The FCC released a pleading cycle on a proposed deal in which T-Mobile and Verizon would trade various AWS-1 and PCS licenses as they balance their spectrum portfolios. The licenses involved cover 92 counties in all or parts of 41 cellular market areas, the FCC said Tuesday. “The Applicants indicate that the intra-market exchanges involve equal amounts of spectrum such that neither Applicant would increase its spectrum holdings in the particular market,” the FCC said. “The Applicants further assert that the inter-market exchanges, which would increase spectrum holdings in particular markets, would add capacity and improve data throughput speeds.” Petitions to deny are due Jan. 5; oppositions, Jan. 15; and replies, Jan. 23. The FCC also sought comment Tuesday on the proposed sale of a single 700 MHz A-block license in West Virginia from McBride Spectrum Partners to Hardy Cellular, a subsidiary of U.S. Cellular. Petitions to deny are due Jan. 20; oppositions, Jan. 30; and replies, Feb. 6.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau extended the comment period for a next-generation 911 location accuracy plan. Comments now are due Dec. 15, replies Dec. 24, the bureau said Tuesday in an order, instead of the original Dec. 10 for comments, Dec. 17 for replies (see 1411200043). The plan was developed by the four largest wireless carriers, the APCO and the National Emergency Number Association (see 1411190064). The bureau is granting a limited extension to give small rural carriers and others additional time to respond to the technical and timeline aspects of the road map, it said.

Extreme Networks will offer Wi-Fi connectivity to IMG-affiliated universities. IMG selected Extreme Networks to help provide a network infrastructure "that is consistent with networking solutions recently implemented for professional sports' teams and their stadiums," Extreme said in a news release. Extreme's Wi-Fi networks will be deployed to enable thousands of fans to access networks from their seats and common areas of sports facilities, it said. Its system is designed to support high-density requirements, like support of in-venue mobile application delivery, Extreme said.

Qualcomm Life, a subsidiary of Qualcomm, joined vitaphone e-health solutions to power high-tech, "high-touch" telehealth and remote monitoring services. The companies will integrate their management solutions and platforms "to enable seamless biometric data capture from medical devices and coordinated team-based care in a high-tech, high-touch service model," Qualcomm said Monday in a news release. This integration will allow vitaphone to launch chronic disease management programs with blood pressure monitors, weight scales and other equipment, it said.

The U.S. market for drones will reach $15 billion in 2020, said an Information Gatekeepers study released Monday. That’s compared with $5 billion in 2013, it said. Commercial applications for drones include agriculture, real estate and electrical utilities. The drone market is expected to have “significant growth” in 2015 after the Federal Aviation Administration rules on drone access for national airspace, it said.

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) raised objections to an application by Recco, which sought a waiver of FCC rules permitting the equipment authorization and licensing of Recco’s avalanche rescue system using spectrum at 902.85 MHz (see 1410140175). ARRL, which represents amateur radio operators, questioned Recco claims that device does not pose an interference risk. ARRL said its members make frequent use of the same spectrum. “ARRL is supportive of the use of the technology similar to that advocated by RECCO, provided that the system is compatible with incumbent licensed uses of the band,” the group said in a filing in docket 14-176. “However, there are questions relative to compatibility that are left unanswered by the RECCO Petition, and ARRL has concerns about the RECCO Petition that call for resolution before the Commission should grant a permanent waiver to RECCO.”

CTIA stood by its claim that extending the local number portability administrator contract beyond the June 2015 expiration date would cost $40 million per month, in a letter sent to the FCC and posted on the group’s webpage Monday. Neustar had asserted the claim was “wrong on its face" (see 1412030046), but “provides no explanation for disputing the accuracy of the calculation,” CTIA said. CTIA urged the commission to confirm Telcordia as the LNPA by the end of this year. CTIA's claim "ignores the undisputed fact that the alternative to the monthly cost of extending the contract is not an expenditure of $0 per month," a Neustar spokeswoman replied in an email. "Neustar has demonstrated that the expected costs of transition -- $60 million per month in the first year alone -- dwarf the annual difference between the proposals.”

Representatives of CTIA and the four major, national wireless carriers met with FCC staff last week to update the commission on complicated issues raised by contraband cellphones in prisons, said an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 13-111. “The wireless industry has worked diligently with correctional institutions to put an end to the use of contraband wireless devices in prisons,” the filing said. “Wireless providers have a strong record of cooperating with managed access and cell detection vendors in several states.” CTIA and the carriers also argued that a court order is necessary to suspend service to a contraband device, the filing said. AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon also had numerous representatives at the meeting.

The FCC should approve TracFone’s petition for a rulemaking on whether to allow Lifeline subscribers to show they’re using the program by sending a text, Sprint and the Lifeline Reform 2.0 Coalition said in comments posted Friday in docket 11-42. Lifeline providers can be reimbursed under the program only for subscribers who use the service within the previous 60 days, Sprint said in its comments. While texting is not a Lifeline service, sending a text using a Lifeline-supported wireless phone “demonstrates that the subscriber did not abandon” the service “and is not engaging in waste, fraud or abuse,” Sprint said. The commission should allow Lifeline broadband and data services as proof of usage, as well, said the coalition, which is made up of Blue Jay Wireless, Global Connection of America and Telrite. Failing to recognize text messaging, broadband and data services “impermissibly discriminates against Lifeline subscribers with various disabilities for whom text messaging or certain smartphone applications may be the preferred or only accessible method of communication,” the coalition's comments said. “Such discrimination impermissibly flies in the face of the goals of the Lifeline program and the disabilities access requirements of the Communications Act,” the filing said.

“Common sense should prevail” and Telephone Consumer Protection Act rules shouldn't apply to isolated, immediate, one-time responses to consumer-initiated requests for text offers, a lawyer for the Retail Industry Leaders Association said in a call with Mark Stone, deputy chief of the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. RILA sought clarity on TCPA rules in a 2013 petition. “If a consumer sends a text to an entity requesting particular information, the entity sending a one-time response with the precise information requested by that consumer should not be subject to TCPA liability,” the group said in a filing in docket 02-278, posted by the FCC Friday.