The U.S. needs to move now to maintain its mobile leadership, said former White House policy adviser Jim Kohlenberger in a blog post. When South Korea hosts the Winter Olympic Games in 2018 it hopes to show off an early 5G network, he wrote. “Japan aims to follow suit when it hosts the 2020 Summer Olympics, with Europe and China hot on their heels in the race for 5G global leadership.” The U.S. needs to keep up and eliminate barriers to deployment while dedicating more spectrum to wireless broadband, he said. “While dominance in the Olympic pool or on the ski slopes comes with bragging rights, U.S. 5G leadership is one race we cannot afford to lose,” Kohlenberger said. “That’s because this isn’t just a race for achieving blazing fast wireless speeds, it’s about who will shape the foundational technologies of the future and drive the new industries that will propel this global transition.” Now a consultant, Kohlenberger is on the advisory board of Mobile Future.

The FCC should ensure that the Connect America Fund Phase II funding mechanism “provides a meaningful role for commercial mobile wireless carriers,” representatives of U.S. Cellular said in a filing posted Monday in docket 10-90 on various meetings with staff of all regular commissioners. “The company expressed a willingness to participate in CAF Phase II and to extend new broadband services into high-cost rural areas that need infrastructure investment.”

That Verizon charges similar or higher data roaming rates to other customers than it has offered NTCH “does not make those rates reasonable,” NTCH said in reply comments in its dispute with Verizon (see 1505080011). Verizon dominates the CDMA roaming market, which “leaves other carriers, including the very largest ones, with little or no negotiating power,” NTCH said. “This allows Verizon to charge everyone exorbitant roaming rates, which it, of course, does.” FCC reliance on market forces to keep rates reasonable “does not prevent it from intervening now that a serious failure of competition renders traditional market forces ineffective,” NTCH said. Regardless of roaming rates, it will always be cheaper for NTCH to build its own facilities in the markets it serves, the company said. “Disincentives to build do not of course apply to the vast majority of the American market where NTCH does not have spectrum rights and therefore must rely on Verizon for CDMA roaming.” The NTCH filing was posted Monday in docket 14-212. Verizon offered its version Oct. 9. Verizon said it has never refused to offer roaming to NTCH and has “acted promptly and in good faith throughout the parties' negotiations.” The rates it has offered the smaller carrier are “well within the range (indeed, near the low end of the range)” of the rates Verizon has offered other carriers and sometimes pays as a result roaming agreements, Verizon said.

Verizon asked the FCC for a waiver like the one granted AT&T 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 (see 1510060026). In the temporary AT&T waiver order, the commission invited “requests from similarly situated providers seeking a similar waiver of the TTY requirements,” Verizon noted in a waiver petition posted Friday in docket 15-178. “The Commission should grant Verizon the same waiver under the rules that it granted to AT&T,” including “the same customer notification, progress reporting, and duration conditions,” the telco said. Verizon said it was developing RTT as an IP-enabled successor to TTY, but it will take time. Verizon also supports a review of rules to facilitate a smooth transition from TTY. AT&T has asked the agency to open a rulemaking.

The FCC released an agenda for its Wednesday webinar on the Part 1 designated entity rules. The FCC said it will cover joint bidding, prohibited communications, the former defaulter rule, eligibility criteria and the cap on bidding credits, among other topics. The webinar starts at 1:30 p.m.

The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment on the transition period during which existing licensees in the 3.5 GHz shared spectrum band will receive protection within their “Grandfathered Wireless Protection Zone.” Comments are to be due 30 days after the notice is published in the Federal Register, replies 15 days after initial comments are due. The bureau is seeking comment on the “procedures for determining compliance with the Commission’s construction and operation requirements for the band” and “an implementation strategy to ensure that an accurate definition of the Grandfathered Wireless Protection Zone is available to the authorized Spectrum Access Systems,” it said Friday. The commission approved an order creating the new Citizens Broadband Radio Service in the 3550-3700 MHz band at its April meeting (see 1504170055).

Allowing the use of 700 MHz reserve channels for deployable trunked systems is beneficial to public safety and will help emergency response communications and interoperability at major incidents or large planned events, the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council said in a blog post Friday. Regional planning committees may now use the channels in their plans for deployable trunked systems outside of T-band areas, NPSTC said. Any public safety T-band incumbent seeking to relocate must be given priority access to the channels, the post said. NPSTC and the National Regional Planning Council earlier this month released a report on recommended technical solutions to implement the new deployable trunked systems. It recommended best practices to enable improved interoperability among public safety entities that implement deployable trunked systems.

While seeking FCC approval of transfer of control to General Motors' current board, OnStar now also is asking for special temporary authority to keep operating the wireless communications that make up its hands-free calling service, it said in an International Bureau filing posted Thursday. GM has blamed the several years lateness on applying for the transfer of control to "administrative oversight" (see 1510190054) and the automaker said in its application Thursday it "is committed to meeting all of its FCC obligations in the future [including] taking steps to ensure that relevant GM personnel are made aware of ... license transfer of control rules so that a similar administrative oversight can be avoided in the future."

The Competitive Carriers Association fully supports efforts to curb special access prices, CCA President Steve Berry said Friday in a blog post. “Competitive carriers face a number of obstacles trying to compete with the largest national carriers, and with the upcoming incentive auction around the corner, carriers are monitoring their resources more closely than ever before,” Berry wrote. “Competitive carriers should not have to face monopoly rents for necessary inputs purchased from competitors. Limited resources are better directed toward providing the most robust service possible to their customers rather than paid to affiliates of the largest wireless carriers.” The FCC already has the information it needs to review the market for these services, Berry said. The agency recently launched an investigation into the special access terms and conditions of AT&T, CenturyLink, Frontier and Verizon in the market for business data services (see 1510160060).

Ruckus Wireless said it bought closely held Cloudpath Networks, a provider of secure Wi-Fi onboarding software. Onboarding offers a simple way for a new device to be brought onto a Wi-Fi network. Ruckus said it will immediately include Cloudpath software with its Smart Wi-Fi portfolio. “Cloudpath has a particularly strong business and reputation in the education market, given the need for schools to easily and securely manage an ever-changing array of users and devices,” Ruckus said in a Thursday news release. “Cloudpath was also first in the industry to support Chromebook devices, helping schools securely integrate that fast-growing platform into their classrooms.”