Deny Intelsat's request to change C-band rules, Verizon asked the FCC: "Instead of focusing on the complex and crucial task at hand, Intelsat and others are re-litigating issues already thoroughly considered and decided." The telco said Intelsat, "despite being in line to collect relocation payments for agreeing to move operations on an accelerated timeline," now "requests changes that would slow the transition process and could ultimately affect 5G deployment." The wireless carrier wants telemetry, tracking and command/gateway sites consolidated to the four locations selected by satellite operators "in the manner and timeframe set out by" the regulator. "Intelsat’s requests regarding TT&C/Gateway operations are unnecessary," Verizon said in a filing posted Friday to docket 18-122. Also that day, ACA Connects' request was posted seeking separate C-band changes (see 2008140033). And Intelsat filed its final transition plan. The company didn't comment further.

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology denied requests from APCO and the Edison Electric Institute to stay the 6 GHz band order, said a docket 18-295 order Thursday. “We find that both APCO and EEI have failed to demonstrate that the extraordinary equitable relief of a stay is warranted,” the order said. They didn’t demonstrate that they’re likely to prevail in their legal challenges of the rules or show that a stay wouldn’t harm others, OET said. The new 6 GHz rules will help meet growing, COVID-19-exacerbated demand for broadband and a stay would postpone those benefits, the order said. “Given the expected benefits that will result from deployment by both consumers and businesses of 6 GHz unlicensed devices, and the unlikely, speculative nature of the petitioners’ claims about the alleged dangers, we conclude that petitioners have not established that it would be in the public interest” to stay the new rules, the order said. “OET made the right decision,” said Wireless ISP Association Vice President-Policy Louis Peraertz in a statement. The FCC “made a thorough examination of the 6 GHz proceeding, which was open, diverse and robust, and properly chose not to require [automated frequency coordination] AFC for low power indoor devices or location-accuracy requirements for standard-power access points to define exclusion zones in the band.” APCO and EEI didn’t comment.

Fossil said it’s “hard at work” on its first cellular LTE-connected watch for debut in time for the holidays. The coming LTE smartwatch introduction will be built on the generation 5 software platform, said Chief Commercial Officer Greg McKelvey. It’s a “particularly interesting” SKU because “it opens us up to the telco channel as a meaningful incremental distribution opportunity,” he said. “The near-term refocusing of the wearables business along with continuing to push on innovation is creating a path to profitable growth in connected. We think and believe 2021 is the turning point where our teams make that happen again.” The company remains “confident” in connected watches, though profitability in the category has been a struggle, McKelvey said. Smartwatches “offer us a substantial total addressable market opportunity,” he said. “We also remain very confident in our team's ability to compete and grow this business. For us, everything starts with product.”

The stringent out-of-band emissions (OOBE) limit proposed by Wi-Fi interests on unlicensed use of 5.9 GHz (see 2008030022) would more than protect adjacent intelligent transportation systems (ITS), but still follow IEEE standards, Wi-Fi advocates told FCC Office of Engineering and Technology staff, according to a docket 19-138 ex parte posting Wednesday. The filing said technical analyses in the record back a more flexible OOBE limit but tying the technical rules to IEEE standards would be an extra layer of protection to ITS operations while allowing unlicensed devices to operate. And they said duty-cycle analysis by Broadcom and Facebook and the low duty cycle expected given that any in-vehicle Wi-Fi would be supported by cellular backhaul show that in-vehicle use of unlicensed devices pose "negligible" risks of interference. Meeting with the FCC were CableLabs, Charter Communications, Comcast, Broadcom, Facebook and NCTA.

Efforts to clear federal spectrum for commercial use can help government agencies revamp their wireless operations and adopt new technologies, CTIA said Tuesday in a report. The group cited the results of auctions of spectrum on the AWS-1 and AWS-3 bands, which gave federal agencies money to upgrade their wireless operations and improve spectral efficiency. CTIA believes relocating government operations on the 3.1-3.55 GHz band could provide a similar benefit to federal agencies. President Donald Trump's administration said Monday it reached a deal for DOD to hand off a 100 MHz portion of the band for commercial shared use (see 2008100038). "The federal government has long been the largest spectrum user in the U.S., and expanding commercial use of these airwaves would represent a spectrum management win-win outcome," said CTIA General Counsel Tom Power.

The C-band auction will likely generate $52 billion in proceeds, the citizens broadband radio service auction another $3 billion, with Verizon likely the biggest buyer of spectrum, followed by AT&T, T-Mobile, Dish Network and then cable operators and others, New Street Research's Jonathan Chaplin emailed investors Tuesday. The wireless carriers need as much C-band spectrum as they can get, but cable's needs are more modest due to its ubiquitous high-capacity fixed infrastructure, and 20 MHz-40 MHz of CBRS spectrum would constitute auction success, he said.

California earthquake detection and warnings will be baked into all Android phones, said Google and the California Office of Emergency Services Tuesday. The system uses alert data from the state’s earthquake early warning system, OES said. Each smartphone will act as a “mini seismometer” using accelerometers that can sense possible quakes, Google blogged. “If the phone detects something that it thinks may be an earthquake, it sends a signal to our earthquake detection server, along with a coarse location of where the shaking occurred. The server then combines information from many phones to figure out if an earthquake is happening.” Google expects to expand to other states and countries over the coming year, it said.

Spigen introduced a fast charger using gallium nitride (GaN) technology Monday, positioning it for the iPhone 12, rumored to be the first iPhone not packaged with a charger or earphones. The 20-watt PowerArc ArcStation Pro, based on Navitas Semiconductor's GaNFast power ICs, is said to be smaller and more efficient than standard chargers. It’s due to sell on Amazon later this month at $20, Spigen said.

Synchronoss Technologies got a five-year contract extension with top customer Verizon that includes a joint marketing agreement for Synchronoss “to step up our marketing efforts to sell Verizon Cloud to their wireless subscriber base,” said CEO Glenn Lurie on a Monday investor call. “We have not previously had, to this degree, a dedicated and coordinated direct marketing effort.” Synchronoss will focus near term on “cloud adoption in the setup flow when Verizon is onboarding a new customer or an existing customer upgrade to their device,” said Lurie, former CEO of AT&T’s mobility and consumer operations. “We believe this joint marketing effort will be a powerful catalyst to drive adoption of Verizon Cloud.” Other Synchronoss initiatives in the contract extension “augment Verizon's service offerings in other areas, which provide us with expanded access to Verizon customers and help us continue to grow cloud revenue,” he said. The stock closed 14.7% higher Monday at $3.51.

A professor backed a national task force on connected vehicles to identify applications, look at standards and work with the FCC on a proceeding, in a Day One Project paper Friday. “We could prevent hundreds of thousands of car crashes every year,” said Carnegie Mellon University's Jon Peha, ex-FCC chief technologist. “We could also reduce commute times, fuel consumption, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, and the cost of mobile Internet access,” he argued. “Deployment of connected vehicle technology can lay groundwork for better autonomous (self-driving) vehicles. Nevertheless, after two decades of trying, there has been little progress.”