T-Mobile representatives explained the carrier’s proposal for dividing the U.S. into eight regions for broadcaster repacking after the TV incentive auction (see 1603040052), in a meeting with officials from the FCC Incentive Auction Task Force. “T-Mobile’s proposed broadcast relocation schedule would steadily open access to low-band spectrum for both population and land area over a three-year period in an objective and balanced manner,” the carrier said in a filing posted Friday in docket 12-268. T-Mobile’s representatives described the company’s experience in frequency-relocation projects, including the AWS-3 relocation process, the filing said. “In the broadcasting context, T-Mobile explained how it has already assisted multiple full-power television stations since August 2014 in relocating from Channel 51 to lower-frequency spectrum. On average, these stations needed just 93 days to move from the start of the transition process when the FCC granted the station’s construction permit to the end of the process when the station filed a license to cover its new operations.” Repacking TV stations after the auction "will be the most complex transition the commission has ever overseen," an NAB spokesman said in response. "Rather than insisting on keeping the FCC’s current unsupported deadline in place, T-Mobile should support an efficient, rational and achievable repacking plan that protects the interests of both broadcasters and forward auction bidders.”

AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron said the movie theater chain will consider making some theaters texting- and mobile device-friendly, in remarks reported in Variety. Movie theaters are one of the few places where cellphone use isn't allowed. Aron said the move would help get millennials back into theaters. “When you tell a 22-year-old to turn off the phone, don’t ruin the movie, they hear please cut off your left arm above the elbow,” he said. “You can’t tell a 22-year-old to turn off their cellphone. That’s not how they live their life.”

Enterprise Wireless Alliance, National Public Safety Telecommunications Council and Utilities Telecom Council representatives met with FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief David Simpson, and others from the bureau, to urge action on a 2013 NPSTC report on the future use of the 4.9 GHz band. In June 2012, the FCC approved revised rules designed to boost utilization of the band (see 1206140066). The band was allocated for public safety use more than a dozen years ago. “NPSTC, EWA and UTC requested that the Commission move forward and take action consistent with the recommendations in the Final Report that was filed by NPSTC on the record,” said the filing in docket 07-100.

The FCC should address issues that arose during the first phase of the USF mobility fund before launching phase II, the Rural Wireless Association said in a letter to the commission. “There is a continued need to support mobile communications services in rural areas,” RWA said. “Mobile voice and broadband services are critical to public safety communications and economic development, and can help address problems such as the ‘digital divide’ and ‘homework gap’ that are present in rural America. For these reasons, it is critical that the Commission craft and implement a dedicated mobility support mechanism that will provide specific, predictable, and sufficient support to both advance and sustain the availability of mobile services in high-cost areas.” The FCC should start by looking at Mobility Fund Phase I and “carefully consider what did and did not work,” RWA said. The record shows that only $67 million in Mobility Fund Phase I (MFI) funding has been disbursed, and more than $70 million was returned to the FCC, the group said. “RWA recommends that the Commission staff solicit feedback on MFI before diving headfirst into a Phase II mechanism that risks replicating unpredictable processes,” the letter said. RWA also said FCC data on broadband deployment needs to be improved. The group called on the FCC to address problems caused by the incompatibility of CDMA and GSM networks, in the filing posted in docket 10-208.

Google representatives supported CTIA’s request that the FCC reconsider out-of-band emissions limits for Citizens Band Radio Service devices, said a report on a meeting with Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology staff. Making sure LTE devices “are available for the 3.5 GHz band” and making the devices “more readily usable for CBRS will speed and lower the cost of CBRS deployments,” Google said. “Google’s propagation testing indicates the OOBE requirements can be relaxed as proposed by CTIA without material increased risk of harmful interference.” CTIA argued (see 1604140036) that addressing OOBE limits in the shared spectrum band, 20 MHz-wide channels and less-restrictive power levels are key to making it “economically viable” and will set the CBRS "on a better path towards meaningful investment, innovation, and deployment.” The filing was posted Thursday in docket 12-354.

