The FCC should quickly reject NAB arguments that the agency locate one or more vacant channels for unlicensed users in broadband spectrum rather than the UHF band, the Competitive Carriers Association said in a letter to the FCC in docket 15-146. NAB “contrary to evidence in the record, questions the need for wireless broadband spectrum opportunities,” CCA said. “NAB’s proposal contradicts the Spectrum Act, disregards competitive carriers’ dire need for low-band spectrum and the likely robust competition for reserve spectrum, and ignores the agency’s consistent public interest findings regarding the 600 MHz band plan.” NAB and other broadcaster commenters strongly opposed the FCC’s vacant channel proposal in comments at the agency (see 1511020059). NAB warned in Oct. 30 reply comments the proposal would be a windfall for some big companies that want spectrum for free rather than buying it in the TV incentive auction. “The Commission’s reversal of years of decisions regarding the priority of licensed over unlicensed services is not only legally questionable, it also represents picking winners and losers in the marketplace,” NAB said.

The FCC approved a waiver for Verizon to use real-time text (RTT) IP-enabled wireless services as a substitute for text telephony (TTY) services for the deaf and hard of hearing. AT&T earlier received a similar waiver (see 1510060026). The waiver expires Dec. 31, 2017, “or upon the effective date of Commission rules providing for alternative IP-based wireless accessibility solutions, whichever is earlier,” the agency said. “We find that good cause has been demonstrated to grant Verizon’s request for a temporary waiver,” the order said. “We are persuaded that the Commission’s goals of ensuring access to telecommunications specifically for individuals with disabilities and more broadly for the general public, will be best served by granting a temporary limited waiver of the Commission’s TTY requirements for Verizon’s wireless IP offerings.” The order was issued by the chiefs of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs, Public Safety, Wireless and Wireline bureaus.

FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp isn't likely to easily put to bed concerns the FCC plans to clamp down on third-party firmware installation on devices, including Wi-Fi routers, said Richard Bennett, network architect, in a High Tech Forum blog post Friday. Knapp put out a blog post of his own Thursday saying the FCC is still only asking questions (see 1511120056). Knapp’s latest comment, “while reasonable on its face, isn’t going to satisfy the complainers, who insist that no part of the router code, not even the part that relates to regulatory compliance, should be locked down,” Bennett wrote. “The issue that most people don’t appreciate here is that Wi-Fi chips don’t have any features built-in … to ensure compliance, so compliance is effectively an honor system,” he wrote. “The other issue that isn’t widely appreciated is that there’s no money in developing home router code at this point, so the only way to make home routers better is through open source projects sponsored by the firms with a legitimate interest in good home routers, which would be major ISPs and network equipment vendors.” The only protections in Wi-Fi chips are designed to sense military radars and avoid them as much as possible, Bennett said.

Stamford, Connecticut, must pay Sprint $956,259.64 after the city tossed out 800 MHz equipment it was supposed to return to Sprint, the FCC Public Safety Bureau ruled Thursday. The city had a frequency reconfiguration agreement (FRA) with Sprint under which it was to receive $4.9 million as part of the 800 MHz rebanding. “A material provision of the FRA is that Stamford is required to send to Sprint the used equipment that is being replaced as part of the upgrading of Stamford’s system. This includes infrastructure equipment and subscriber radios," the bureau said in a letter to both parties. “Instead, Stamford contends that its rebanding contractor consigned the used infrastructure equipment to trash receptacles and donated the used subscriber radios to the City of Hartford, Connecticut.” Stamford officials didn't comment.

Investor Chamath Palihapitiya and his boutique venture capital firm Social Capital are looking at coming into the TV incentive auction in a big way, spending as much as $10 billion on 600 MHz spectrum, said a report in Re/code. The new venture, Rama, would use software from one of Palihapitiya's companies, LotusFlare, to help manage and organize a new network, he reportedly said. Preston Padden, former Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition executive director, had a brief response in an email: “WooHoo!” Palihapitiya didn't comment. He's an electrical engineer and partial owner of the NBA's Golden State Warriors.

