The Wireless ISP Association and Google met with aides to all five FCC commissioners on their proposal for sharing with repacked satellite earth stations C-band spectrum not reallocated for licensed use (see 1907030027). They said unlicensed use of the band would help close the digital divide. “The WISPA and Google representatives stressed the benefits of co-channel sharing among receive-only earth stations and fixed point-to-multipoint operations in the C-band as a means to help advance ‘the Commission’s top priority’ of bridging the digital divide,” said a filing Tuesday in docket 18-122.

The National Consumer Law Center said a recent CTIA best practices document offers further evidence the FCC should deny a petition by the P2P Alliance for clarity that peer-to-peer text messages to cellphones aren't subject to Telephone Consumer Protection Act restrictions (see 1907120056). P2P messages fall under CTIA’s definition of business to consumer texts, which CTIA says should be subject to TCPA rules, NCLC said. “CTIA’s articulated Best Practices illustrate that, in addition to being legally unsound … an exemption for P2P messages is unnecessary and contrary to industry standards,” said a Tuesday filing in docket 02-278. “CTIA illustrates that there is broad industry recognition that the TCPA’s rules -- in particular its consent requirement -- are appropriate for this type of text messaging system.”

Verizon sees itself as 12-to-15-months ahead of other U.S. carriers on 5G, Executive Vice President Ronan Dunne said Wednesday at an Oppenheimer financial conference. “Not all 5G is created equal,” Dunne said. The way the standards were written “the broader the bandwidth you have … the more of the features and capabilities of 5G that you can enable,” he said. Verizon has both a coverage and capability strategy, he said, saying with lower bandwidth 5G will more resemble very good LTE service. “We have a very good 4G LTE service in parts of the U.S. where some of our competitors don’t,” he said: “If somebody else is rushing to bring out 5G nationwide it may be because they don’t actually have credible 4G coverage in those areas to start with.” High-band spectrum is offering 1-2 Gbps download speeds while lower-band spectrum offers speeds in the “low hundreds” of Mbps, Dunne said. Verizon plans 5G coverage nationwide, with millimeter-wave in “the majority of places where data is,” he said. Since launching in Chicago two months ago, Verizon doubled its facilities there and more than doubled the area covered, he said. “Our customers are already enjoying the experience of what millimeter-wave can do for them,” he said. Some of Verizon’s high-band spectrum has been turned on in some of its markets but is still being tested and isn’t available to consumers. Dunne predicted 5G phones that cost under $800 will be available in the first half of next year: “That will be a catalyst for a bigger 5G adoption.” Fewer customers are upgrading their phones, but that happens at the end of any generation of wireless, he said. All of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project “standard for 5G is unequivocally designed around massive scale,” Dunne said: There’s “the ability to support 10 times as many connected devices per square mile of network than was done before, the ability to transfer data at rates that are faster than … the speed of a bullet train.” Deployment of the 5G network has been faster than 4G and the same will be true of handsets, he said.

Global smartphone shipments declined in Q2, though shipments by Huawei increased, despite U.S. pressure, IHS Markit said Tuesday. This is the seventh quarter of year-over-year declines. Worldwide smartphone shipments slipped to 331.2 million units in Q2, a decline of 3.6 percent from the same period last year, according to preliminary data from the IHS Markit Smartphone Intelligence Service. Four brands among the top-10 -- Samsung Electronics, Huawei, OPPO and TCL Alcatel -- had growth, the report said. "Huawei [has] been able to weather the storm so far,” said Jusy Hong, IHS research and analysis director: “Huawei was able to replace falling international shipments with increased sales in China. However, the full effects of the ban likely will be felt by Huawei’s international business in the third quarter of this year.”

