The 5G Automotive Association said the FCC should seek comment on a “forward looking approach” in the 5.9 GHz band. Action on the band is likely soon, Commissioner Mike O’Rielly says (see 1903280043). “Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything operations in the 5.9 GHz band can make American roadway travel safer, smarter, and more efficient through the use of 5G,” 5GAA filed, posted Monday in docket 18-357. It noted Ford's recent commitment to deploy C-V2X in all new U.S. vehicle models beginning in 2022. 5GAA members BMW, Ford, Intel, Nokia, Qualcomm and Samsung attended. They met an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai and staff in the Offices of Engineering and Technology and Office of Economics and Analytics.

Federal regulators likely now have all the information they need to rule on T-Mobile’s proposed buy of Sprint, New Street’s Blair Levin wrote investors Monday. “While this round may have been the final formal round, we expect to see a round of ex partes from both sides reflecting meetings with Commission staff to further elaborate on what they said and the weaknesses of the arguments of the others,” Levin said of the FCC. “We will be looking to see which side believes it has to provide more evidence to prevail.” Sprint’s claims it’s an ailing company that won’t thrive on its own is at odds with its financial reports, Dish Network filed Monday in docket 18-197. “The Commission should view Sprint’s financial and 5G claims in support of this merger with skepticism, given its own executives’ statements that Sprint is hardly an ailing firm, or one that needs a market-consolidating merger to launch a 5G network that is already underway.” Sprint didn’t comment.

The FCC’s 24 GHz auction had $1.86 billion in gross proceeds at the end of five rounds Friday. There have been 54 rounds so far. Bidding resumes Monday.

The FCC Wireless Bureau gave Amtrak permanent authority to operate 52 positive train control base stations under automated maritime telecommunications system license WRAP937 on its Michigan line. The stations extend from Porter, Indiana, to Dearborn, Michigan. The order requires Amtrak to investigate and resolve any interference complaints by broadcast TV users.

The T-Mobile-Viacom streaming video partnership (see 1904030046) is part of a trend of bundling TV content not only with services offered by mobile wireless but also with "stuff most would never even think of," FBN Securities analyst Robert Routh wrote investors Friday. Such bundling partnerships could grow premium channel subscribers and cut churn and marketing and retention costs, it said. It said potential bundling partners with programmers include premium credit cards. wholesale clubs and subscription-based music services. Of the premium channels, Starz might be best positioned for bundling opportunities, with the lowest wholesale rate and thus potentially representing the best value proposition for potential bundling partners.

The Defense Innovation Board's report on the 5G ecosystem (see 1904040006) seems generally on target, though it may put too much emphasis on sharing, said Tom Struble, R Street Institute technology policy manager. “We have good amounts of low- and high-band spectrum either already in the market or in the auction pipeline, but there's still a lot of work left to do on mid-band, which is why the FCC's proceedings in 3.5 GHz and the lower C band are so important to get right,” Struble emailed. “I'm slightly concerned with the emphasis the DIB report places on spectrum sharing rather than clearing, reassigning, and auctioning. Dynamic spectrum sharing is a hugely promising technology, but it has yet to be successfully deployed in a commercial environment, so putting too many eggs into the sharing basket at this point may be unwise.”

The FCC should act on proposed amateur radio rules to ensure amateur operators aren’t improperly using encrypted transmissions, said Ted Rappaport, founder of NYU Wireless at New York University School of Engineering. Rappaport defended his stance last week in a filing in docket RM-11831 and the school issued a news release. “Many stations are improperly using effectively encrypted transmissions, essentially turning the public airwaves of ham radio into a private point-to-point email system, in violation of many FCC rules,” Rappaport said. "The FCC has recently recognized a major problem that has existed for decades in ham radio, and in the past few days took steps to institute vital new rules that will grow the hobby by reiterating the fundamental requirement that all radio communications are open, so that the public may listen in." But Ron Kolarik, the amateur operator who sought rules, slammed the recent release of the docket. “RM-11831 is a half-assed attempt to prevent the use of certain proprietary digital modes, specifically Pactor,” he wrote: “This is because the mode in question is not readily accessible to most amateurs because of the proprietary nature.”

Representatives of technology company Zebra and the NFL met with aides to all five commissioners on technology the company provides for real-time player and ball tracking used by all NFL teams. The ultra-wide band technology uses the 6 GHz band, which the FCC is considering for unlicensed use. Zebra said widespread use of the spectrum could case harmful interference to the technology. “A single Mobile Access Point on site could render a UWB solution inoperative,” Zebra said. "Even fixed 6 GHz infrastructure … would introduce unpredictability” and “proposed power levels would adversely impact UWB at significant distances.” The filings were posted Friday in docket 18-295.

Smartcomm filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, said petitions by the Smartcomm LLC and Smartcomm License Services (in Pacer) March 25 at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Phoenix. In 2013, Arizona State Superior Court in Maricopa County dismissed with prejudice a lawsuit filed by Smartcomm LLC against Warren Communications News, charging Warren and its Communications Daily with libel and disclosing trade secrets. The dismissal resulted from Smartcomm’s decision to drop the suit, in a settlement in which Warren neither admitted any inaccuracies nor paid any damages (see 1308050035). Smartcomm sued over a March 5, 2012, article in which Communications Daily reported that Smartcomm was selling license preparation services for 800 MHz spectrum that wasn’t then available from the FCC (see 1203050051).

Verizon and AT&T raised concerns about the coordination process with DOD outlined in a draft order on the 37 GHz band, set for an FCC commissioner vote Friday. Verizon met with aides to all five commissioners, Wireless Bureau Chief Donald Stockdale and other staff, said a filing posted Friday in docket 14-177. The process outlined “lacks the much-needed clarity” to promote investment, Verizon said: “We urged the Commission to make clear that licensees are under no obligation to agree to a federal entity’s request for spectrum access and -- when a licensee grants access -- that the federal entity must operate on a non-interference basis to existing and future commercial deployment within the licensed area.” AT&T cited similar concerns in a filing. The “unknown potential for new, post-auction preclusion zones could create harmful pre-auction uncertainty, the bane of maximizing the possibility of auction success and value,” AT&T said.