Bid commitments ticked up to $692.2 million in the 28 GHz band auction Tuesday, with 2,939 of 3,072 licenses now having provisionally winning bids, FCC results show. Bids were at $690.7 million and PWBs at 2,938 Monday. Six more rounds are scheduled for Wednesday.
Telcos selling location data of Americans is “a nightmare for national security,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., tweeted Tuesday. He responded to a report claiming AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint sold customers' real-time location data, which ended up in bounty hunters’ possession. Wyden cited T-Mobile CEO John Legere for allegedly telling the lawmaker “his company would stop selling customer location data to shady third parties.” FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel urged an immediate investigation. “We only permit sharing of location when a customer gives permission for cases like fraud prevention or emergency roadside assistance, or when required by law,” an AT&T spokesperson said. “Over the past few months, as we committed to do, we have been shutting down everything else. We have shut down access for Microbilt as we investigate these allegations.” T-Mobile and Sprint didn't comment.
MQA added partners for its Master Quality Authenticated codec, it announced Monday. At CES, MQA will demonstrate a “proof of concept” with BlackBerry in an electric vehicle, said MQA CEO Mike Jbara. Tidal Masters is now available on all Android smartphones, having previously been available only to LG and Essential smartphone owners. The latest version of the USB Audio Player Pro app has an MQA decoder for Android smartphones available via an in-app purchase.
A startup seeks waiver of FCC rules on industrial, scientific and medical equipment to market a system for transmitting wireless power over distance. The system operates in the 24 GHz ISM band, “which enables it to achieve greater power transfer efficiency at longer distances,” Auspion filed, posted Thursday. It seeks waiver from Part 18 rules that say for a technology to be designed as ISM, it “must be designed to ‘generate and use locally’ RF energy … [and] the Auspion system does not satisfy the definition of ISM equipment.”
Sprint will debut a Samsung 5G smartphone this summer, said the carrier Monday. The phone will feature LTE/5G “dual-mode connectivity” in Sprint’s 2.5 GHz spectrum, it said. It also will support Sprint’s 1.9 GHz spectrum (band 25), 800 MHz spectrum (band 26) and other LTE spectrum bands for roaming, it said. Samsung didn’t comment. Sprint plans to launch its mobile 5G network in nine U.S. markets in 2019's first half. Sprint previously said it’s working with LG to deliver a 5G smartphone in the U.S. (see 1808140023).
California Governor's Office of Emergency Services renewed an FCC waiver request to test the wireless emergency alert system to transmit early earthquake warnings, after canceling a December test to focus on responding to wildfires (see 1811300008). The test is now planned for Feb. 6, between 11 a.m. and noon PST, in Oakland, in partnership with the U.S. Geological survey, said a Cal OES letter posted Thursday in docket 15-91: The test will assess the feasibility of "transmitting a ShakeAlert through the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) WEA system to warn the public of imminent ground motion during an earthquake." If Feb. 6 isn't available, Feb. 13 at the same time would be a backup, the office said. Aliso Viejo and Laguna Beach, California, sought FCC waivers to allow commercial mobile service providers to participate in WEA tests on Feb. 6 at 3 p.m. PST. The tests are to ensure local officials understand how alerts will perform in their cities, which face natural hazards, including wildfires, said their requests (here and here).
The four major wireless carriers continue to invest in their networks, but the outlook for tower companies remains mixed, Macquarie’s Amy Yong wrote investors. “Verizon and AT&T have sent mixed signals to towers” with Verizon cutting capital expenditures twice in 2018 and AT&T signing a deal with Tillman, a competitor to the major players, she said Friday. “Both are focused on efficiencies and are allocating investments outside of macro-sites. However, capex is likely to stay steady to meet network demands.” Verizon is expected to spend $16 billion on capital expenditures and AT&T $23 billion in 2019, she said. “On the flip side, T-Mobile and Sprint remain in investment mode with T-Mobile likely to hit the high-end” of their $4.9 billion-$5.3 billion capex range and Sprint likely to spend $5 billion-$5.5 billion, she said. “T-Mobile is actively building out 600 MHz, while Sprint is investing across the board in macro-sites, 2.5 GHz build-out, and densification through small cells.”
Climbing a broadcast TV tower gave him a better appreciation for the big job involved in the repack required by the TV incentive auction, Commissioner Brendan Carr said in an interview in the National Association of Tower Erectors’ magazine. Carr is pleased with the progress. “This is not the type of work where you’re putting up a small cell or taking down a small cell,” he said. “Getting out there to really see the size and the scope of these broadcast facilities gives you a much better appreciation for the work that’s going on in the repack.” The FCC’s top priority for 5G “is making sure that every community in the country from Thompson, North Dakota, and throughout rural America has a fair shot at next-generation connectivity,” Carr said. “It will not be a success in terms of 5G deployed if we see it only in the bigger cities like New York or San Jose.”
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals won't halt the FCC's September wireless infrastructure but will transfer the case to the 10th Circuit, the venue selected by lottery for other challenges of the infrastructure order. In a judgment (in Pacer) Thursday, the 8th Circuit granted the FCC's motion to strike Little Rock's stay request, and the agency's separate motion to transfer. The city's stay motion didn't comply with Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 18(a)(2)(A)(i), the court said. The Arkansas capital city failed to show it's likely to prevail on the merits or that it will be irreparably harmed, the FCC said Wednesday at the 8th Circuit. That day, the FCC also opposed a stay motion by San Jose and other cities in the 10th Circuit on the same order (see 1901020039). The FCC “reasonably interpreted the [Communications] Act to apply to all state and local measures that have the effect of prohibiting wireless service, including restrictions on municipally-owned structures,” the agency told the 8th Circuit. “The Commission’s interpretation simply provides a basis for wireless carriers to seek relief in court, where municipalities remain free to contend that such relief is not warranted.”
T-Mobile offered the FCC additional clarity on confidential information it filed on its proposed buy of Sprint, in a highly redacted filing posted Monday in docket 18-197. “All coverage maps are based on outdoor link budget coverage thresholds,” the carrier said. “Link budgets are developed for specific frequency bands. Coverage is often aggregated, for instance PCS, AWS, and 2.5 GHz are combined to form ‘mid-band,’ however, the link budgets are determined per band.” T-Mobile noted “5G is still in the early development stages and equipment specifications" aren't finalized.