Wearables are a growth opportunity for the flat SIM (subscriber identity module) card market, an IHS report said Wednesday. The number of SIM cards shipped globally is forecast to increase from 5.4 billion in 2015 to 5.6 billion in 2020, IHS said. That's "an opportunity for operators and card suppliers to increase SIM penetration for both pluggable and embedded form factors,” IHS analyst Don Tait said.

Qualcomm gave a progress report Wednesday on adoption of its Quick Charge 3.0 technology, highlighting the HTC 10 as one smartphone to incorporate Quick Charge 3.0 and saying more compatible devices and accessories will be announced over the coming months. With 3.0, a typical smartphone can charge from zero to 80 percent in roughly 35 minutes, 27 percent faster than the previous version of Quick Charge, the company said. The technology is forward and backward compatible and can be implemented in USB Type-A, USB micro, USB Type-C and proprietary connectors.

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology approved a Vivint Wireless request for special temporary authority (STA) to test LTE equipment in the 3.5 GHz band. “The purpose of this operation will be to run field tests and determine what kind of performance we can achieve based on the new 3550 MHz rules under certain conditions such as: intercell and intracell interference, different lines of sight, channel configurations etc.,” Vivint said in an STA request. Vivint said the test will include one primary site with four-six transmitters and an adjacent secondary site with one-three transmitters that would allow the company to test intercell interference scenarios. "Being able to perform a small trial with the new rules and emerging LTE equipment will help us determine if we are able to offer a service and build a portion of our business around this technology and spectrum," Vivint said. The FCC approved a framework for the 3.5 GHz shared spectrum band last April (see 1504170055).

Rules allowing 5G wireless operations in the 28 GHz band need to safeguard fixed satellite services from terrestrial emissions, since relatively small numbers of outdoor 5G transmitters "could severely impact" FSS satellite on-orbit receivers, O3b said in an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 14-177. It recapped a meeting between FCC staff, including International Bureau Satellite Division Chief Jose Albuquerque, and O3b representatives including Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Suzanne Malloy. The filing said O3b talked about its previously submitted technical analysis of possible 5G/satellite operating requirements, and repeated its request the FCC delimit aggregate terrestrial interference into FSS satellite receivers in a Further NPRM before finalizing 28 GHz rules.

The FCC’s 39-month timetable for the post-TV incentive auction transition is time enough, said Grundy Integration, RIO Steel & Tower and T-Mobile in a meeting at the FCC. The company representatives met with Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake, Gary Epstein, chairman of the Incentive Auction Task Force, and other FCC officials, said a filing in docket 14-252. “Representatives from the tower-climbing companies estimated that the average antenna installation project takes two to four weeks, though they emphasized that there is no typical installation,” the filing said. “A low-elevation, side-mounted, high-frequency antenna installation could be done in as few as five days. An extremely complex, high-elevation, top-mounted, low-frequency antenna installation could take six weeks or more, though the tower climbing experts characterized an installation of this complexity and length as "an outlier.” Both tower companies have the personnel to help complete the transition, they said. Equipment isn't an issue, they said. “RIO operates its own full turnkey tower fabrication facility,” the filing said. “This facility produces pole derricks called gin poles; complete tower structures, such as guyed towers up to 1,500 feet and self-support towers up to 450 feet; and the components necessary for tower modifications and strengthening. RIO can fabricate a gin pole in as little as two weeks once it has the design specifications.” T-Mobile, expected to be a major player in the 600 MHz auction, has said repeatedly that broadcasters should be able to complete the repacking within the 39 months mandated by the FCC and within the $1.75 billion budget established by Congress (see 1602180063). “Until we know how many stations will need to move and to what channels, it remains an exercise in futility to argue that the FCC set precisely the right deadline and that there should be no safety valve whatsoever for stations unable to transition in time,” an NAB spokesman said in response to T-Mobile.