Julius Knapp, chief of the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology, reassured industry Thursday the FCC won't impose rules to prohibit third-party firmware installation on devices, including Wi-Fi routers, as part of changes to its device certification rules (see 1511100043). “There is concern that our proposed rules could have the unintended consequence of causing manufacturers to ‘lock down’ their devices and prevent all software modifications, including those impacting security vulnerabilities and other changes on which users rely,” Knapp said in a blog post. “Eliciting this kind of feedback is the very reason that we sought comment in an NPRM and we are pleased to have received the feedback that will inform our decision-making on this matter.”

The concerns of the unlicensed community about LTE-unlicensed could be addressed if the FCC used authority already on the books, said Joan Marsh, AT&T vice president-federal regulatory, Thursday in a blog post. Marsh cited Telecom Act Section 333 rules against “willfully or maliciously” interfering with licensed communications. “If this provision were broadly interpreted as applying to licensed and unlicensed services alike, it could provide protection against the very type of apocalyptic results that the Wi-Fi proponents fear,” Marsh wrote. “It could stand for the proposition that, while no existing unlicensed technology is entitled to any specific incumbency protections, no new unlicensed technology will be permitted to do the spectral equivalent of throwing existing users off park benches or flinging rocks at them.” If the FCC adopts that approach, companies deploying LTE-U “would be expected to listen and respond in good faith to co-existence concerns, but they would not be required to adopt specific protocols, achieve standardization in any specific governing body, or remain mired in some endless loop of interference testing before deploying,” she said.

T-Mobile expects a very successful TV incentive auction, Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray said Thursday at a Morgan Stanley financial conference. “There is a dearth of low-band spectrum and there’s a dearth of licensed spectrum, period,” Ray said. “I think there’s going to be a lot of interest in the spectrum.” He predicted it would be difficult for any carrier to pass up the opportunity to buy 600 MHz spectrum if they can. The auction is going to be a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to level the playing field for T-Mobile US versus the other national carriers who have always had low-band spectrum,” said T-Mobile Chief Financial Officer Braxton Carter, also speaking at the conference. T-Mobile plans to raise about $6 billion in capital before the auction but could spend as much as $10 billion, he said. Carter also predicted T-Mobile will see relatively affordable spectrum as a result of the FCC's decision to set aside reserve spectrum for competitive carriers in many markets. Peter Ewens, executive vice president-corporate strategy, said T-Mobile will be in the market for additional 700 MHz spectrum right up to the start of the incentive auction quiet period Jan. 28.

The FCC established a pleading cycle on a proposal by T-Mobile to sell a single lower 700 MHz A-block license to the Alaska Wireless Network. “The Applicants maintain that the proposed transaction would provide AWN with additional spectrum in the geographic area authorized under the license that would improve its ability to compete with national service providers in more urban areas of Alaska and allow it to expand wireless broadband access to rural communities where national service providers have yet to deploy wireless facilities," the FCC said in a Tuesday public notice in docket 15-265. Petitions to deny are due Dec. 1, oppositions Dec. 11 and replies Dec. 18. The license covers 29 boroughs and four cellular market areas, the FCC said.

The labor union representing flight attendants is again raising red flags over a proposal for air-to-ground (ATG) mobile broadband service over the contiguous U.S. Like its comments earlier this year on the docket and similar comments on an FCC proposal to lift the ban on using mobile phones for voice and data on flights (see 1502060034), the Association of Flight Attendants' ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 13-114 said the ATG proposal "would greatly enhance communications capabilities for terrorists and increase cyber warfare vulnerabilities." The filing recapped a pair of meetings between union representatives and staff of Commissioners Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel. Any FCC decision should wait until after the Safety and Security in the Air Coalition interagency group develops a study on potential threats and vulnerabilities and looks at possible mitigation, it said. An ATG draft order was taken off circulation earlier this year (see 1502120054).