Designated entity (DE) Northstar, managed by Doyon, an Alaska Native corporation, said there's nothing impermissible about its relationship with Dish Network, in a filing at the FCC. Northstar was one of the two designated entities working with Dish in the AWS-3 auction (see 1505190046). Northstar responded to a pleading filed at the FCC by VTel, which is challenging the grant of the licenses to Northstar, which it bought in the auction using bidding credits. “VTel now attempts to suggest that DISH has de facto control of Northstar Wireless” because Northstar Manager can require Northstar to purchase all of the collective interests held by Northstar Manager under various conditions and American AWS-3 Wireless II LLC also has a right of first refusal, Northstar said. “These types of put rights and rights of first refusal are fully consistent with Commission precedent when, as here, the decision of whether to invoke them remains in the hands of the controlling party,” Northstar said. “American II has no ability to force Northstar Manager to exercise its put right or to sell its membership interests in Northstar Spectrum to any third party. Those decisions rest solely with Northstar Manager and Doyon.”

T-Mobile USA Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray sent a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler urging the agency to tweak its rules for the TV incentive auction to set aside in every market at least 40 MHz of reserve spectrum for carriers without a dominant low-band spectrum position in that market. Rules approved by the agency last year set aside 30 MHz. Ray offered national charts showing T-Mobile’s weak low-band spectrum position relative to AT&T and Verizon. “Without a reserve of at least 40 megahertz, AT&T and Verizon will be able to increase their low-band spectrum holdings, entrench their dominant positions in the wireless marketplace, and choke off any threat of competition in the future,” Ray wrote. “Not only are the 'Big Two' the largest in terms of customers, but also they control a disproportionate share of the industry’s revenue and free cash flow. And they have shown that they can and will use their resources to prevent competitors from acquiring needed spectrum.” The letter said that in the AWS-3 auction AT&T and Verizon “foreclosed any meaningful competition from direct competitors by outspending all other facilities-based wireless carriers by more than ten to one.” The filing was posted by the FCC Wednesday in docket 12-269.

AT&T defended its proposed buy of lower 700 MHz band licenses in California from Club 42, in a filing at the FCC. AT&T responded to additional questions posed by the Wireless Bureau last month (see 1505210018). Parts of the response were redacted. “AT&T’s proposed acquisition of the Club 42 Spectrum does not pose any significant risk of anticompetitive effects, nor would it ‘raise rivals’ costs or foreclose competition such that the ability of rival service providers to offer a competitive response to any potential anticompetitive behavior,” AT&T said. Competitors already have “sufficient spectrum assets -- including low-band spectrum” to compete with AT&T, the carrier said. The spectrum buy also won’t allow AT&T to raise its prices for service or prevent competitors from lowering their prices, AT&T argued. “As the Commission has recognized, the competitors in this market price and advertise services at a national level, and therefore the threat of anticompetitive impact from the acquisition of a single spectrum license in a single county is remote at best.” The licenses were offered for sale through a broker, AT&T said. “Accordingly, other carriers were not ‘foreclosed’ but instead had the same opportunity as AT&T to purchase the Club 42 Licenses.” The filing was posted by the FCC Wednesday in docket 14-145.

Qualcomm subsidiary Qualcomm Technologies is collaborating with Allwinner Technology to expand Snapdragon processors into the connected tablet segment. Allwinner will offer system services for OEMs and ODMs creating 4G LTE-enabled tablets with Snapdragon 410 and 210 processors, Qualcomm said. The Android-based processors support seven global mobile networks, LTE-Broadcast content and dual SIM technology, expanded camera functions, including zero shutter lag and high dynamic range, and QuickCharge 2.0 technology, Qualcomm said. Using its established channel of support and services for independent Chinese design houses, Allwinner will help expedite commercial deployment of high-quality, cost-effective 4G LTE-enabled tablets based on the Snapdragon 410 and 210 processors, the companies said.

