The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit unanimously upheld a combined $92.32 million FCC forfeiture against T-Mobile and Sprint on August 15, 2025. The court ruled that carrier-generated location information was protected customer proprietary network information (CPNI), and that contractual promises from intermediaries were not enough to verify customer consent or prevent unauthorized access.
The case involved a historical location-based-services program that T-Mobile shut down in February 2019. It was a government forfeiture—not compensation for customers—and the judgment does not establish that T-Mobile is currently selling every customer’s live location.
What the D.C. Circuit upheld
| Company | Forfeiture |
|---|---|
| T-Mobile | $80,080,000 |
| Sprint | $12,240,000 |
| Combined | $92,320,000 |
The consolidated cases concerned similar programs operated before Sprint and T-Mobile merged in 2020. The FCC issued notices of apparent liability in 2020 and forfeiture orders in April 2024. Both companies paid the forfeitures and then sought direct appellate review. The D.C. Circuit denied their petitions on August 15, 2025. (D.C. Circuit opinion; FCC-hosted filing)
What “selling location data” means here
The headline shorthand is directionally accurate but incomplete. T-Mobile and Sprint provided access to customer location information through aggregators such as LocationSmart and Zumigo. Those aggregators passed information to downstream providers offering services including roadside assistance and fraud prevention.
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The carriers did not publish a universal feed of every customer’s live location directly to the public. The legal issue was that they allowed third-party access without independently verifying that customers had authorized it, and did not adequately monitor downstream use. A more precise description is that T-Mobile sold access to carrier-generated location information through intermediaries without independently verifying customer consent.
How the access chain worked
Customer device → T-Mobile or Sprint network → LocationSmart or Zumigo → downstream service provider
T-Mobile approved proposed uses, called campaigns, and issued campaign identification numbers for requests. Its contracts required aggregators and downstream providers to obtain consent, but the company generally relied on those promises rather than checking consent itself or using an effective system to distinguish legitimate requests from improper ones.
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Why the information was protected
Section 222 of the Communications Act protects CPNI. The court held that the location information at issue qualified because it related to the location of telecommunications service and was obtained through the carrier-customer relationship. FCC regulation 47 C.F.R. § 64.2010(a) requires carriers to take reasonable measures to protect CPNI. (FCC-hosted filing)
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The decision applies that existing statute and regulation to the particular carrier program. It is not a universal ruling that every location record held by every app, advertising company, operating system or data broker is covered by Section 222.
Incidents that exposed the safeguards
LocateUrCell — 2017
Around July 2017, T-Mobile learned that LocateUrCell was misusing a campaign intended to help customers find missing devices. The provider was supplying location information without consent to companies in the bail-bonds industry.
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Securus — 2018
In May 2018, reporting showed that Securus Technologies used carrier location access to provide information to law enforcement without customers’ knowledge or consent. A Missouri sheriff’s deputy reportedly submitted irrelevant documents, including a car-insurance policy, as supposed legal authorization. T-Mobile terminated Securus and 3CInteractive’s access the next day.
MicroBilt — 2019
In January 2019, reporting showed that MicroBilt had sold Sprint and T-Mobile location information to bounty hunters without customer consent. T-Mobile suspended MicroBilt’s access and shut down the broader location-based-services program the following month. (D.C. Circuit opinion)
Why contracts were not enough
- Contractual promises required intermediaries to obtain customer consent, but did not prove that consent existed for a particular request.
- T-Mobile lacked an effective mechanism to identify legitimate requests and independently verify authorization.
- Monitoring of downstream providers was inadequate.
- After serious misuse became known, effective safeguards were not implemented promptly enough.
- Access continued through some third-party relationships after the carrier had notice of abuse.
The court therefore agreed with the FCC that reasonable protection requires more than passing a consent obligation down a contractual chain.
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How the FCC calculated the penalty
After a grace period following notice of the Securus abuse, the FCC treated continuing unauthorized access through separate third-party relationships as separate violations. Its starting formula was $40,000 for the first day and $2,500 for each subsequent day for each relevant relationship until access ended. The FCC later reduced T-Mobile’s proposed amount after correcting duplicate entities and termination-date information. (FCC forfeiture order; D.C. Circuit opinion)
The carriers’ arguments—and the court’s answers
| Argument | D.C. Circuit’s conclusion |
|---|---|
| The location information was not CPNI under Section 222. | It concerned telecommunications-service location and was obtained through the carrier relationship, so it qualified as protected CPNI. |
| The FCC misread the Communications Act. | The FCC’s interpretation and application of its CPNI rules were upheld. |
| The penalty methodology was improper. | The court found the FCC’s separate-violation approach and calculations reasonable. |
| The process violated the Seventh Amendment by denying a jury trial. | Because the companies paid and sought direct review, rather than refusing payment and awaiting a government collection action, the court rejected their argument. |
What the jury-trial ruling does—and does not—decide
The court explained that a carrier could refuse to pay and face a Department of Justice enforcement action, where a de novo trial could be available. By paying and petitioning for review, T-Mobile and Sprint chose a different statutory route. Related carrier cases have produced disagreement among other federal appellate courts, so this decision should not be described as settling the Seventh Amendment issue nationwide. (FCC-hosted filing)
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Does this change anything for current T-Mobile customers?
The specific T-Mobile location-based-services program at issue ended in February 2019. The judgment is about historical conduct and does not establish that the same program remains active or that every current customer’s live location is being sold.
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Mobile networks still generate location-related information as part of providing service. This ruling reinforces that carriers must protect such information and cannot treat downstream contractual promises as a substitute for reasonable consent verification and oversight.
- This was an FCC forfeiture, not a class-action damages award.
- The decision does not automatically provide payments to affected subscribers.
- Customers should review current T-Mobile privacy policies and account-level location settings separately; those steps do not retroactively resolve the conduct in this case.
Timeline
- July 2017: T-Mobile learned of LocateUrCell’s unauthorized bail-bonds use.
- May 2018: Securus misuse became public; T-Mobile terminated access the next day.
- January 2019: MicroBilt’s alleged sale of carrier location information to bounty hunters was reported.
- February 2019: T-Mobile shut down the broader location-based-services program.
- 2020: The FCC issued notices of apparent liability.
- April 2024: The FCC issued forfeiture orders.
- August 15, 2025: The D.C. Circuit unanimously upheld the penalties.
What the ruling means more broadly
The practical precedent is narrow but important: carrier-generated location information can be CPNI, and carriers remain responsible for reasonable controls when they provide access through aggregators. Commercial usefulness or a contract promising consent does not eliminate that duty.
The ruling does not create a new nationwide privacy statute, ban every location-based service, or govern all location data collected outside the carrier context. It applies Section 222 and FCC CPNI rules to the program and facts before the court.
Status note
Status as of August 18, 2026: The sources reviewed confirm the D.C. Circuit’s August 15, 2025 panel judgment. They do not independently verify any later Supreme Court disposition specifically involving T-Mobile; any subsequent action should be checked against the relevant court docket.
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