NTIA envisions the spectrum model city program as a public-private partnership, including federal, state and local governments, carriers and network equipment makers, the technical community and academics, the agency said in a Friday blog post. It followed a two-day workshop by NTIA and the FCC that ended Thursday (see 1504160049). “The Model City initiative will bring this exciting technology out of the labs and remote testing environments to prove its functionality and resiliency in the field with a broad cross-section of users, from local emergency responders to commercial wireless subscribers to federal officials,” NTIA said. “It will demonstrate how the new technology will perform in an actual metropolitan setting with all of its related challenges, such as urban canyons formed by tall buildings that impede propagation of wireless signals and dense populations that place serious constraints on network capacity.”

The FCC Public Safety Bureau extended until Oct. 18 the freeze on filing new nonrebanding related 800 MHz applications in Washington state. The freeze had expired Saturday. The extension is necessary “to preserve vacant channels for licensees re-tuning their systems according to the reconfigured band plan adopted by the Bureau for incumbents operating along the U.S.-Canada border,” the bureau said in a Friday order. Some border region licensees in the state haven't completed system re-tunes, the bureau said. “Accordingly, to preserve currently vacant channels for use by these licensees and avoid potential licensing conflicts that could delay rebanding, we have determined that temporarily extending the freeze … is in the public interest.” The latest development is part of the rebanding of the 800 MHz band required by a 2004 FCC order.

The FCC Wireless Bureau denied a petition for reconsideration by Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center for an 800 MHz expansion band frequency pair, said an order released Monday by the commission. After being denied its initial application for the expansion and subsequent petitions, the commission made the band available in some regions, but not all, the order said. Despite the hospital’s region not being on that list, the order said Wake Forest filed a waiver request, which also was denied. In the petition for reconsideration the hospital said the underlying purpose of the rule wouldn't be served by application to this case because “release of the expected frequencies is expected to be forthcoming” and the use of the frequency channel would serve the public interest, the order said. The FCC said it disagrees because the required level of clearing hasn't been achieved in the region. The order also said granting the waiver request would undermine the commission’s purpose in establishing an orderly procedure that allows all interested applicants a fair opportunity to request expansion band and guard band channels.

The FCC dismissed and denied a 2012 petition for reconsideration filed by NTCH challenging Verizon’s buy of AWS-1 licenses from SpectrumCo and Cox. NTCH had raised concerns about the deal because of the 45 percent ownership of Verizon Wireless then held by the U.K.’s Vodafone, the FCC said. Verizon purchased that ownership interest in February 2014, the order notes. “At the outset, we note that this challenge to the Commission’s order is now moot,” the FCC said Thursday. “Vodafone no longer holds the 45 percent foreign interest in Verizon Wireless that NTCH claims was not properly approved by the Commission. ... As a separate and independent basis for denial, however, we further conclude that NTCH’s argument is without merit.”

The Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee's next meeting is May 12, said a notice to be published Monday in the Federal Register. The meeting is at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Communication Technology Laboratory, in Boulder, starting at 1:30 p.m. MDT.

FCC and NTIA are right to examine a model city program for examining spectrum sharing, but the government’s top priority must be the TV incentive auction, Steve Berry, president of the Competitive Carriers Association, said in a news release. A two-day workshop on the program concluded Thursday (see 1504160049). “We agree that spectrum sharing will be needed down the road as the amount of cleared spectrum diminishes, but right now the FCC must make it a priority to keep the incentive auction moving forward,” Berry said. “Licensed spectrum is the most effective means for ensuring consumers, especially those who [live] in rural and hard-to-reach areas, have access to high speed mobile broadband."

