The Small Cell Forum and 4G Americas agreed to collaborate on work programs for small cells and 5G communication systems and networks, the groups said Monday. “The agreement formalizes the exchange of information between the two organizations which may include joint publications, meetings, workshops and a broad range of industry outreach,” they said in a news release. “Sharing the insights and information of both memberships will limit duplication and could accelerate the rollout of 5G networks and services at a pivotal time for mobile broadband.” Sue Monahan, CEO of the Small Cell Forum, said the agreement is “a major step forward in ensuring a quicker, clearer path to 5G deployment.”

FCC equipment authorization and certification rules, on which the agency sought comment last month (see 1507210072), are vital to a smoothly functioning wireless industry, said wireless lawyer Mitchell Lazarus of Fletcher Heald on the law firm's blog Monday. “The program is essential to harmony in the radio spectrum,” Lazarus wrote. “Take your cell phone, for example. It transmits on frequencies set aside for your cell carrier. But suppose a particular model of cell phone has a design defect that causes it also to transmit on, say, the frequencies used by public safety responders. A police officer trying to summon an ambulance could find his two-way radio overpowered by nearby cell phones.” FCC's detailed technical rules are designed to “to prevent this kind of thing,” he said. Lazarus said the comment period is compressed -- with initial comments due 30 days after the notice is published in the Federal Register and replies 15 days after that. “For an NPRM of this scope and complexity, the comment periods are brutally short,” he said.

Sprint announced major changes to its leadership Monday, after the close of the U.S. financial markets. Günther Ottendorfer is joining the company as chief operating officer, from Telekom Austria Group. Sprint Chief Network Officer John Saw is being promoted to chief technology officer, reporting to Ottendorfer, Sprint said. Tarek Robbiati was named chief financial officer, replacing Joseph Euteneuer, who is leaving the company, Sprint said. Robbiati is former deputy CFO at Australian telecom Telstra.

The FCC will likely release an NPRM later this year as it continues its examination of how new developments in technology could increase the viability of operations in bands above 24 GHz, Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a blog post Monday. The FCC approved a notice of inquiry on the topic in October (see 1410170048). “The NPRM will focus on developing a flexible regulatory framework that will allow maximum use of higher-frequency bands by a wide variety of providers, whether the service they provide is mobile, fixed, or satellite,” Wheeler wrote. “I anticipate that we will explore a range of regulatory strategies depending on the specifics of each proposed higher-frequency band, including licensed, unlicensed, and hybrid shared models.” Wheeler also predicted that lower-frequency bands will play a role in 5G. “For example, the timing of the incentive auction makes the 600 MHz band a prime candidate for deployment of a wide-area 5G coverage layer,” he said. “In much the same way that 700 MHz paved the way for America's world-leading deployment of 4G, so could 600 MHz accelerate U.S. deployment of 5G.” Wheeler also said the FCC will look at bilateral sharing of spectrum. The Department of Defense in particular has advocated rules under which government agencies also could share underutilized commercial bands (see 1503190041). "In addition, we will encourage and support other agencies' efforts to fund research on 5G and will encourage building cybersecurity protections for new 5G networks from the start," he said.

The use of first responder and public safety LTE is expected to surge in the next five years, with a projected market size of $5.1 billion and 11 million user subscriptions worldwide by 2020, a new study from ABI Research said. The research forecasts that by 2017, the U.S., the U.K. and South Korea will be the first three markets with a fully functional public safety LTE network, but after 2017 emerging markets in the Middle East and parts of Asia-Pacific will become the primary industry growth drivers.

The Finance Committee of the FirstNet board plans a special meeting, via teleconference, Wednesday, starting at 3 p.m., FirstNet said. The meeting is to review and consider the fiscal year 2016 budget for FirstNet, a spokesman said Friday. Meanwhile, James Mitchell, FirstNet senior program manager-operations, said Friday staff is reading and getting set to analyze inputs to the authority’s special notice and draft request for proposals. “The team has begun analyzing the thousands of pages we received to help us move forward on some key decisions to be made in the acquisition process,” Mitchell wrote. “We are encouraged by the volume of the responses and thoughtful feedback.”

Policymakers in Washington are in growing agreement that the U.S. needs to identify at least 350 MHz of new spectrum for wireless broadband, said CTIA Executive Vice President Brad Gillen Friday in a blog post. “Here’s why this consensus on spectrum policy is so important,” he wrote. “Mobile data traffic grew more than 35-fold from 2009 to 2014, and today the average user consumes 1.8 gigabits of data each month. By 2019, mobile data traffic is projected to be six times the amount flowing as of last year. Infrastructure deployments and efficient spectrum use alone cannot keep up with the rapidly growing demand for 4G connectivity, let alone foster the next generation of 5G technologies.”

The FCC’s revised wireless location accuracy rules are set to take effect Monday, said a notice set for publication in the Federal Register that day. In January, the FCC voted 5-0 to approve rules requiring carriers to provide data to 911 call centers on wireless calls made indoors (see 1501290066). The order was the FCC’s first major update of the rules since 2010. Within two years, carriers have to be able to provide a location within 50 meters of a call for 40 percent of callers. Within six years, carriers are required to be able to meet the 50-meter requirement for 80 percent of all wireless calls. The notice says the Office of Management and Budget approved the information collection requirements of the rules July 20, allowing them to take effect.

The FCC should reject T-Mobile’s latest proposal for a revised reserve spectrum trigger for the TV incentive auction, AT&T said in a filing in docket 12-268. The trigger “would likely result in triggering the reserve auction before the auction’s costs are covered, and effectively cap the price of reserve spectrum in the top 40 markets at $2.00 per MHz/pop,” AT&T said. “T-Mobile’s new idea is a potential auction killer, effectively capping the price of up to 40 percent of the spectrum in the auction before the auctions’ [sic] revenue requirement is even met.” But the Competitive Carriers Association, in a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, asked the FCC to rethink the trigger, a filing by the group said. "CCA and its members explained that the proposed spectrum-reserve trigger presents an unacceptable risk to the success of the auction and the future of wireless competition," CCA said. The FCC's proposal to tie the reserve trigger to the final stage rule for the auction "will allow the nation’s dominant carriers to game the Commission’s bidding system, effectively negating the competitive benefits of the reserve."

Sprint will begin offering a new family plan Friday, a company news release said Wednesday evening. The Family Share Pack, which costs $100 per month, includes unlimited talk and text on four lines and 10 GB of data, said the release. Families may opt for 40 GB of data for an additional $20 per month, Sprint said.