The FCC’s 2012 order implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) could be read as exempting Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-related calls from a requirement of prior consent by those receiving the calls, Rite Aid said in comments posted Tuesday in docket 02-278. Given confusion about the order, the commission should retroactively grant Rite Aid and other parties facing TCPA-related lawsuits an exemption from any prior express consent requirement for related calls to wireless numbers, the company said. If the commission doesn't agree that all HIPAA calls are exempted from the prior consent requirement, Rite Aid supported the more limited exemption sought by the American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management (see 1501140045) for autodialed and prerecorded voice calls and messages to wireless telephone numbers. The company backed AAHAM’s petition asking the commission to confirm that “’providing a telephone number to a healthcare provider demonstrates ‘prior express consent’ for healthcare calls to that number on behalf of the healthcare provider.”

The FCC should make sure the U.S. plays a leadership role in global efforts to promote international harmonization of frequency bands to be used for 5G, Samsung said. The company filed comments in docket 14-177 in response to a notice on inquiry on the future of spectrum above 24 GHz (see 1501160037). Some bands, including 28, 39 and 37/42 GHz, should be targeted for licensed use and 5G, Samsung said. “Samsung’s vision for 5G is a global vision, and Samsung believes that a global effort will be necessary for 5G services to reach their full potential,” the company said. “In a 5G world, international harmonization will be more important than ever before, and Samsung asks the Commission to take a leadership role in promoting international harmonization for 5G.” CEA said the spectrum could play a big role in mobile broadband, but reminded the FCC that it will also be used for other purposes. “CEA members have deployed parking assistance, blind spot detection, collision avoidance, and automatic cruise control using radar in the 28 GHz/79 GHz bands,” CEA said. “The mmW bands at 24 GHz, 28 GHz, 39 GHz and 70-80- 90 GHz are being used to provide important backhaul, satellite, and other point-to-multipoint services that should not be foreclosed under new rules.”

The Competitive Carriers Association filed a document proposing alternate rules for smaller carriers for indoor wireless location accuracy, taking into account the differences between smaller carriers and the four national carriers, which signed on to a proposed industry road map (see 1411190064). CCA proposes an alternative to the proposed test bed, which is supposed to evaluate possible location solutions. The “vast majority” of CCA carrier members don’t hold spectrum licenses or other authorizations in markets where the test bed will be located, CCA said. “The Parallel Path fosters opportunities for non-nationwide carriers to nonetheless take advantage of the test bed process.” CCA also proposed that smaller carriers be given additional time to meet various benchmarks, since they're not deploying LTE and VoLTE as quickly as the big companies. “Smaller providers also have trouble getting access to cutting edge devices that include advanced features, such as the A-GNSS capability contemplated by the Roadmap,” the association said in docket 07-114. “Subscribers in rural areas, who have fewer choices in available devices as compared to subscribers in metro areas, are less prone to upgrade their devices -- compounding this problem.”

Virgin Mobile was to begin offering no-contract data-sharing plans Saturday starting at $30 per line, available exclusively at Walmart. The data-sharing plans are “some of the most aggressive shared-line plans ever launched,” Angela Rittgers, Sprint Prepaid vice president, said. Four 4G LTE smartphones are part of the plan initially -- the HTC Desire 510 ($99), LG Tribute ($79), LG Volt ($149) and Samsung Galaxy Core Prime ($129) -- and the phones are preloaded with an app that enables customers to manage data sharing from the device, Virgin Mobile said. Every multiline plan will also come with a free Mobile Hotspot feature, the carrier said. Data buy-up options start at $10 per month for 1 GB, it said. A $20 starter kit is required to activate each new line of service and includes two months of unlimited music streaming without counting against the customer’s data allotment, Virgin Mobile said, and for $5 per month subscribers can get unlimited use of social media and music streaming apps, including Facebook, Instagram, Pandora and Twitter, without counting against the monthly data allotment. The plan will be available on more devices at the end of February, it said.

The FCC granted Allcomm Wireless’ application for 20 different call signs, in a Wireless Bureau public notice Friday, completing its review of Auction 95. Allcomm filed the application Aug. 23, 2013. After a review of several long-form applications, the bureau said it received the required payment and Allcomm’s application for lower and upper paging band spectrum was complete. Allcomm was one of the highest bidders in Auction 95. Allcomm didn't have an immediate comment.

Expedia is giving a free HTC smartphone to customers who sign up for a new or two-year activation with “select service plans” on the Sprint and Verizon networks, Expedia said. Customers can earn triple reward points in Expedia's loyalty program when they use the Expedia smartphone app to book flights and hotels, it said.

Most Americans, 78 percent, view wireless as different from wired broadband service and warranting a different approach in regulations like net neutrality, said a Mobile Wireless Service Survey released Friday by CTIA. Among other results, 73 percent of respondents said the government should be less involved in the evolution of mobile broadband and Internet networks and 64 percent said carriers should be allowed to manage and optimize network traffic, CTIA said. Results were based on 1,280 interviews, half over cellphones and half over landline phones.

The FCC reminded nationwide wireless carriers they must publicly indicate by March 2 their status on whether they consent to the use of each consumer signal booster that has received agency certification. “This obligation is intended to "provide the Commission with valuable information regarding providers’ treatment of Consumer Signal Boosters, including the level of consumer access,” the FCC said in a Thursday public notice. “This information will inform our decision whether it is necessary to revisit our Consumer Signal Booster authorization mechanism.”

Petitions the FCC is considering to grant exemptions on Telephone Consumer Protection Act regulations affecting automated dialing calls to cellphones (see 1501140045) would “open the floodgates for ‘wrong number’ calls to cell phones,” said 80 groups, including Free Press, the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the National Association for State Utility Consumer Advocates and Public Knowledge, in a letter to the agency Thursday. “This would not only be an improper interpretation of the TCPA, but it would gut essential privacy rights of cell phone users,” the groups said.

Mobile Future encouraged the FCC to look at spectrum bands above 24 GHz, in comments the group filed Thursday reacting to a notice of inquiry (see 1410170048). But Mobile Future also said the pursuit of high-band spectrum shouldn’t “delay or supersede” efforts to make other spectrum available for commercial use. “Clearing and reallocating low- and mid-band spectrum for exclusive licensed use by commercial operators continues to hold the most promise for the continued innovation, investment, and deployment of mobile broadband networks,” Mobile Future said.