The FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology adopted final methodology for determining “Grandfathered Wireless Protection Zones” for existing licensees in the 3650-3700 MHz band, as part of the rules for the broader 3.5 GHz shared band. “We will utilize a two-prong approach to determine Grandfathered Wireless Protection Zones that is generally consistent with the approach that we sought comment on in the 3650-3700 MHz Protection Contours [Public Notice],” said an FCC public notice Friday. “This approach will establish a baseline contour that will be used to protect the area -- by sectors -- in which unregistered consumer premises equipment (CPEs) are located, and allow licensees to protect the specific area -- by sectors -- where registered CPEs are located.” Among changes from the earlier proposal, the FCC said it would eliminate the requirement that licensees identify the specific frequencies that are in operation on each sector, basing protection instead on protected range of frequencies on what licensees have already registered in the commission database. The agency said it also will require Citizens Broadband Service device operators to meet the interference protection level at all locations within the grandfathered protection zone, not just at the edge.

The FCC should distinguish between the character length requirements for LTE and non-LTE networks as it develops new rules for wireless emergency alerts (WEAs), a C Spire executive told Public Safety Bureau staff. “An increased number of characters (e.g., 360) can be accommodated more readily, given a reasonable phase-in period of several years, by LTE network operators,” the carrier said. C Spire also said if the FCC requires carriers to embed URLs in WEA messages, it could have a detrimental effect on their networks. The FCC should first launch a voluntary pilot program to test the network and user impact of embedded URLs in WEA messages, C Spire said. The agency proposed at its November open meeting to allow longer WEA messages, inclusion of hyperlinks and narrower distribution of alerts (see 1511190053). The filing was posted Friday in docket 15-91.

If the FCC approves stand-alone privacy rules for ISPs, it would undermine the administration’s broader privacy agenda, CTIA told the agency, reporting on meetings with aides to all regular commissioners. “The Obama Administration carefully highlighted the need for consistency in its 2012 Privacy Blueprint and Consumer Bill of Rights,” CTIA said. “The U.S. government reinforced this stance in its EU Privacy Shield negotiations, maintaining that the FTC standard, in combination with law focusing on sensitive data where appropriate and robust enforcement, provides strong protection for consumers.” CTIA said the FCC should follow various state laws on breach notification rules. State laws allow a minimum of 30 days, the group said. “The breach notification rule should provide a reasonable time to send notices to allow for investigation of the breach and a determination of which customers were affected.” If notifications are sent too quickly, “consumers may get incomplete or inaccurate information, and companies may not have enough time to fix the breach or help law enforcement find the perpetrators,” said the filing posted Friday in docket 16-106.

Global sales of smartphones to end users jumped 4.3 percent in Q2 to 344.4 million units, from 330.3 million in Q2 a year earlier, Gartner said in a Thursday report. Demand for premium smartphones slowed in Q2 “as consumers wait for new hardware launches in the second half of the year," said the research firm. All “mature markets” except Japan had declining demand for smartphones, but all “emerging regions” except Latin America had growth, the company said. Q2 was an especially poor quarter for Apple, whose iPhone sales declined 7.7 percent globally, including a 26 percent decrease in China and mature Asia Pacific regions, it said. Market leader Samsung increased its Q2 share to 22.3 percent from 21.8 percent in Q2 a year earlier, while Apple’s share fell to 12.9 percent from 14.6 percent, Gartner said. For operating systems, Android increased its share to 86.2 percent from 82.2 percent, and the share of iOS devices fell to 12.9 percent from 14.6 percent, it said. Windows devices were the big Q2 losers, as their share plummeted to 0.6 percent from 2.5 percent, it said.

T-Mobile is going big on unlimited plans, unveiling the One plan Thursday. T-Mobile calls the offering its 12th “iconic Un-carrier move.” A family of four can get the service for $40 per line per month, T-Mobile said in a news release. The first line costs $70 a month, the second $50 a month and additional lines are $20 a month, up to eight lines. The plan offers unlimited data, text and voice. Video is streamed at what the carrier says is DVD quality, with an HD add on offered at $25 per month per line. T-Mobile wants to solve “pain points” and one of the biggest is data plans, CEO John Legere said on CNBC. “Today, I officially ended the era of data buckets and went all in on unlimited.”

The Competitive Carriers Association stressed the need for the FCC to get the definitions right for served and underserved as it takes up USF “reform” and potentially a second mobility fund, said a filing about a CCA meeting with an aide to Commissioner Mike O’Rielly. O’Rielly recently suggested the FCC use “population” as a metric for identifying areas in need of support, CCA said. “CCA encouraged the Commission to include road miles, farm land, and Federal lands as mobility is essential for next generation technology including 5G and the Internet of Things to flourish throughout the country,” said the filing in docket 10-208. “It is imperative that any methodology portray an accurate picture of the rural landscape, measuring which areas are served and which are not.”

