Americans want to watch TV on their smartphones and tablets, but usually don’t, because the price of data remains too high, Writers Guild of America, West said in comments posted Tuesday in FCC docket 12-268. “Unfortunately, as more spectrum has become available, wireless data has not become appreciably more affordable,” the group said. “The lack of competition in the wireless market allows the dominant carriers to keep prices high and the lack of pro-competitive safeguards has only exacerbated the problem.” One answer is setting aside at least 40 MHz of spectrum in the TV incentive auction, in each market, for competitive carriers, the group said. “Improving the pro-competitive spectrum reserve will promote a more competitive wireless market and help accelerate the growth of the online video market.”

Sprint said the FCC should make changes to the rules for the TV incentive auction, which set aside “reserve” spectrum blocks for carriers that don't already own significant amounts of low-band spectrum. The FCC approved rules for the set-aside at its May 15, 2014, meeting (see 1405160030). The FCC “established a reserve to lessen the likelihood that the two largest providers, with their vast resources, could foreclose their much smaller rivals from obtaining 600 MHz spectrum in the auction to better compete in the downstream mobile broadband market,” Sprint said. “The Commission set the right goal, but its implementation plan could create the very foreclosure risk it intended to prevent.” Sprint proposed that the FCC change its rules to establish the reserve blocks at the start of the forward auction, rather than toward its end, and allow eligible bidders to bid on the blocks from the start of the auction. “The Commission could adopt these two changes quickly, without delaying the auction or extensively revising the proposed auction processes,” Sprint said. “With these modifications, the Commission can help ensure that consumers ultimately benefit from the 600 MHz auction by giving competitive carriers a fair shot at getting the low-band spectrum they need to compete more effectively with the two largest providers.”

CTIA President Meredith Baker wants a new national plan on spectrum for wireless broadband, given that the U.S. is already half way through the administration’s 2010 plan calling for 500 MHz of new spectrum in 10 years, she said at an Accenture broadband conference. “I encourage you to look back at the numbers,” Baker said in her prepared remarks. “They seemed like aggressive estimates. Turns out those estimates simply captured the skyrocketing growth in mobile usage.” Five years ago, the FCC forecast 41 petabytes of monthly data use in the U.S., but the actual amount was 10 percent higher, she said. “By 2012 and 2013, traffic was 25 percent higher than the FCC’s projected growth rates,” Baker said. Wireless industry growth depends on licensed spectrum, Baker said. “When and how we introduce 5G in the United States depends, in part, upon whether we keep our spectrum policy as forward-looking as our industry,” she said. “The question we face is will the U.S. continue to embrace licensed spectrum, the approach that has made us the global leader in 4G.” Baker also said too much emphasis now is on spectrum sharing. Shared spectrum is a “complement” not a “replacement” for licensed spectrum, she said. “Clearing spectrum will never look easy, particularly years before an auction,” she said. “To be fair, it will never be easy. But it can be done and needs to be done if we are to remain the global leader in mobility.”

Rules approved by the FCC in October designed to speed deployment of distributed antenna systems, small cells and other wireless facilities (see 1410170048) are now fully in effect, the agency said Tuesday in a notice. Provisions that required approval by the Office of Management and Budget were approved by OMB May 5, the agency said. The order "updates and tailors the manner in which the FCC evaluates the impact of proposed deployments on the environment and historic properties," said an Oct. 17 FCC news release. "It also adopts rules to clarify and implement statutory limitations on State and local government authority to review infrastructure siting applications -- including a 'deemed granted' remedy if a State or local government fails to act on an eligible facilities modification request under Section 6409(a) of the Spectrum Act. Finally, it adopts an exemption from the environmental public notification process for ‘temporary towers’ that are in place only for short periods of time."

The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions and 4G Americas signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at “alignment of the organizations' common technological and policy efforts in the field of mobile broadband communication,” they said Tuesday in a news release. The MOU lays out the terms for “knowledge-sharing and exploring opportunities” so they can work together on topics important to the wireless industry, the groups said. Areas of common interest include the move to 5G, emergency alerting, text to 911, preventing mobile device theft and “network functions virtualization/software-defined networking,” the two said. "Our alignment with 4G Americas will increase the momentum to advance the network toward its 5G future, help identify smartphones reported stolen, accelerate the delivery of critical emergency communications and more,” said ATIS President Susan Miller. "As the mobile broadband industry progresses at a rapid pace toward 5G … it is becoming increasingly important to cooperate with other major associations regarding critical common areas of interest to ensure there is no technical fragmentation,” said Chris Pearson, president of 4G Americas.