The GPS Innovation Alliance and Aviation Spectrum Resources seek a 30-day extension of an Aug. 17 filing deadline on a petition by engineering company Robert Bosch asking (see 1906190032) the FCC to launch an "early” and ”comprehensive” review of part 15, subpart F regulations on ultra-wideband devices and systems. “The Bosch Petition is at once both sweeping and specific. The Petition calls for a comprehensive review of the Commission’s ultra-wideband rules, a settled regulatory framework which has been in place for nearly seventeen years,” the alliance said in a filing posted in docket RM-11844: “In its current form, the Bosch Petition presents numerous complex technical questions that will take some time to consider even at this early stage of the regulatory process and which cannot be constructively addressed under the current timeframe.” Aviation Spectrum Resources supported the request for more time. “The Bosch Petition seeks changes to UWB technical rules that would potentially impact the potential for interference, including … changes in the minimum bandwidth for UWB, permission for outdoor UWB operations, and expansion of the types of uses to which UWB devices may be put, which could lead to greater proliferation of the devices in many operational settings,” the company said in a filing posted Tuesday.

Beginning Tuesday, AT&T Wireless Unlimited & More Premium customers can choose a Spotify Premium subscription from one of seven entertainment options, for no extra charge, said the companies Monday. Other select AT&T customers can sign up for a six-month free trial of the Premium music streaming service in the beginning of an “ongoing collaboration" between the two companies, they said. It’s the latest pairing of streaming content companies and mobile operators, as smartphone upgrades have stretched out: Verizon and Google announced a partnership in April (see 1904230059) for free access to YouTube TV, and in January, Verizon announced a free Apple Music account for customers in its top two subscriber tiers (see 1901160010).

AT&T Services filed at the FCC a recent study by the Electronic Communications Committee of the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations that it said has implications for the 6 GHz band. The report “examines the co-existence of RLAN [radio local access network] systems with, among other things, Fixed Service microwave point-to-point links operating in the precise band where RLAN operations have been proposed in this docket,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-295. AT&T said the report “includes a Minimum Coupling Loss 3 analysis that is far more comprehensive and rigorous than RKF Report submitted in this docket previously, finds that significant separation distances are required for RLANs, regardless of the morphology of the analyzed area and under varying indoor/outdoor and power conditions.” The report “underscores the need to adopt automated frequency coordination (AFC) system requirements for all devices -- if any -- introduced into any portion of the 6 GHz band,” the filing said. Major tech players argued part of the band can safely support unlicensed operations without the need for AFC (see 1906260055).

T-Mobile/Sprint suffered two blows last week, with the trial of the case against the deal shifted to start Dec. 9 and Texas joining the case. Both could prove harmful to completing the deal, analysts said. The Texas attorney general is the first Republican to join the suit in New York. “With the trial now likely to start on December 9 and last two to three weeks, and with writing the decision likely to take four to six weeks (plus a little extra time due to the holidays), we do not expect a trial court decision until late January or early February,” said New Street’s Blair Levin in a note to investors. The delay hurts Dish Network and Sprint more than T-Mobile, he said: “T-Mobile is full steam ahead executing on its plans and, doing well while doing so.” Texas AG Ken Paxton's joining the case “clearly creates better political optics for the states and increases the odds that other states, particularly Republican controlled states, will join,” Levin said. “Ultimately we are dubious it really affects the outcome of a trial -- Texas joining does not change the law, the precedent, or the facts to be tried -- but it does give the states less motive to settle.” After the “euphoria” over the settlement with DOJ (see 1907260021) T-Mobile got “two pretty big blows,” wrote Well Fargo’s Jennifer Fritzsche: “Put another way, if settlement does not come before hand we could be in our winter boots and mittens when we get resolution.” Dec. 9 “will represent 589 days from when the deal was originally announced,” she said.

The FCC is updating the information that a wireless service provider must post on its public website about the hearing aid compatibility (HAC) of the handsets it offers and how long it must retain such information for handsets once it stops offering them, said a report and order in Thursday's Federal Register. The ruling also streamlines the annual electronic filing requirements. The FCC said handset manufacturers will continue to file annual forms to ensure they comply with the agency's HAC provisions.

The FCC hopes to reallocate the 5.9 GHz band for shared, unlicensed use (see 1907310033).