CTIA released a request for proposal seeking a vendor for its 911 National Emergency Address Database platform. The NEAD platform responds to a January FCC order updating wireless location accuracy rules (see 1501290066). NEAD will put together a national database of access points, including Wi-Fi hot spots, and beacon location information that will enable wireless operators to deliver a “dispatchable” location that will help 911 call centers respond to emergencies, CTIA said in a Friday news release. CTIA also picked the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions as NEAD project manager. “Through the NEAD platform and by using technologies like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, first responders will see improved indoor location to help save lives,” said NEAD Vice President Thomas Sawanobori, who's also CTIA chief technology officer. “Our partnerships with ATIS and platform providers, along with member companies and public safety stakeholders, will enable dispatchable location in accordance with the FCC’s aggressive timelines.”

The FCC Wireless Bureau released a pleading cycle Friday on a complicated deal unveiled in August, in which Sprint affiliate Shentel would acquire Sprint wholesale partner nTelos Wireless and spin off some of its assets back to Sprint (see 1508100063). “The Applicants assert that the proposed transaction will promote competition and improve service for rural customers,” the bureau said. Applicants claim that post-transaction “Shentel would upgrade the remainder of NTELOS’s current network to Sprint’s enhanced LTE architecture,” the bureau said. They also said "Shentel would invest approximately $350 million and deploy approximately 150 additional cell sites to expand coverage in the NTELOS service area.” Sprint would get an additional 135 MHz of spectrum in 153 counties in parts of Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, the bureau said. Petitions to deny are due Nov. 30, oppositions Dec. 10 and replies Dec. 17, an agency notice said.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Friday rejected one of the few remaining challenges to the FCC's 2004 800 MHz rebanding order, a challenge by James Kay. The court issued an order rejecting Kay’s claims, saying he lacked legal standing. The FCC earlier urged the court to rule as it did. Kay held two 800 MHz licenses, revoked by the FCC in 2002, and his only other connection is that he claims to be the sole owner of Third District Enterprises, which holds licenses in Southern California that must still be relocated, the FCC told the court in a March pleading (see 1503100051). “It is hornbook corporate law that a corporation, whether large, closely held, or solely owned, is a separate juridical entity from its shareholders,” the court said. “As a result, a shareholder cannot bring a personal suit in his own name to vindicate the rights of that separate legal entity except under limited exceptions. … The fact that Third District is a limited liability company, rather than a traditional corporation, does not change this analysis. ” Kay has made no argument and it can find no evidence that Kay qualifies for an exception to the rule, the court said.

American Tower rescheduled its Q3 earnings conference call after a "significant outage" of the conference call provider prohibited the event from taking place Thursday, it said in a news release. American Tower moved the call to 8:30 a.m. Friday.

Samsung is billing the Galaxy View, its 18.4-inch Android tablet due Nov. 6 at $599, as “home entertainment reimagined” because it’s designed to be carried from room to room within the home, the company said in a Thursday announcement. The 1080p tablet has Wi-Fi and optional LTE connectivity, making it easy “to enjoy the latest entertainment from anywhere with no cords, extra equipment or cable connections,” the company said. It has a “grab-and-go” handle for better portability throughout the home, and its battery provides eight hours of power on a single charge, it said.

Sony sold 6.7 million smartphones in Q2 ended Sept. 30, a 32 percent decrease from the year-earlier quarter, the company said Thursday. The company left unchanged its July forecast that it will sell 27 million smartphones this fiscal year, which would be a 31 percent decline from the 39.1 million units it shipped a year earlier. Sony attributed the "significant" decline in smartphone unit sales to "a strategic decision not to pursue scale in order to improve profitability."

Medtronic officials asked the FCC to move forward on new rules that would make medical device manufacturers eligible for medical testing experimental licenses, one of the areas examined in a July Further NPRM (see 1507080050). Medtronic emphasized that the current rules also “preclude operation in the MedRadio band of 401-406 MHz thereby preventing medical device companies from conducting research under a program experimental license on new devices that would operate in the band.” The FCC should move forward with revised rules “so that the promise of the Program Experimental License rules may come to fruition,” the company said. The filing was made in docket 10-236.

Smartphone shipments in Q3 came in under forecast, due to an iPhone miss and pricey Android models, an IDC report said. Vendors shipped 355.2 million units in Q3, said the preliminary report. Shipments grew 6.8 percent from a year ago to 355.2 million, for the second-highest quarter of shipments on record, IDC said. The 3Q shipments were “slightly below” IDC's previous forecast of 363.8 million units, largely due to “slightly lower than expected iPhone shipments” and flagship Android launches from several top-tier original equipment makers with price points “outside the consumer sweet spot,” it said Wednesday. Apple’s 48 million iPhone shipments (see 1510280033) were short of IDC’s 50.4 million unit forecast, analyst Ryan Reith told us. Consumers are becoming more aware of “alternative buying options” when buying a smartphone, Reith said. In Q3, vendors tried to “outclass each other in both features and design," leading to "fierce competition" at the high end as companies try to challenge market leaders Samsung and Apple, analyst Anthony Scarsella said. IDC expects the bulk of volume and growth to come from low-end to midrange phones, particularly in emerging markets, he said.

Representatives of Total Call Mobile said a provision proposed in the June FCC Lifeline order (see 1506180029) establishing “a uniform snapshot date" for Lifeline reimbursements is unfair to carriers, in a meeting with FCC officials. The company gave FCC officials data on its own reimbursement history, said a Wednesday filing in docket 11-42, that "illustrates how TCM would lose revenue each month because customers enroll and dis-enroll in the same month, receive devices and service, but are not counted for the purpose of reimbursement. For example, a customer may enroll on April 2 and dis-enroll on April 15 but TCM would not be reimbursed for the cost of providing service to this customer because April reimbursement is calculated based on the number of subscribers on May 1.” The rule would have cost TCM $921,719 in the first nine months of this year, officials said.

AT&T and Verizon will be eligible to bid for incentive auction reserve spectrum in many markets where they now hold less than 45 MHz of low-band spectrum, and that's a point being missed by many investors, Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche said Thursday in a research note. The FCC released information Oct. 15 in a public notice that listed all of the markets in which each of the four major national carriers is reserve eligible (see 1510160065). By Fritzsche’s calculations, AT&T qualifies to bid in 242 markets covering 81.8 million POPs and Verizon in 112 markets covering 58.7 million. Their eligibility overlaps in 69 markets with a population of 19 million POPs, she said. While that means T-Mobile will face off against Verizon or AT&T in many markets, the news isn't all bad for the carrier, she said. T-Mobile already has 700 MHz A-block licenses covering 190 million POPs and recently bought an additional 20 million POPs, she said. T-Mobile will also be helped by Sprint’s absence from the auction and Verizon’s signaling that it may not be that active in the auction, Fritzsche said. She said neither Verizon nor AT&T is reserve eligible in Chicago, the biggest market in which T-Mobile doesn't own 700 MHz spectrum. “In our view, this, in addition to Sprint's absence in the auction, still makes [T-Mobile] well positioned to strategically acquire 600 MHz spectrum in certain markets to augment its existing 700 MHz network,” she said. “But this auction may not be as easy as a cake walk as most think for Team Magenta!”