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T-Mobile to pay $200 million penalty related to Sprint misuse of Lifeline program

Last year the FCC announced that Sprint had claimed subsidies for Lifeline subscribers who weren’t using the program. Now T-Mobile has agreed to pay a settlement for this issue related to its merger partner. T-Mobile will pay a $200 million penalty as part of a settlement following the FCC’s investigation into Sprint and its use of the Lifeline program. This is the largest settlement that the FCC has ever gotten when resolving an investigation. In addition … [read full article]

FCC says T-Mobile hit with outage because it did not follow network best practices

Following T-Mobile’s serious network outage back in June, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai pledged that he would investigate what caused the “unacceptable” outage. Today that report has come out. Pai describes T-Mobile’s outage as a “failure”, saying that the FCC’s investigation found that T-Mo did not follow “several established network reliability best practices” that could have either prevented the outage completely or at least mitigated the impact it had on T-Mobile customers. The outage was caused … [read full article]

AT&T and Verizon complain to FCC about T-Mobile’s spectrum holdings, T-Mo CEO responds

AT&T and Verizon both recently came out against T-Mobile, asking the FCC to take action to prevent T-Mo’s spectrum portfolio from growing, and today T-Mo has responded. First up, Verizon filed a petition to the FCC asking the agency to reconsider allowing T-Mobile to strike a 600MHz spectrum lease deal with Columbia Capital. Verizon argues that with these arrangements, T-Mo will exceed the FCC’s 250MHz screen for low- and mid-band spectrum in certain markets, including … [read full article]

FCC announces results of CBRS spectrum auction that T-Mobile participated in

The FCC today announced the results of its recent 3.5GHz CBRS spectrum auction, and T-Mobile finished with a few of the Priority Access Licenses (PALs). T-Mobile spent a total of $5.58 million on eight PALs in six counties. Also of note is that Shentel won a total of 262 PALs in 74 counties, spending $16.118 million for them. T-Mo is in the process of buying Shentel’s wireless assets, so those PALs could eventually become T-Mobile’s. … [read full article]

T-Mobile asks FCC permission to test 5G using C-band spectrum

As T-Mobile continues its 5G rollout, the carrier has submitted an application to the FCC to test 5G in the C-band spectrum. T-Mobile has asked the FCC for permission to test 5G on spectrum in the 3.7-3.8GHz band, or the lower C-band. According to the filing spotted by Light Reading, these tests will be conducted in Las Vegas, NV; Houston, TX; Phoenix, AZ; Bellevue, WA; and New York, NY. “Commission grant of the requested STA will … [read full article]

T-Mobile and AT&T argue against FCC plan that would have them drive test their networks

T-Mobile this week argued against an FCC program that would have US carriers perform drive tests on their network to confirm their coverage. In a filing with the FCC, T-Mobile said that drive tests are “extremely expensive and burdensome to conduct”, especially at the scale required to get a significant enough sample of a nationwide cellular network. “A blanket requirement to perform regular on-the-ground testing will force providers to spend millions of dollars each year … [read full article]

FCC now seeking comment from those affected by T-Mobile network outage

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said that he planned to investigate T-Mobile’s recent network outage, which he called “unacceptable”, and now the FCC wants to hear from you about what happened. The FCC is now seeking comments from the public on the T-Mobile outage that happened on June 15. Specifically, the agency wants to know things like how T-Mo customers learned about the outage, if T-Mobile’s communication was timely and effective, if customers were able to send … [read full article]

FCC Chairman launching investigation into ‘unacceptable’ T-Mobile network outage

T-Mobile suffered a major nationwide outage today that’s still affecting some customers hours after it began. And now the FCC Chairman says he’s going to look into what’s happened. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced tonight that the FCC is launching an investigation into today’s T-Mobile network outage. “The T-Mobile network outage is unacceptable,” Pai tweeted. “The FCC is launching an investigation. We’re demanding answers — and so are American consumers.” None of the other FCC commissioners … [read full article]

T-Mobile and Dish Network bicker over extension of 600MHz spectrum loan

With T-Mobile and Dish Network coming to an agreement that helped get the T-Mo-Sprint merger done and Dish lending T-Mobile its 600MHz spectrum during the coronavirus pandemic, some might think that the two companies are pretty friendly. But a new FCC filing suggests that they might not be quite as chummy as some thought. T-Mobile recently submitted a filing with the FCC to ask for an extension on the agreement that’s allowing T-Mo to use … [read full article]

T-Mobile asks FCC for permission to operate on 2.5GHz band in Philadelphia

A new filing submitted by T-Mobile to the FCC this week has revealed the carrier’s desire to use 2.5GHz spectrum in Philadelphia. In an application filed with the FCC, T-Mobile says it’d like special temporary authority (STA) to operate on the 2570-2630MHz band in Philadelphia that’s currently licensed or leased to Sprint or one of Sprint’s affiliates. Sprint has already consented to T-Mo’s use of the spectrum. T-Mobile explains that this STA will allow it to test … [read full article]