St. Croix County, Wisconsin, got an FCC waiver to add 157.450 MHz as a repeater output channel to base stations for its VHF simulcast private land mobile radio system for first responders; to use the frequency for base-to-mobile voice communications rather than for paging; and to operate a transmitter output of 100 watts. The Public Safety Bureau "received no comments in response to its public notice" on the county's request, said the bureau's Thursday order.

The Samsung website showed no results when we hit the “where to buy” button Thursday for the indefinitely delayed Galaxy Fold smartphone, initially slated to go on sale Friday, before prerelease reviews reported that broken screens on the device were common (see 1904240027). Samsung's website listed AT&T and T-Mobile as carriers for the bendable Fold, but when we hit the “where to buy” button, the U.S. map directing shoppers to available markets came up empty, and a pop-up read “no online retailer.” When we searched for Samsung Fold at AT&T.com, a “page unresponsive” notice came up and we were redirected to a page for the Galaxy S10, S10+ and S10e phones, due in stores Friday. T-Mobile defaulted to a case for the Tab E Incipio tablet, which has a folding base. Verizon responded to a Fold search with the series 10 Galaxy phones in a redirect, along with a Samsung Chromebook Plus, Galaxy Book 2 and Belkin “tri-fold” case for the Galaxy Tab E. At Sprint, the first phone to pop up in a Fold search was the iPhone XR, followed by the Samsung Galaxy S10e. Meanwhile, Samsung emailed customers they can score a free SmartThings hub and up to $250 for a tablet trade-in when they buy the new Tab S5e tablet. The S5e starts at $399 for a 10.5-inch Wi-Fi version. At Samsung.com, the company is offering no-interest financing for the tablets on a six-month payment plan.

Verizon named the 20 U.S. cities that will get 5G ultra wideband service in 2019. They are: Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Des Moines, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Missouri, Little Rock, Memphis, Phoenix, Providence, San Diego, Salt Lake City and Washington. Parts of Chicago and Minneapolis were the first two to get the service, which uses high-band spectrum.

The Wireless and Public Safety bureaus detailed dates and procedures for submitting applications in the 800 MHz band for expansion and guard band channels, and channels in the interleaved segment vacated by Sprint in three National Public Safety Planning Advisory Committee regions. Also in Thursday's public notice in docket 02-55, the FCC announced dates and procedures for applications for expansion and guard band channels in 21 NPSPAC regions where licensing was previously deferred. Channels will be available for licensing July 18. The Sprint channels “will be available for licensing first to public safety applicants and later to [critical infrastructure industry] applicants,” the bureaus said. In a public notice the same day in dockets 15-91, the Public Safety Bureau said state licensees of 700 MHz narrowband channels must show by June 13 “that they are providing or prepared to provide ‘substantial service’ to two-thirds of their population or territory.”

Microsoft thanked the FCC for its effort in the TV white spaces docket to resolve petitions for reconsideration and “for issuing an order in the database accuracy proceeding,” filed lawyer and ex-Commissioner Robert McDowell, posted Thursday in docket 16-56 about a meeting with Nicholas Degani, senior counsel to Chairman Ajit Pai. The company asked the FCC to approve rules changes the software maker described in October (see 1811020045).

The iPhone XS, XS Max and XR models launched last fall accounted for 59 percent of U.S. iPhone sales in the March quarter, reported Consumer Intelligence Research Partners Wednesday, with the lower priced XR at 38 percent. The researcher estimated the newest models had similar sales rates as last year’s newest models, at about 60 percent of total sales, at an average selling price of about $800, down from the December quarter. As Apple begins to emphasize services over hardware, “results are highly uneven,” said analyst Mike Levin. CIRP estimated 48 percent of U.S. users paid for iCloud storage in the quarter, 3 percent bought AppleCare support, 21 percent used Apple Music and 13 percent used the legacy iTunes music service. ICloud, which integrates easily with Apple devices and “solves a common storage problem at a modest cost,” had the highest penetration, CIRP said. AppleCare warranties “sell poorly,” against “intense competition” from mobile phone carriers, retailers and other warranty providers, said Levin. Apple faces similar competition in music from Spotify, Amazon, Pandora and others, he noted. Findings were based on a survey of 500 U.S. Apple customers who purchased an iPhone, iPad, Mac computer, or Apple Watch January-March.

Ericsson urged the FCC to repurpose the 6.425-7.125 GHz band for flexible-use licensed service and the 7.125-8.5 GHz band for fixed commercial use, in a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Mike O’Rielly. There's "no large swath of mid-band spectrum available for licensed, macro 5G service in the U.S.,” Ericsson said in docket 17-183, posted Wednesday. “To lead in 5G, the U.S. needs to identify more mid-band spectrum -- and soon -- as other countries are moving forward quickly to seize the 5G mantle.”

Midband spectrum is critical to 5G and the FCC should do what it can to reallocate the C band quickly, blogged Bret Swanson, visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “Existing low bands will continue to provide broad coverage, while the new high bands will provide extremely high capacity links, often in densely populated areas,” Swanson said. “Mid-band spectrum will fill the gap in between.” The C-band Alliance “has proposed a secondary market solution, which could avoid a time-consuming FCC re-auction,” Swanson said Wednesday. There are several proposed solutions for the C band, including an incentive auction, he said: “But the C-band Alliance method seems much simpler and quicker.”

AT&T, Verizon and Comsearch officials met with Chief Julius Knapp and others from the Office of Engineering and Technology to urge the FCC to focus in its 6 GHz proceeding on protecting incumbents. “Licensed incumbent operators in the 6 GHz band are entitled to at least the same protections that the Commission has afforded to licensed incumbents in other bands,” they filed Tuesday in docket 18-295. “The FCC should not permit unlicensed use in the 6 GHz band without requiring rigorous technical analyses and adopting robust protections for licensed incumbent operations.” The agency appears committed to moving forward with unlicensed in 6 GHz, and licensed in the C band, and must decide on such issues as whether to allow use of the band indoors without automated frequency control (see 1902250054). AFC is key to ensuring incumbents are protected, the companies said.

Sprint dropped a February lawsuit against AT&T over the marketing term 5GE, for 5G evolution, to describe upgraded LTE service, they confirmed. Representatives said consumers will continue to see 5GE marketing and advertising. Sprint had asked U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for an immediate preliminary injunction against AT&T. The case is #1:19-cv-01215-VSB. "The significance of AT&T’s deception cannot be overstated," Sprint said then (see 1902080038). “We have amicably settled this matter,” an AT&T spokesperson emailed now.