In an era of what some say is creeping spectrum scarcity, the FCC released an NPRM Thursday designed to expand access to private land mobile radio (PLMR) spectrum. Among the key questions raised is whether the agency should amend its rules to allow 806-824/851-869 MHz band incumbents in a market a six-month period to apply for expansion band and guard band frequencies before the frequencies are made available to applicants for new systems. The Land Mobile Communications Council (LMCC) proposed the change, the FCC said. The commission also asked whether it should extend conditional licensing authority to applicants for site-based licenses in the 800 MHz frequencies and the 896-901/935-940 MHz bands. The FCC sought comment on whether to make available for PLMR use frequencies on the band edge between the industrial/business pool and either general mobile radio service or broadcast auxiliary service spectrum. “Traditionally, the PLMR services have provided for the private, internal communications needs of public safety entities, state and local government entities, large and small businesses, transportation providers, the medical community, and other diverse users of two-way radio systems,” the NPRM said. “PLMR licensees generally do not provide for-profit communications services. The Commission is committed to bringing about more efficient use of PLMR frequencies in order to alleviate congestion in this crowded spectrum, the demand for which continues to grow.” Comments deadlines are to be set by a pending notice in the Federal Register. “We are glad to see the FCC release this item as it proposes a number of productive spectrum policies,” said Mark Crosby, president of the Enterprise Wireless Alliance and an LMCC board member. “We also look forward to a healthy dialogue on the merits of providing spectrum priority to incumbent 800 MHz licensees, in particular business enterprise entities. The FCC has noted that expansion band spectrum is designated primarily for [Specialized Mobile Radio] stations. EWA will need to determine whether limiting business enterprise incumbents to B/ILT spectrum in the expansion band, without access to guard band spectrum, provides any meaningful opportunity for system expansion.” EWA is also concerned that “without an effective construction verification process, and reliance exclusively on self-certification, it is exceedingly difficult to distinguish parties with the intention and ability to actually provide service from those hoping to flip spectrum for monetary gain,” Crosby said. “The PLMR community has precious few spectrum resources. It is imperative that the rules promote its intensive utilization and deter speculation.”

Representatives of the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority met with Edward Smith, an aide to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, and urged the commission to approve a waiver request by Atlantic Tele-Network (ATN) and its subsidiary SAL Spectrum so SAL can benefit from rural bidding credits in the TV incentive auction (see 1606030018). The authority said it has a partnership with ATN and the waiver would help it offer wireless service throughout the Navajo Nation. The authority filed on the meeting in docket 12-268.

The Future for Privacy Forum released guidelines to help companies that develop wearable devices and wellness apps follow "practical" privacy safeguards. In a Wednesday news release, FPF, which developed the guidance with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said companies need to incorporate the Fair Information Practice Principles -- a set of eight principles rooted in the 1974 Privacy Act -- to protect consumer-generated health and wellness data. FPF generally recommended companies provide consumers with choices about data sharing and usage, support interoperability with global privacy frameworks and app platform standards and "elevate data norms" for scientific research, privacy and security. The best practices guide was released in conjunction with a FPF mobile apps survey. It said 70 percent of the top health and fitness apps have a privacy policy, about 6 percent lower than top apps overall. Sixty-one percent of health and fitness apps are linked to the privacy policy from the app store listing page, about 10 percent lower than the top apps overall. In May, the Center for Democracy and Technology and Fitbit released a report that also outlined privacy best practices for the industry, which is expected to get even more guidance (see 1606100029 and 1606200027).

The FCC should refrain from clamping down on data caps or free data plans, two options for carriers that show the market at work, said a paper released Wednesday by CTIA, written by William Rogerson, a former FCC chief economist. Both practices are "efficient carrier responses to competitive pressures, technical realities, and consumer preferences, and should be trusted over the predictive judgements of regulators when it comes to maximizing consumer welfare,” Rogerson wrote. The wireless industry is competitive, with four national carriers, he said. Industry churn shows competition at work, he said. The average monthly industry churn rates from Q1 2012 to Q2 2015 were between 1.44 percent and 1.85 percent, he said. “This means that the average provider has lost between 17 percent and 22 percent of its customers each year over this time period.” Data caps “help manage congestion and ration scarce capacity and provide incentives for content providers and subscribers to use the network efficiently,” Rogerson said. Zero-rated data services “result in expanded access to broadband, particularly for lower income consumers, by making internet access more affordable,” he said. The FCC has been exploring whether it should prohibit some versions of zero-rated services as part of net neutrality rules (see 1606230065).