NASA is testing software-defined radio (SDR) and the latest technologies for spectrum sharing on the International Space Station (ISS), NTIA said Tuesday in a blog post. NTIA is promoting spectrum sharing research and NASA shares that goal, installing the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Testbed on the ISS, NTIA said. “NASA is partnering with other government agencies, industry, and academia to use the SCaN Testbed as a unique space-based platform to test new radio communication techniques and protocols.” Since being installed three years ago, more than 2,600 hours of experiments have been done, testing a total of 149 individual communication protocols on the testbed, NTIA said. “Some of the early results of these real-world tests have already been used to determine the types of communications technologies that can be utilized across NASA’s wide range of missions. In the future, spacecraft employing SDR radios will be able to be reconfigured with the latest and most efficient technologies that will allow them to adapt to disruptions and to more effectively share the same spectrum.”

The FCC acted properly in dismissing an NTCH 2012 petition for reconsideration challenging Verizon’s buy of AWS-1 licenses from SpectrumCo and Cox, the agency said in a brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. NTCH challenged that dismissal. NTCH had raised concerns about the deal because of the 45 percent ownership of Verizon Wireless then held by the U.K.’s Vodafone. In the 2015 order (see 1504170050), the FCC said the petition was moot since Vodafone had since sold its stake in Verizon Wireless. NTCH’s arguments are barred by the doctrine of judicial estoppel, the FCC told the court. “NTCH has not established that the relief it seeks from this Court will redress the injury it claims,” the agency said. “Even if it had made that showing, the Court lacks authority to order the relief requested by NTCH -- initiation of a license revocation proceeding against Verizon Wireless -- because an agency’s exercise of prosecutorial discretion is unreviewable.” The FCC also said NTCH lacks standing to bring the challenge. “NTCH claims it has been injured by Verizon Wireless’s dominance of the data roaming market and that its injury would be redressed if the Commission revoked some of Verizon Wireless’s licenses,” the FCC said. “It is unclear how revocation would help NTCH.” NTCH also mischaracterizes the data roaming rule as “toothless," the agency said. “Not so,” the FCC countered. “The Data Roaming Order established a specific complaint process to ensure that the rule is enforceable … and NTCH is availing itself of that mechanism in a pending proceeding before the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau.” The case is NTCH v. FCC, docket 15-1145.

The FCC should reject a request by T-Mobile that the agency block two Dish Network-backed designated entities, and Dish itself, from bidding for the licenses they opted not to buy after being the initial winners in the AWS-3 auction, said John Muleta, who heads one of the DEs, SNR Wireless. T-Mobile's letter last month was seen by analysts as a sign the carrier is interested in the returned licenses (see 1511020064). “The letter is an untimely request for reconsideration of the Commission’s August 18, 2015 order, which determined, inter alia, that the conduct of SNR, Northstar and DISH during Auction 97 did not violate Commission rules,” Muleta wrote the commission in a letter posted Tuesday in docket 14-78. “It is also an untimely request for reconsideration of the construction requirements applicable to AWS-3 spectrum.” The other Dish affiliate, Northstar Wireless, made similar arguments, in a separate filing.

The FCC should drop the enhanced transparency requirements in its new net neutrality rules, or at least spare smaller carriers, CTIA representatives said in meetings at the FCC. The wireless marketplace is already “vibrant,” CTIA said, according to an ex parte filing Monday in docket 14-28. “Compliance with the enhanced transparency requirements will be time-consuming and costly, especially for smaller carriers that operate with smaller staffs and more limited budgets,” CTIA said.

Tom Sugrue, former head of the Washington, D.C., office for T-Mobile, joined Hogan Lovells as of counsel to the Communications Practice Group, the law firm said Monday. Sugrue is former chief of the FCC Wireless Bureau and deputy administrator of NTIA. Hogan represents T-Mobile and other competitive wireless carriers. Sugrue retired from T-Mobile in early 2014 (see 1404150041).

