The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology approved an experimental license for AT&T to do “function testing and propagation measurements from base stations and prototype user equipment units” to support 5G. The tests will be done in Austin in the 4400-5000 and 24250-27500 MHz bands. The company noted in a supporting document that the bands are being targeted for 5G. “All emissions will be in accordance with the FCC Experimental License Rules and Regulations, on a non-interference basis and in coordination with all potential incumbents in these" bands.

Five different theater groups separately raised concerns about Microsoft proposals for the TV white spaces, in comments posted Tuesday in docket 14-165. In earlier comments, Microsoft’s push for a Further NPRM on the white spaces got mixed reviews (see 1906110039). “Microsoft’s proposals would result in significantly elevated possibilities of interference to wireless microphones, cue and control devices … and assistive listening systems in use in theatres across the country,” the Theatre Communications Group said. “The protections that Microsoft outlines in its Petition would only be of benefit to licensed wireless microphone users. There are important users of wireless microphones in rural areas that would be at risk by this proposal, and they are not licensed.” All of the letters used similar language.

CTIA, the Wireless Innovation Forum and Wireless ISP Association said the FCC should reject a petition by CallComm seeking reconsideration of the 2018 citizens broadband radio service order. The company, in docket 17-258, said the FCC failed to address the protected status of non-federal land mobile radiolocation licensees in the 3.5 GHz band. “Dismiss the Petition as untimely and substantively deficient,” CTIA asked: “The Petition does not identify a single issue raised or decided in the 2018 3.5 GHz Report and Order for purposes of reconsideration and instead amounts to an untimely petition for reconsideration of the Commission’s 2015 3.5 GHz Report and Order.” Due to its secondary status, CallComm “is not entitled to incumbency rights or interference protection with respect to primary services in the band, including the fixed and mobile allocations under which the [CBRS] operates,” the WinnForum said. WISPA also objected.

Verizon got the partial waiver it was seeking to adopt a temporary, 60-day lock on 4G LTE handsets to ensure bona fide customers buy the handsets. Verizon faces special restrictions because of rules for the 700 C-block spectrum the carrier bought at auction. “We deny Verizon’s request for a declaratory ruling, because we are not persuaded that Verizon’s interpretation of section 27.16(e) is accurate,” the bureau said. “We do, however, find that the limited waiver of the unlocking requirement that Verizon requests would serve the public interest and therefore grant Verizon’s request for a partial waiver.” The bureau said strict compliance with the unlocking requirement would be “inconsistent with the public interest because it facilitates and may even encourage fraud.” In March, the bureau sought comment on the request (see 1903050057). The order noted rural carriers, T-Mobile and others objected. NTIA suggests “we consider requiring Verizon to unlock its handsets as soon as the first payment is successfully processed or immediately upon purchase ‘in situations where the fraud risk is low, such as in the case of long-time customers who acquire new handsets for use with existing service,’” the bureau said: “Verizon, however, responds that 60 days is the minimum necessary to accomplish the purpose of the temporary unlocking, in order to allow for the amount of time it takes to receive and process customer payments, to identify fraud via checks from accounts with insufficient funds or stolen debit or credit cards, and to obtain information.” Tuesday's order was on docket 06-150.

Q1 global smartphone display shipments plunged 20 percent sequentially and are poised to decline again in the Q2 and Q3, “as the U.S.-China trade war worsens the wireless market’s woes,” reported IHS Markit Monday. Q1 shipments declined 9 percent year-over-year, said IHS. With the smartphone business “already facing a number of headwinds” in Q1, the anticipated declines reflect “mounting concerns about the impact of the trade dispute on global wireless demand,” it said. The display business "serves as an early indicator of smartphone market trends” because it falls at the beginning of the supply chain, said IHS. “Right now, that indicator is flashing warning signs as smartphone OEMs and ODMs [Original Design Manufacturers] reduce their display orders. Although other factors are negatively affecting smartphone demand, supply-chain participants now are expressing specific concerns about the repercussions of the trade war.” Prices for smartphones would “rise across the board” if the administration makes good its threat to impose 25 percent List 4 tariffs on products shipped to the U.S. from China under the 8517.12.00 import subheading, said a CTA-commissioned study posted last week by the U.S. Trade Representative Office (see 1906180055).

Verizon fired back at the Communications Workers of America in a dispute over the company’s restoration difficulties after Hurricane Michael (see 1905210035). “We have learned from the challenges we faced in that recovery effort and will apply those lessons to improve disaster recovery efforts going forward,” the company filed, posted Monday in docket 10-60. “Verizon supports the Commission’s initiative to assess the effectiveness of the Wireless Resiliency Cooperative Framework and industry’s network reliability and service restoration practices,” the carrier said. “we have already provided a number of constructive suggestions on how to improve them. Unfortunately, CWA makes many inaccurate, misleading, or unsupported assertions.”

Tower owner Crown Castle filed a formal complaint against Illinois electric utility Commonwealth Edison, said a notice of formal complaint sent to ComEd by the FCC Enforcement Bureau Friday. The complaint was filed Wednesday, days after Crown Castle met with Wireless Bureau staff (see 1906180068) about problems getting “investor owned utilities (IOUs) to provide power to small cell installations on utility poles in a timely fashion.” ComEd must answer the complaint by July 19. The utility didn’t comment.

Congress should consider letting public safety keep the T-band, GAO recommended Friday. New York and 10 other large cities use it, but it will be auctioned in 2021. Of the four cities GAO examined -- Boston, Los Angeles and New York -- three found no alternatives, it said. A recent FCC analysis showed limited or nonexistent relocation options, GAO said. Relocation would require new towers, radios and other infrastructure, it said.

Industry is wrong in claims no technology now identifies wireless callers to 911 with more specificity (see 1906190011), Precision Broadband CEO Charles Simon told aides to Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks. “Precision Broadband has a solution, including a working prototype, that offers floor level and unit location data -- same as landline telephone service. We contend that the wireless carriers’ test beds have been designed to validate the [National Emergency Address Database] (for dispatchable location) and device sensor-based z-axis altitude technologies.,” the company said, posted Thursday in docket 07-114. “Such limited test plans, by design, exclude alternative dispatchable solutions like Precision Broadband’s Fixed Broadband 911 system.”

Lawyers for the Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition met with aides to FCC Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks about their concerns on unlicensed use of the 6 GHz band. “Fixed Service users have [concerns] regarding the ongoing 6 GHz band proceeding,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 18-295. Starks aide Bill Davenport asked about “the number of distinct 6 GHz Fixed Service sites (as opposed to links),” the coalition said: “Treating antenna locations that are separated by at least one second of latitude or longitude as separate sites, there are 37,033 such 6 GHz Fixed Service sites.”