Nearly four in every 10 smartphone users tap into social media while driving, almost three in 10 surf the net, and one in 10 video chat, shows new research from AT&T, the company said in a news release on Tuesday. Seven in 10 people engage in smartphone activities while driving, but texting and emailing are still the most prevalent, it said. Among social platforms, Facebook tops the list, with more than a quarter of those polled using the app while driving and about one-in-seven said they're on Twitter behind the wheel, the study showed. With those findings, AT&T is expanding the "It Can Wait" campaign from a focus on texting while driving to include other smartphone driving distractions, the release said. The research found that 62 percent of drivers keep their smartphones within easy reach while driving. It also said 30 percent of people who post to Twitter while driving do it "all the time" and 22 percent of those who access social networks cite addiction as a reason. Of those who shoot videos behind the wheel, 27 percent think they can do it safely while driving, the study showed. The study was commissioned by AT&T and done by Braun Research. The firm polled 2,067 people in the U.S. aged 16-65 who use their smartphone and drive at least once a day, AT&T said.

Sprint is expanding its "Direct 2 You" service, offering hand-delivery of devices to customers in the Kansas City market, Miami and Chicago starting June 1, Sprint said Monday in a news release. Sprint has been sending out technicians in bright black and yellow cars to customers who upgrade their service in the three cities and is expanding the service to customers who want to switch to the nation’s third largest wireless carrier. “Customers have told us that they want to be served in the comfort of their own homes or at a location convenient for them,” said Sprint Vice President Rod Millar. “Sprint Direct 2 You Xperts have a passion for people and technology, and our customers appreciate the extra attention.” A subscriber or potential subscriber need only call an 800 number, the carrier said. “At the appointed time, an Xpert meets the customer at his or her convenience, sets up the new phone and transfers all content, including contacts, pictures, games and apps,” Sprint said. Sprint has been fighting to remain the largest carrier behind Verizon and AT&T, as rival T-Mobile continues its aggressive growth. The service will roll out in more cities as well, starting with New York City, San Francisco and Denver in early June, Sprint said.

The FCC should codify that its rules allow transmission of GPS information over general mobile radio service (GMRS) frequencies, Garmin said in a filing posted Friday in docket 10-119, reporting on a meeting between the company and FCC officials. Under a waiver, Garmin has sold more than 600,000 GPS-enabled devices that operate on GMRS frequencies “and no interference has been reported,” Garmin said. It said family radio service (FRS) devices are popular with public safety personnel and the public. “The record is devoid of any evidence that indicates FRS/GMRS combination radios cause interference to GMRS or other services,” Garmin said. “If the Commission has eligibility concerns related to alien or other ownership issues involving particular services, the FCC should address that problem by service-specific rules, rather than prohibiting FRS/GMRS combination radios.”

The FCC should reject a proposed incentive auction rule that would prevent a bidder from reducing the quantity of blocks it demands in a category if the reduction will result in aggregate demand falling below the available supply of licenses in the category, said AT&T. Its filing includes a paper written by Yale economics professor Philip Haile. He called the provision a no-excess supply (NES) restriction. “For many bidders, licenses are complementary, which means that their per-license valuations are higher for pairs of licenses than for a single license,” the paper said. The NES restriction “makes it dangerous for a bidder to risk bidding any price above” its lower single-license valuation, he wrote. Doing so creates “substantial risk of being forced to choose between two money-losing options: (1) purchase a single license at a price exceeding its standalone value; or (2) buy the pair of licenses at a total price exceeding their value.” Because of the risk, bidders may bid more conservatively and drop their bids earlier, he said. A second paper by Haile opposes a U.S. Cellular proposal for using a point system to determine which licenses in the 600 MHz band a bidder will be assigned after the TV incentive auction (see 1504240023). U.S. Cellular’s proposal to give each bidder the same number of points in each market “would give a systematic and unwarranted advantage to bidders that have fewer feasible allocations,” Haile wrote in the second filing, which also is in docket 12-268. The carrier’s alternative proposal, in which bidders would “score” their preferences in each market, “would systematically disadvantage bidders seeking to build larger (e.g., 10x10 MHz) blocks of spectrum, and such a system also would not provide enough information about the intensity of bidders’ preferences,” Haile said.

While a filing by AT&T and small carriers last week on FCC designated entity rules made some constructive suggestions (see 1505110048), the FCC still should use the program to encourage new market entrants to bid for spectrum, Public Knowledge said in a filing posted Monday in docket 12-268. “For example, if Apple wanted to offer wireless service over exclusive licensed spectrum with its new ‘Apple Watch,’ or Intel wanted to offer a unique private network for IoT devices, it would need to rely entirely on the networks and spectrum held by others,” PK said. Buying spectrum to launch a new network would cost billions of dollars, the group said. “While giant companies might be able to afford such expenditures, it is not rational to expect them to do so -- or even plan to do so in the current environment.” PK said it makes sense to encourage smaller carriers to also buy spectrum. “These providers need an expanded bidding credit so that they may acquire the necessary spectrum to continue to serve their customer base, and to hopefully grow regionally,” PK said.