M2M Spectrum Networks petitioned the FCC to initiate a rulemaking on allowing licensees of 900 MHz business/industrial land transportation (B/ILT) pool channels to serve other business clients without a waiver. “This rule is necessary to effectuate the flexibility to provide third-party services that the Commission meant to introduce to the band in 2004, but also husband that flexibility to serve the needs of businesses,” M2M said. The company warned there's a “cottage industry of licensees getting away with disregard for the current rule’s limitation by making inadequate disclosures or simply by pretending it does not exist.” The rule change would recognize how many companies really use the B/ILT channels, M2M said. “Many 900 MHz B/ILT licensees appear to provide for-profit service to third parties from the start despite never requesting authority to do so in an assignment or modification application and never requesting a waiver.” M2M said its parent Spectrum Networks Group identified 19 licensees that “do not appear to use, or intend to use, their B/ILT licenses for private internal communications.”

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court’s dismissal of a class-action antitrust complaint against Apple and remanded the case to the lower court for further proceedings. Several plaintiffs sued Apple in U.S. District Court in San Francisco soon after it launched the iPhone in June 200, alleging Apple installed “software locks” on each iPhone it sold to “enforce” its five-year exclusivity agreement, said Monday's 9th Circuit opinion. The locks prevented AT&T’s iPhone customers from switching to wireless carriers that competed with AT&T, and the plaintiffs alleged that the five-year exclusivity agreement enabled the carrier to charge “supra-competitive prices for wireless services,” the opinion said. The court dismissed the complaint for failure to name AT&T as a defendant. In reversing the dismissal, the lower court “abused its discretion” in finding that AT&T was a “necessary party” in the complaint, the opinion said. The lower court also failed to identify AT&T’s “interests in this action, or address how those interests, if any, might be impaired if this action were resolved in its absence,” the opinion said. Representatives of Apple, AT&T and the plaintiffs didn’t comment Tuesday.

AT&T Wireless announced a pair of two-day promotions Monday, ending the next day. Customers can receive a $200 bill credit when they buy a smartphone on the carrier’s Next plan and activate a new line. Also, customers buying a new iPhone 6 -- and who switch to AT&T or add a new line -- can get a 16 GB iPad mini 2 for $149, along with a $200 bill credit, it said. The iPad requires a two-year cellular contract, it said.

Sprint said its new Direct 2 You service, in which a Sprint expert can provide on-site wireless sales, consultations and customer service, is available in 28 municipalities in the Denver, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco metropolitan areas. Direct 2 You, which is available to any new or current Sprint customer, allows experts to “meet customers where it is convenient for them, bringing them expert attention when and where they need it,” said Sprint Vice President-Northeast Karen Paletta in a news release. The Direct 2 You service will expand into the Dallas, Detroit, Tampa and Washington areas in early July, and is expected to continue expanding into additional markets through the rest of 2015, Sprint said.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau sought comment on a request by the city and county of Denver, which asked for a waiver to use 800 MHz business/industrial/land transportation (B/ILT) channels to address deficiencies in its 800 MHz simulcast system. “We seek comment from any parties who would be impacted by Denver’s use of these frequencies,” the bureau said. “Although a request for waiver of the freeze on inter-category sharing was not requested, it is implicit when seeking B/ILT channels.” Denver Public Schools is licensed to operate on the channels and agreed to the request, the bureau said. “Denver claims that it has no alternative but to use the proposed B/ILT channels,” the bureau said. “In support of that assertion, Denver provides a frequency search showing that there are no public safety channels available for its proposed use.” Comments are due July 26, replies Aug. 10.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau approved a waiver allowing New Mexico to build out its public safety network using 700 MHz state channels under call sign WPTZ778, despite missing a filing deadline. FCC rules require states to certify by June 13, 2014, that they were providing or were prepared to provide substantial service to one-third of their population or territory. “New Mexico claims it missed the filing deadline because of a ‘management gap’ created by the departure of an employee responsible for managing call sign WPTZ778,” the bureau said Monday. “New Mexico also states that it is aggressively working to formulate a state-wide land mobile radio modernization plan in which the 700 MHz public safety band will play a key role.” The bureau said because the state now has the required equipment and is prepared to install it, granting a waiver “would not frustrate the underlying purpose of the rule.”