Representatives of the new SaveWirelessChoice explained the group’s goals in a meeting with Renee Gregory, aide to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, said an ex parte filing posted by the FCC in docket 12-268. “First, we urged the Commission to conduct the incentive auction in early 2016, as planned, to meet burgeoning consumer demand for wireless broadband services,” the coalition said. “Second, we discussed the robust and varied support for increasing the quantity and quality of the spectrum reserve to promote greater broadband competition and increased bidder certainty.” The TV incentive auction is critical to the future of competitive carriers, the group said.

Representatives of TracFone met with Nick Degani, an aide to FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, to discuss testimony the commissioner gave last month before the Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee​ (see 1505120041). TracFone, a low-cost wireless carrier, has emerged as a major player in the Lifeline market. Pai’s “stated concerns about growth in the Lifeline program since 2008 failed to acknowledge the fact that the program had been historically utilized prior to the advent of wireless Lifeline services and that much of the growth in the program merely brought Lifeline participation closer to that of other federal support programs,” TracFone said. “We also discussed the lack of any evidentiary correlation between mandatory minimum charges for Lifeline service and fraudulent enrollment,” the carrier said. The filing was posted in docket 11-42.

The coming 5G cellular networks may rely on telecom cloud computing to meet their full breadth of uses and super-fast data transfers with virtually no latency, said vendor executives in Dallas Tuesday at a Telecommunications Industry Association conference. The link between 5G and the cloud will require carriers and other industries to work closely together, often using open-source software, they said. "We will have to bring a lot more computing power, processing power, to where the demand is" to get to the level of latency and throughput for which 5G is designed, said Pierre Mathys, a director at Red Hat. "It will require time, it will require an industry effort, because let's remember we are talking about the telco cloud, because the benefits are only realized where we are operating in an open context." Nokia Networks' Claudio Frascoli, head of sales-telco analytics, said 5G won't just be for the connected car, but many "use cases" that can't now be predicted. "The only thing we know is that we don't know." He mentioned the potential for surgery, among other real-time 5G applications.

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology extended until Dec. 2 the start of new certification rules for Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure 3 (U-NII-3) radio band devices. The rules include a more stringent out-of-band emissions limit. The FCC mandated that as of Tuesday, digital modulation devices and the digital modulation portion of hybrid devices designed to operate in the U-NII-3 band must meet the new Section 15.407 U-NII-3 rules to be FCC certified. OET noted in the order that several petitions for reconsideration of the rules are before the agency. “While the petitioners have generally alleged that the current state of the technology inhibits the design of affordable products that could comply with the more stringent out-of-band emission limits for the U-NII-3 band, the alternatives they suggested have been wide-ranging and many of the parties could not agree on a single solution that would meet the needs of the varying industry segments,” OET said. In March parties led by the Wireless ISP Association submitted a consensus proposal that would “significantly modify the out-of-band emission limits adopted for the U-NII-3 Band,” OET said. “In light of the recent activity in the docket, we conclude that there is good cause to grant a waiver of the June 2, 2015 U-NII device certification date.”

The Land Mobile Communications Council’s goal is to see more intensive use of the mid-800 MHz band, the group said Tuesday in a news release. The LMCC filed comments at the FCC last week supporting a proposal to introduce new, full-power, interstitial 12.5 kHz “offset” channels in the 809-817/854-862 MHz band (see 1505270015). “The primary goal of the coordination process described by the LMCC is to protect the operations of existing 25 kHz licensees,” LMCC President Greg Kunkle said. “At the same time, there is an opportunity for more intensive use of the adjacent interstitial, 12.5 kHz-wide channels. Although LMCC’s proposal will add complexity to the frequency coordination process, the LMCC welcomes this if it means making available more spectrum, a scarce commodity, while protecting current users.”

Sprint is ready to help customers “stay connected” when hurricanes strike, the carrier said in a news release Monday for the start of hurricane season. The season runs through Nov. 30 and experts predict eight-12 named storms and six Category 3 or higher hurricanes this year, Sprint said. “Communication during and after a storm is vital for our customers,” said Joe Meyer, vice president-Sprint Network Performance.