Calling spectrum "too precious a resource to be wasted on hoarders," T-Mobile said and it wants the FCC Wireless Bureau to make clear to Dish Network that its AWS-4, H Block and Lower 700 MHz Block spectrum holdings "must be put to productive use or be relinquished." In a letter dated Thursday to bureau Chief Don Stockdale, T-Mobile said Dish plans to use a 200 kHz carrier with its narrowband IoT system would leave most such spectrum capacity unused. It said Dish efforts are a mere "'license saving' deployment scheme" that won't meet performance obligations, and its talk of a second deployment phase focusing on mobile broadband doesn't excuse falling short of performance requirements now. It said the narrowband IoT plan violates Dish commitments to provide broadband service with its spectrum. Saying Dish has "a track record of hoarding spectrum," T-Mobile said the FCC should signal that Dish will lose its licenses and not be able to re-acquire them later. Dish didn't comment Friday.

Verizon is the exclusive carrier for the Palm smartphone companion, a credit-card size device to eliminate “mindless scrolling and excessive screen time." It's voice-enabled with Google Assistant, has 12-megapixel rear-facing and 8-megapixel front-facing cameras, and has a 3.3-inch 720p display. Its “life mode” includes shortcuts to apps with “a couple of taps,” said Verizon.

Mark McDiarmid, T-Mobile senior vice president-radio network engineering and development, and Ankur Kapoor, T-Mobile vice president-network technology, met with members of the FCC team overviewing their proposed deal. “Applicants discussed the network model and documentation previously provided to the Commission” in response to an Aug. 15 information request, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 18-197. “Applicants showed how the network model is utilized to determine if there may be network congestion for the LTE and 5G networks for standalone T-Mobile, standalone Sprint, and New T-Mobile.” The companies demonstrated “(1) how the model determined the available capacity at a sector level for the 5G network, (2) how 5G traffic is redistributed from a non-5G site to neighboring 5G sites ... (3) how the 5G user throughput in a given sector is calculated and applied in the engineering model, and (4) how incremental solutions are applied to remedy congestion (both for LTE and 5G).”

NTCH isn't an AWS-4 band licensee or operating in adjacent spectrum that could face interference from Dish Network using the lower AWS-4 band for downlinks rather than uplinks, so it doesn't have standing to challenge the FCC waiving some technical rules that applied to Dish's AWS-4 licenses, the agency said Wednesday in a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit motion to dismiss (in Pacer, docket 18-1242). NTCH sued after the agency in August upheld a Wireless Bureau waiver request it was appealing (see 1808160065). NTCH claims that waiver thwarted its plans to participate in the H-block option, but it had decided not to take part in the auction before the bureau granted the waiver request. D.C. Circuit precedent is that a general complaint about the government doesn't qualify for Article III standing, the FCC said. NTCH counsel Don Evans of Fletcher Heald emailed that the motion was expected since the FCC attacked its mandamus petition previously on standing grounds. He said the FCC acknowledged that NTCH has standing to challenge H-Block auction procedures and that the waiver and the extension of time for Dish to construct AWS-4 facilities were explicit quid pro quos for Dish's payment of $1.5 billion in the H-Block auction. That deal gave Dish enormous advantages not enjoyed by any other auction participant and makes the waiver/extension integral to the H-Block auction process and challengeable by a thwarted bidder, he said. The court granted a Dish motion (in Pacer) to intervene Monday.

The FCC released a draft order, set for a vote at the Nov. 15 commissioners’ meeting, to change how industry reports availability of hearing-aid compatible handsets. The order would adopt “in large part” a consensus proposal “broadly supported by the hearing loss community, nationwide, rural, and regional wireless service providers, and wireless handset manufacturer,” as expected (see 1810240030). It would require carriers to beef up their websites on the compatibility of handsets “to provide more up-to-date and accessible information to consumers and Commission staff." Providers would report on discontinued handsets. They would need to certify yearly “compliance with the Commission’s hearing aid-compatibility rules, including the web site requirements, and indicate the percentage of hearing aid-compatible handsets offered." The agency is killing a “burdensome” annual Form 655 reporting requirement. The current reporting requirements “were intended to provide the Commission with a way to verify compliance with rules requiring service providers and device manufacturers to offer specified numbers of hearing aid-compatible handset models, to monitor the status of hearing aid-compatible handset deployment in the marketplace, and to ensure that consumers have access to information about the handset models that serve their needs,” the draft said. “The enhanced web site requirements that we adopt here are an improved means of promoting those goals.” The National Association of the Deaf “advocates for consumers to be able to make informed choices about wireless devices based on compatibility with their hearing aids, and appreciates the collaboration between industry and consumer groups" on the order, said Zainab Alkebsi, policy counsel.

The GPS Innovation Alliance and ACT|The App Association highlighted benefits of 5G in a blog post Wednesday. Tops was agriculture. "High-precision GPS-enabled automated steering of tractors delivers accuracy to within a few centimeters,” the groups said. “This accuracy reduces unnecessary waste of critical resources, including water, seed, and fertilizer. Similarly, a 60-minute drone flight used to survey crops or livestock can typically collect 3 gigabytes of raw data.”

With growing focus on the 5.9 GHz band (see 1810230038), ITS America said the FCC should remember vehicle to everything (V2X) technology will save lives but relies on an allocation in the band. "Act decisively to protect the investment in dedicated V2X short-range communications at 5.9 GHz as the technology is being deployed en-masse," it said Wednesday in docket 13-49. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 90 people are killed each day in crashes, the group said.

The Wireless ISP Association is “disappointed” with the FCC’s 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service rules (see 1810230037), said a Wednesday news release. “We commend the FCC for rejecting the idea of auctioning CBRS licenses at the very large Partial Economic Area (PEA) level,” said WISPA President Claude Aiken. “However, the new combination of county-sized licenses, package bidding, long license terms, and renewal expectancy will shut out a significant portion of our members from using licensed CBRS spectrum to bring affordable, reliable broadband services to under-served rural areas.”

VTel isn't making a persuasive case on why AWS-3 auction bidding credits shouldn't be reinstated to SNR Wireless and Northstar Wireless, given steps they took to modify their agreements with Dish Network, the two said in a consolidated opposition Monday. The designated entities said VTel makes "fundamentally ... flawed" calculations about their indebtedness to Dish, which has been reduced massively. They said VTel's argument the DEs should provide business plans or proof of the ability to finance their buildouts "would be a clear due process violation" since it wouldn't be in line with past de facto control standards. They said VTel arguments and AT&T and T-Mobile comments should be dismissed on procedural grounds. VTel in July said Dish still had de facto control and the modified agreements are crafted in a way to force a sale to Dish by coercing the exercise of the put right in five years. It said the DEs agreed to modified contractual terms that were contrary to their financial interests and that the two are "sham companies that exist solely" for Dish's benefit. T-Mobile had urged the FCC to move swiftly to decide whether the DEs are still Dish-controlled and whether the licenses should be auctioned again. Backing the DEs, the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters and Multicultural, Media, Telecom and Internet Council in July said steps the two made to cure the de facto control issue were sufficient (see here and here).

5G Americas projects rapid growth for 5G, with 5 billion people accessing the internet via mobile by 2025, and 5G accounting for about 14 percent of connections. “More than a quarter of all global mobile subscribers are using LTE and it’s expected that by 2021 this will increase to more than half,” it reported Tuesday. Standards work is continuing, it said. “Definition of the study items and work items was completed in July 2018, on schedule." Release 16, “or phase 2 of 5G, will primarily address any outstanding issues in [release]-15, expansion of 5G technology features and increased 5G efficiency.”