CTIA said the FCC should reject arguments by GE Healthcare for additional protections for wireless medical telemetry service (WMTS) use of channel 37 in the commission’s recently approved Part 15 rules (see 1508060025). GEHC argued in a petition for reconsideration that the FCC should change how it analyzes building penetration loss and revise the rules accordingly. How that factor is analyzed “significantly impacts computation of the separation distances required to prevent harmful interference from adjacent band mobile base stations to WMTS operations on Channel 37, such that these distances cannot reasonably be assumed to exist without requiring coordination,” GEHC said. The arguments should be rejected, CTIA said in comments filed Monday at the FCC in docket 12-268. “The GE Petition relies on arguments that have been fully considered and rejected by the Commission twice in this proceeding and, therefore, has not met the legal requirements for a petition for reconsideration,” CTIA said. “The rules adopted by the Commission more than adequately protect Channel 37 incumbents, and indeed the Commission made several concessions to ensure [WMTS] would be protected.”

The Supreme Court declined to hear a potential test case (see 1509010052) from Florida on whether police need a warrant before seeking cell tower data. Quartavius Davis was convicted of taking part in a string of 2010 robberies around Miami, based in part on data collected from his cellphone. The justices declined to hear Davis’ appeal of a decision by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that rejected his claims, in an order released Monday. “In this appeal, we are called on to decide whether the court order … compelling the production of a third-party telephone company’s business records containing historical cell tower location information, violated Davis’s Fourth Amendment rights and was thus unconstitutional,” the 11th Circuit held in its May decision. “We hold it did not and was not.” The case was Davis v. U.S.

The FCC Wireless Bureau is seeking input on two more proposed spectrum buys by AT&T. The first transaction is a deal with Peoples Wireless to buy two 700 MHz C-block licenses covering 17 counties in Texas. In the second deal, AT&T proposes to buy from Blanca Telephone a single 700 MHz C-block license covering four counties in Colorado. The licenses both cover cellular market areas, the smallest that were offered in the 700 MHz auction. The bureau said in each case AT&T promises to use the spectrum for 10 x 10 MHz LTE. The Wireless Bureau Friday sought information from the companies involved. In the Blanca deal the bureau asked AT&T for details on its plans “to provide high-quality, high-speed wireless broadband services prior to the Proposed Transaction, including a detailed description of the Company’s current and planned deployment of LTE, which identifies the spectrum bands and the total amount of spectrum used for LTE deployment.” The bureau asked Blanca to explain in detail its decision to sell the license to AT&T, “including any attempts made to enter into a sale of this spectrum or alternative arrangements with parties other than AT&T.” Petitions to deny are due Nov. 27 for each transaction, oppositions Dec. 4 and replies Dec. 11. On Monday, the Wireless Bureau sought comment on U.S. Cellular’s proposed buy of two 700 MHz C-block licenses in Illinois from Adams Telcom. Petitions to deny are due Nov. 30, oppositions Dec. 10 and replies Dec. 17.

New and existing Sprint customers who activate a “qualifying” Samsung smartphone through Nov. 30 can receive a full year of Amazon Prime for free when they sign a two-year contract or pay full retail price for the device, Sprint said in a Friday promotional announcement. Qualifying Samsung smartphones include the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+ and Samsung Note5, Sprint said

The past year has seen a “huge change” in the wireless power industry, said David Green, IHS research manager, during the opening of the Wireless Power Summit. The market moved from an “industry push” model to one where “consumers are pulling technology from us,” said Green in San Diego Thursday. The challenge for 2016, as product availability increases and consumers begin to adopt wireless charging, is how to avoid customers “pushing back” if the user experience falls short, Green said. He referred to a “chicken-and-egg” dilemma, where infrastructure providers haven’t wanted to invest in wireless charging if no receivers could take advantage of the technology. Device makers, in turn, haven’t been willing to pay for receivers without a public charging infrastructure, Green said. Some 55 million wireless charging receivers shipped in 2014, and that number is expected to jump to 160 million this year, including 20 million from wearables, said Green, crediting a rise in consumer awareness. This year, consumer awareness more than doubled to 76 percent. IHS predicts a “big bump” in 2017-2018 shipments, though Green said wireless won’t soon replace wired.