The FCC reported $685.2 million in provisionally winning bids in the 28 GHz auction Thursday, after 66 rounds. Of 3,072 licenses, 2,927 had provisionally winning bids.

The FCC should create and host an online database for registration of wideband signal boosters before lifting the personal use restriction on the boosters, Verizon officials said in a meeting with Wireless Bureau staff. “A central registry -- accessible by all mobile providers -- would allow for one-time registration of a wideband booster, and alleviate the concern that enterprise purchasers of wideband boosters would not fulfill the requirement to register and maintain accurate contact information with multiple providers,” said a filing Thursday in docket 10-4. “Manufacturers and sellers of wideband boosters could facilitate registration for purchasers at point of sale.”

The biggest coalition yet to oppose T-Mobile’s takeover of Sprint has formed. The group calls itself the 4Competition Coalition. "Consumers deserve more competition from our wireless industry, not less," said Jeff Blum, Dish Network senior vice president-public policy and government affairs. "Sprint and T-Mobile have not shown that this merger as it is currently proposed will serve the public interest. Instead, they have admitted that consumer prices will rise.” The record “clearly demonstrates that this deal proposes an alarming increase in market concentration and will result in a dangerous oligopoly market structure,” said Ben Moncrief, C-Spire vice president-government relations. Other members are the AFL-CIO, Common Cause, Communications Workers of America, Fight for the Future, Greenlining Institute, New America's Open Technology Institute, NTCA, the Open Markets Institute, Public Knowledge, Rural Wireless Association and Writers Guild of America West. Sprint and T-Mobile didn’t comment.

Appeal of the FCC’s September wireless infrastructure order by Montgomery County, Maryland, will be heard by the 10th U.S. Court of Appeals along with other challenges, as expected (see 1812070029). The 4th Circuit ordered (in Pacer) the transfer Thursday. Austin, Chicago and other big cities filed a separate appeal Tuesday in the D.C. Circuit (see 1812120009).

More big cities joined local governments suing the FCC for its September wireless infrastructure order. Austin, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas and Philadelphia were among those suing Tuesday at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. A judicial lottery earlier selected the 10th Circuit for industry and local-government challenges, though San Jose recently sought transfer to the 9th (see 1811300034) and Maryland’s Montgomery County later filed in the 4th (see 1812070029). “The Ruling exceeds the FCC’s statutory authority; is arbitrary and capricious and an abuse of discretion; and is otherwise contrary to law, including” the U.S. Constitution, said Austin and other petitioners, urging the court to “hold unlawful, vacate, enjoin, and set aside the Declaratory Ruling.” The FCC didn't comment.

Microsoft President Brad Smith and other company officials met FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr on the company’s Airband Initiative, which brings broadband to rural areas through TV white spaces, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 16-56. The company's arguments were the same as with Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel (see 1812070018).

The Wireless Innovation Forum’s Spectrum Sharing Committee met FCC officials to discuss progress on the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band. Among the topics were testing spectrum access systems, device certification and timeline to CBRS commercialization, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 15-319. Among officials at the meeting was Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp. Companies represented included AT&T, Comsearch, Motorola Solutions, Pathfinder Wireless, Google, Charter, Huawei, Nokia, Comcast, Qualcomm, Red Technologies, Federated Wireless and Sony. The Wireless ISP Association was also at the meeting.

CCG Consulting President Doug Dawson questioned whether the FCC-proposed texting declaratory ruling, set for a vote Wednesday (see 1812050019), is the best approach to protecting texts from spam. The ruling clarifies that texting is a lightly regulated Communications Act information service. “The way you fight spam is to put barriers in place to detect and block it -- and that is something that only the carriers that control the flow inside of a communications path can do,” Dawson blogged. “Yet here sits a docket that blindly declares that reclassifying texting as an information service will somehow dissuade bad actors from sending spam text messages. I’m pretty sure that those bad actors don’t really care about the differences between Title I and Title II regulation.”

The FCC Wireless Bureau declined to stay its September wireless infrastructure order, set to take effect Jan. 14. The National League of Cities and a group of local governments and associations sought the stay pending judicial review. “When evaluating a stay request, the Commission considers ‘(1) whether the stay applicant has made a strong showing that [it] is likely to succeed on the merits; (2) whether the applicant will be irreparably injured absent a stay; (3) whether issuance of the stay will substantially injure the other parties interested in the proceeding; and (4) where the public interest lies,’” said an order in docket 17-79 and in Tuesday's Daily Digest. “NLC’s Motion fails to satisfy these factors.” Challenges to the order are in court (see 1811060046).

The FCC’s proposed texting declaratory ruling, set for a vote Wednesday (see 1812050019), would provide needed clarity, Will Rinehart, American Action Forum director-technology and innovation policy, blogged Monday. “Text messaging services are in legal limbo since they have never been formally classified by the FCC as being either a Title I service like the Internet or a Title II service like telephony,” Rinehart said. “Practically speaking, a Title I classification would simply be a formality, since carriers have already treated these services as such and have been stopping spam messages before they travel the network.”