Developers for the smartphone app Prized agreed to settle allegations with the FTC and New Jersey attorney general Monday. The agency and AG alleged the app makers violated the FTC Act and the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act by luring consumers into downloading the “rewards” app because it was free of malware, “when the app’s main purpose was actually to load the consumers’ mobile phones with malicious software to mine virtual currencies for the developer,” said a commission news release. Defendants Equiliv Investments and CEO Ryan Ramminger are permanently banned from creating and distributing malicious software, it said. The settlement also includes a $50,000 judgment payable to New Jersey, it said. “Hijacking consumers’ mobile devices with malware to mine virtual currency isn’t just deplorable; it’s also illegal,” said FTC Consumer Protection Bureau Director Jessica Rich. The Prized app became available in February 2014 in the Amazon App Store, Google Play Store and others, the release said. “Thousands of consumers downloaded the app believing they could earn points for playing games or downloading affiliated apps and then spend those points on rewards such as clothes, gift cards and other items,” it said. “What consumers got instead, according to the complaint, was an app that contained malware that took control of the device’s computing resources to ‘mine’ for virtual currencies" like Dogecoin, Litecoin and QuarkCoin, it said. “Virtual currencies are created by solving complex mathematical equations, and the complaint alleges that the app attempted to harness the power of many users’ devices to solve the equations more quickly, thus generating virtual currency for the defendants,” the release said. “Consumers downloaded this app thinking that at the very worst it would not be as useful or entertaining as advertised,” said Acting New Jersey Attorney General John Hoffman. “Instead, the app allegedly turned out to be a Trojan horse for intrusive, invasive malware that was potentially damaging to expensive smartphones and other mobile devices.” Equiliv and Ramminger couldn't be reached for comment. To avoid downloading malware on a phone, FTC Consumer Education Specialist Nicole Fleming recommended in a blog post Monday reading app reviews, researching a developer and reviewing permission an app requires. “If your phone seems to be running slowly, heating up, or losing battery power quickly, check your settings to see which apps are using your data and battery power,” Fleming said. “If you have apps that are using unreasonable amounts of data and power, consider removing them.”

FirstNet is researching and analyzing different indoor location technologies, acting Chief Technology Officer Jeff Bratcher said Monday in a blog post. Vertical location identification, the height of a caller above or below ground level, is critical for first responders, Bratcher said. “When public safety personnel are responding to incidents in dense urban environments, the ability of incident commanders to track firefighters as they ascend in a tall building or law enforcement in below-ground subway systems would be extremely helpful to response operations.” Working at FirstNet's technical headquarters in Boulder, Colorado, researchers are looking at the use of barometric or atmospheric air-pressure sensors, terrestrial location service beacons, GPS and other satellite systems and other ways of measuring height, he said.

Google agreed to partner with the Federal Railroad Administration to use federal mapping data to help people pinpoint the location of railroad crossings using a smartphone app, the FRA confirmed Monday. “Adding railroad crossing data to smartphone mapping applications just makes sense -- it means supplying drivers and passengers with additional cues that they are approaching a crossing,” the FRA said in a news release. “For drivers and passengers who are driving an unfamiliar route, traveling at night, or who lose situational awareness at any given moment, receiving an additional alert about an upcoming crossing could save lives.”

The FCC Public Safety Bureau ordered the Arizona Public Service to “show cause” why APS shouldn't be held to have acted in bad faith in refusing to conclude a frequency reconfiguration agreement (FRA) with Sprint on 800 MHz rebanding. In March, the bureau said APS was entitled to less than half of the reimbursement it sought from Sprint to retool its 800 MHz radios (see 1503100041). APS subsequently sought a stay of the order and FCC reconsideration, and both requests were denied, the bureau said Monday. After discussions between the two broke down, Sprint presented APS with an FRA consistent with the March order, the bureau said. But APS “has refused to execute the FRA provided by Sprint, contending that it should not be required to commence the retuning of subscriber equipment until notified that all of its replacement frequencies are or soon will be ‘clear,' i.e., free of frequency conflicts with other U.S. stations and stations in Mexico,” the bureau said. The FCC 2004 800 MHz rebanding order “places a strict obligation on all parties to rebanding, i.e., they must at all times act in utmost good faith,” the bureau said. “Failure to do so can result in a licensee’s facilities being relegated to secondary status, whereby they must not interfere with other licensees and must accept interference from other licensees without recourse. A licensee that does not operate in good faith can also be required to pay its own reconfiguration costs.” APS had no immediate comment.