Wireless Telecommunications

A T-Mobile US service outage, which kept thousands of customers from making calls or using data on June 15, will be investigated by the Federal Communications Commission. “The T-Mobile network outage is unacceptable,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said, adding that the FCC would launch a probe into the matter.

The Federal Communications Commission approved $237.9 million in funding over three years to expand, improve, and harden mobile broadband networks in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Specifically, in Stage 2 of the Uniendo a Puerto Rico Fund and Connect USVI Fund, the FCC authorized $233.9 million to three carriers serving Puerto Rico and $4 million to one carrier serving the US Virgin Islands.

In the last decade, the smartphone has become a tool for witnessing police violence toward African Americans. From the 2009 killing of Oscar Grant to the 2020 killing of George Floyd, we reviewed the footage and talked to the people who captured it, to see how the accounts of racial injustice became clearer as the phones evolved. “This is our only tool we have right now. It is the most effective way to get us justice,” said Feidin Santana, who used his smartphone in 2015 to film a police officer killing Walter Scott in South Carolina. “The smartphone is a weapon that tells the story.

Wireless internet service providers (WISPs) have long offered fixed wireless broadband services in rural areas where cable or wireline broadband is lacking. But now fixed wireless is seeing a bit of a revival in some urban markets thanks to Verizon’s 5G Home service and newcomer Starry’s fixed wireless 802.11-based service. But not everyone is convinced that these new attempts at delivering fixed wireless broadband will be a success.

The protests continuing around the country are historic displays of social action. For political operatives, the mass gatherings are also a unique opportunity to harvest data on potential voters. Advocacy and voter-registration groups are gathering a trove of data from protests by tracking the cellphones of participants and sending them messages about registering to vote or taking other actions. The tactics, which one user called “deeply spooky yet extremely helpful,” are the latest example of ways political groups are using cellphone data to target voters.

When Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen forged a deal to acquire Boost from Sprint -- the takeover target of T-Mobile US -- the hope was it would lead to a new nationwide wireless carrier.

The Federal Communications Commission took action to facilitate the deployment of 5G networks across the US by clarifying and seeking comment on the FCC’s rules regarding state and local government review of modifications to existing wireless infrastructure. June 9’s action will expedite equipment upgrades to deploy these next-generation networks, which are critical to expanding economic opportunities and supporting public health and safety in American communities.

The Federal Communications Commission voted to initiate a proceeding to make more efficient use of additional millimeter-band spectrum resources, including for the provision of wireless backhaul for 5G and the deployment of broadband services to aircraft and ships. In the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the FCC explores new and innovative commercial uses of the 71–76 GHz, 81–86 GHz, 92–94 GHz, and 94.1–95 GHz bands, collectively known as the 70/80/90 GHz bands.

Not all international expansion of telecommunications carriers is in the United States’ national security interests. Some foreign governments seek to exploit the openness of America’s telecommunications market to advance their own national interests.

For the last few months, some people who bought a new smartphone in Europe with Google’s Android software were presented with an extra option while setting up the device: choosing a search engine other than Google. This so-called choice menu started appearing on new smartphones and tablet computers running Google software after March, part of an effort by the internet giant to address a 2018 ruling from European authorities that the company had abused its dominance in smartphone software to unfairly give an advantage to its search engine.