Bid commitments increased to $558.2 million in the 28 GHz band auction Tuesday, with provisionally winning bids on 2,720 of 3,072 licenses, FCC results show. The bid total was at $526.3 million and PWBs were at 2,718 Monday (see 1812030057). The auction takes a break Wednesday as agencies close to honor the late President George H.W. Bush (see 1812040014). Bidding resumes Thursday and transitions to stage 2. "To meet the activity requirement in Stage Two and avoid using an activity rule waiver or having its eligibility reduced, a bidder must be active on at least 95% of its current bidding eligibility in each round," the agency said.
An FCC Office of Engineering and Technology waiver lets 32 Technologies get equipment certification for and market a pet collar operating in the 6.24-6.74 GHz range, said an order in Monday's Daily Digest. It said the collars, when operating under conditions laid out in the waiver of Part 15 rules for unlicensed wideband devices, pose no more risk of harmful interference to communication services than devices already allowed. The waiver is conditioned on operations being limited to residential use and anchors paired with the pet collars being no higher than 36 inches from the ground.
Verizon and Samsung will unveil a “proof of concept” 5G smartphone at Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Technology Summit in Maui, Hawaii, this week, with plans to bring a 5G phone to market in first-half 2019, the companies said Monday. The prototype is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon mobile platform, the X50 5G NR modem and antenna modules with integrated RF transceiver, RF front-end and antenna elements. Verizon, which launched its 5G Home service in October in some cities (see 1810010028), said 5G mobility service will go live early in 2019 and “expand rapidly.” Samsung, the first company to gain FCC approval for 5G commercial products, partnered with Verizon on its 5G Home since early this year, and worked with the carrier to develop fifth-generation standards, they said.
TracFone asked the FCC to address "serious shortcomings" in the Lifeline national verifier being rolled out by Universal Service Administrative Co. "These problems compromise the FCC’s own policies by imposing burdensome and inefficient requirements that harm the very low-income consumers that the FCC seeks to support through universal access, without reducing potential waste, fraud, and abuse," said the Lifeline provider's emergency petition and petition for rulemaking, posted Monday in docket 17-287. TracFone urged the commission to direct USAC to implement 15 "modifications of the National Verifier and its associated processes," ranging "from the relatively straightforward: simplify the paper application; to the more complex: allowing service providers to check applicant verification via Application Program Interfaces." Separately, TracFone voiced concern about an impending USAC policy change "that will materially impact" Lifeline participation. "As part of a recent webinar presentation, USAC announced that, commencing [Tuesday], Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program ('SNAP') benefit cards and most Medicaid cards no longer would be acceptable documentation of enrollment in Lifeline-qualifying programs," filed the company Friday about a discussion with an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai, noting it wrote USAC Nov. 20 and got no response." The FCC and USAC didn't comment.
Bid commitments reached $526.3 million in the 28 GHz band auction Monday, with provisionally winning bids on 2,718 of 3,072 licenses, FCC results show. Bidding totaled $458.7 million and PWBs were at 2,716 Friday (see 1811300053).
The 10th U.S. Circuit of Appeals sought responses by Dec. 17 to San Jose’s motion to transfer appeals of the FCC’s September infrastructure order to the 9th Circuit (see 1811300034). Friday's order (in Pacer) “strongly encouraged” Sprint, Verizon, CTIA, Puerto Rico Telephone and the Competitive Carriers Association to file jointly. The FCC should in a separate response list of all petitions for review on the order, “address whether transfer is permissible before the agency record is filed,” and “advise as to the status of its motion to transfer Am. Elec. Power Serv. Corp. v. FCC, No. 18-14408 (11th Circ. Oct. 18, 2018) to the Ninth Circuit,” the court said. DOJ should respond to the transfer motion, it said.
Apple was guilty of “clearly false, deceptive, and misleading marketing and advertising” when it offered Apple Store gift card giveaways over Thanksgiving weekend with the purchase of select iPhones and other products, San Francisco resident Jessica Lee alleged (in Pacer) Thursday in U.S. District Court in San Jose. She's seeking class-action status after using the Apple Store app on her iPhone Cyber Monday to buy a MacBook Air and not getting the promised $200 card. Friday, the company didn’t comment.
The FCC granted 26 licenses won by NewLevel in the 600 MHz band incentive auction. The company's application was found complete and in compliance, "and there are no petitions to deny," said an Incentive Auction Task Force and Wireless Bureau public notice Friday. NewLevel bid $296.5 million net. One more application is under review, said the PN, citing previous 600 MHz license grants.
Bid commitments in the 28 GHz band auction reached $458.7 million Friday, with provisionally winning bids on 2,716 of the 3,072 licenses, FCC results show. The bid total was $391 million Thursday (see 1811290065). Monday has four more rounds.
Thanksgiving was the most mobile of the high-profile shopping days over the past week, blogged comScore Thursday. Mobile shopping’s share of total digital commerce reached 40 percent on Thanksgiving, continuing a trend from last year, wrote analyst Ian Essling, while in-store traffic on Thanksgiving and Black Friday was down slightly from last year.