Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America, confirmed his group’s concerns with parts of the FCC-proposed spectrum frontiers order (see 1606280070). “Our primary concern is that selling carriers exclusive licenses that cover large geographic areas will foreclose public access and innovative uses, particularly outside the largest urban areas and most profitable venues where it will be most profitable to densely deploy small cells,” Calabrese emailed. “It is still possible that the Commission will follow through on its proposals for robust opportunistic access to rural and other areas where licensees leave this spectrum fallow. It’s also possible the Commission will ultimately approve open and shared access to the 600 megahertz it proposes to set aside from 37 to 37.6 GHz.” Calabrese said that “the public interest would be best served by making those basic decisions now in this initial order -- and not kick that can down the road.”

Customs and Border Protection said a Fossil-brand watch that includes Bluetooth wireless connectivity should be classified based on its watch function and not the ability to connect to a smartphone. The decision was announced in a recently released ruling, HQ H268657, dated March 28. "Physical characteristics and wireless functions of the Grant Connect Watch substantially differ from those of other 'smart watches' previously classified by CBP." Users can't view or use the data on the watch itself and "the device is not capable of independently collecting, storing, or processing data when 'unpaired' from a smartphone -- functions that both the Apple Watch and Samsung Gear Live are capable of performing when used in 'paired' and 'unpaired' configurations," CBP said. Wireless features are "limited" and it lacks a "pre-installed mobile operating system," the agency said. Fossil didn't comment.

Wireless and various healthcare groups filed comments at the Department of Health and Human Services underscoring the importance of wireless devices in medicine. DHS’s Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) sought comment as it prepares rules for physician reimbursement. Tools “ranging from wireless health products, mobile medical device data systems, converged medical devices, and cloud-based patient portals (to name a few) are revolutionizing the medical care industry by allowing the incorporation of patient-generated health data (PGHD) into the continuum of care,” the filing said. Despite many benefits, connected health technology is “largely ignored by the current Medicare system,” the filing said. “Remote monitoring technologies, which are mostly dependent on technologies disallowed as telehealth services, are unreasonably restrained by CMS’ decision to bundle monitoring with other codes, resulting in a lack of reimbursement for remote monitoring solutions.” CTIA, NTCA, Qualcomm and 29 other organizations signed the filing.

Puerto Rico Telephone Co. and PRTC parent América Móvil of Mexico agreed to pay $1.1 million to resolve an investigation by the Enforcement Bureau, the FCC said Tuesday. Stock purchases of América Móvil by owner Carlos Slim Helú and family “repeatedly exceeded the foreign ownership levels approved by the Commission,” the FCC said in a news release. Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc said the fine is the largest ever for violating the agency’s foreign ownership rules. The companies exceeded their approved foreign ownership three times in five years, the FCC said. Most recently, in June 2014, “the Slim family increased its ownership in and control of América Móvil through a purchase of stock from AT&T International,” the FCC said. “This also increased the family’s ownership in FCC licensee PRTC beyond the voting and equity interests then approved by the agency’s International Bureau in accordance with the FCC’s foreign ownership rules and policies.” As part of the settlement, PRTC and América Móvil also agreed to adopt compliance plans to prevent future stock purchases by the Slim family without first receiving the International Bureau’s review and approval, the FCC said. The companies didn’t comment.

T-Mobile executives urged the FCC to clarify LITE-unlicensed rules. “While T-Mobile remains an industry leader in the use of Wi-Fi, with our customers making some 22 million Wi-Fi calls a day, we expressed frustration with the pace of the process to confirm that unlicensed LTE-U technology can fairly coexist with Wi-Fi,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 15-105 on a meeting with Edward Smith, aide to Chairman Tom Wheeler. “The continued delay and uncertainty inherent in the current process, which allows the Wi-Fi community to delay the timing of testing, and consequently the ability of manufacturers to obtain equipment authorization, makes it difficult or impossible for manufacturers to develop commercial products.”

Union Wireless joined the Competitive Carriers Association Device Hub, CCA said Monday. “With this platform, we have one place to choose devices, customize settings … and pre-load apps, and test and certify devices before launch,” said Brian Woody, Union Wireless chief customer relations officer. “Through this venture, we can provide an optimized experience for our customers on our network.” Union has 60,000 subscribers in the U.S. West, a CCA news release said.

Lenovo will use Immersion’s TouchSense haptic technology for Windows and Android devices in smartphones and tablets, in a multiyear agreement announced Monday. It covers Lenovo’s use of TouchSense software for mobile devices with single and dual actuators. Haptic technology lets manufacturers simulate the connected experience of the physical world on mobile devices.

Samsung Electronics America plans 5G demo tests near Verizon HQ in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, said a request for FCC special temporary authority (STA). “We will be operating at low power and within a very limited area of operation.” Samsung asked for an STA that would start July 16 and run six months.

The outlook for Sprint is “bullish,” based on a meeting she had last week with top executives, Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche wrote investors Monday. “There are many good things happening at Sprint right now operationally, with its capital structure and with its network improvement,” she wrote. “The biggest challenge [Sprint] has right now is improving the brand image and adjusting its distribution to help with this brand building effort. That said, it is difficult for us to identify any near term negative headline to derail the shares beyond macro noise.” CEO Marcelo Claure characterized Sprint as "in a good place" on subscriber churn, Fritzsche said. Sprint said permitting for its small-cell deployment is ahead of schedule, she wrote. “Sprint carries more ‘tonnage per subscriber’ of data than any other carrier in the US -- yet it is using only less than 25 percent of its 2.5 GHz spectrum holdings.”

The FCC should refrain from imposing limits on buying high-frequency spectrum, Verizon said in a letter to the agency. The carrier responded to a Thursday fact sheet by the FCC, which said the rules as circulated would limit carriers to buying 1250 MHz of spectrum in the bands in the initial auctions, with a threshold of 1250 MHz for case-by-case review of secondary market transactions (see 1606240026). “A spectrum limit for 5G-suitable bands above some arbitrary threshold could thwart 5G innovation and undermine speedy deployment at this critical time, when much is still unknown about 5G,” Verizon said. “Given that the Spectrum Frontiers Further Notice will propose making an additional 17.7 GHz of [millimeter wave] spectrum available, there will be no dearth of mmW spectrum available as 5G technologies and services develop.” T-Mobile earlier urged the commission to establish a screen to weigh secondary market transactions, while imposing a cap on buys of high-frequency spectrum in FCC auctions (see 1606210034). The Verizon filing was posted Monday in docket 14-177.