to the T-Mobile network over the next few months and plans to “decommission substantially all” Sprint sites by year-end, executives said Wednesday as the carrier reported Q1 results. T-Mobile continues its strong growth, with 589,000 postpaid phone net adds and 1.3 million postpaid net customer adds. T-Mobile shares closed 3.9% higher Wednesday at $129.84.

The FCC revised its list of licenses that will be available in the 2.5 GHz auction, taking 19 off the list Friday (see 2203220066). A March notice “did not account for all canceled, terminated, or expired licenses that were granted waivers for late-filed renewals,” said a notice from the Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics. “The analysis that resulted in the March 21 inventory incorrectly reduced the geographic service area of certain active licenses because it assumed that those active licenses had their geographic service areas reduced by the canceled, expired, or terminated licenses,” the FCC said: “Upon further analysis, Commission staff found 19 instances where county/channel block combinations that had been listed in the March 21 inventory in fact had no unassigned spectrum.” The licenses are in Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York, Tennessee and Vermont and are listed in a footnote of the notice. The FCC will offer some 8,000 licenses in the auction, which starts July 29.

Early signs this week are that smaller carriers may be interested in pursuing licenses in the 2.5 GHz auction, which starts July 29, as they fill in their mid-band spectrum holdings. The biggest player in the auction is still expected to be T-Mobile, which already has a dominant position in the band since its buy of Sprint, and is using 2.5 GHz for its 5G rollout. The Rural Wireless Association had a webinar Thursday on the nuts and bolts of auction participation.