The FCC approved a public notice seeking additional comment on designated entity (DE) rules that would encourage bidding by small market players in FCC auctions, via electronic voting. Chairman Tom Wheeler circulated the PN in March (see 1503240055). The item was stricken from the agenda of the FCC meeting shortly before it began, so there was no discussion at the meeting by commissioners. Questions have been raised about Dish Network’s use of two DEs in the AWS-3 auction to obtain licenses at reduced prices through bidding credits, including on Capitol Hill (see 1503090034). Wheeler told reporters after the meeting the Wireless Bureau is still collecting information on the bids by the DEs. The FCC will seek comment on the long-form applications by the DEs, Wheeler said. The FCC is “in the first stages” of the investigation, he said. “We will make a decision based on the record, based on the facts.” Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., ranking member of the Commerce Committee, said he was pleased the FCC had approved the notice, "taking action to make sure the agency's policies help small businesses not just survive, but compete, thrive, and best serve their consumers." “Soliciting further input on alternative proposals and exploring other issues raised in the record to date will provide a more complete record for us to evaluate and act upon,” the notice said. It also allows commenters to weigh in based on the lessons learned in the AWS-3 auction, the FCC said. “Abuse of the DE program has robbed actual small businesses of the spectrum they need to serve their local communities,” Commissioner Ajit Pai said in a statement accompanying the order. “This taxpayer-funded program is now being used by Fortune 500 companies to disadvantage the very small companies it was intended to help. This must end.” The AWS-3 auction “put a spotlight on the questionable uses of the FCC’s designated entity program,” Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said. “Although the Commission is taking the first steps to consider rule deficiencies, this does not substitute for the distinct and thorough review of the AWS-3 designated entity applications, which must occur to ensure that the entities receiving government subsidies are in compliance with our rules.” Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said the DE rules are in need of an overhaul. “If we are careful and approach this proceeding in a fair and objective manner, I am confident that we will strike the proper balance and realize all of these important public interest goals,” she said.

Smart watches are catching up to activity trackers and are on pace to reach the wrists of 9 percent of the U.S. adult population by 2016, said an NPD report. As smart watch penetration grows, activity tracker penetration will plateau and peak at 32 million units after significant growth for four years. “The smartwatch will clearly begin to take a bite out of the activity tracker market moving forward,” said analyst Eddie Hold, citing health and fitness apps on smart watches as the reason consumers are moving away from simple trackers. The activity tracker is under threat not only from the smart watch but from its limited use cases, said Hold. Counting the number of steps taken daily limits the addressable market size, and 40 percent of activity tracker owners stop using the device within six months, he said. Sports offer an opportunity for activity trackers, said Hold, citing demand for sophisticated trackers with GPS support, heart rate sensors and rugged, waterproof design. Third-party activity apps will be key to the growth of the sport-related activity tracker market and to the long-term “stickiness” of the smart watch, he said.

The cost for Samsung to double the memory of its Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge smartphones to 64 GB is $13 -- and $26 for doubling it again to 128 GB -- but the cost to consumers is $100 for each memory step up, according to IHS’ teardown of the Galaxy S line. The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge with 64 GB of NAND memory carries a bill of materials (BOM) of $290.45, including the $5.60 manufacturing cost, IHS said, compared with the $799 retail price for the S6 Edge at Verizon. That’s higher than the BOM for a comparable iPhone 6 Plus 64 GB, which has a BOM of $240.05, including the $4.01 manufacturing cost. But at $849, Apple’s online store price for the 6 Plus 64 GB model is $50 higher than the comparable S6 Edge, IHS said. Samsung’s most recent Galaxy S series is its “priciest” to date, IHS said. “Samsung seems to have consistently packed more features and cost into their flagship Galaxy S line of phones over the last three generations of product, now producing a BOM cost that is notably higher than comparable iPhones,” said Andrew Rassweiler, IHS senior director-research and analysis. The top cost driver of the Samsung S6 series is the homegrown Super AMOLED display with Quad HD resolution (2560 x 1440 pixels), which compares with the iPhone 6 Plus’s 1920 x 1080 HD resolution, IHS said. The Edge’s curved display costs $85, about $24 more than the display for the regular version of the S6, and roughly double the cost of the iPhone 6 Plus, which IHS estimated at $41 in November. Other notable Galaxy S6 components' costs, according to IHS: Samsung octa-core, 64-bit apps processor ($29.50), Qualcomm baseband multimode processor ($15), Samsung 64 GB NAND memory ($25), Samsung 3 GB SDRAM memory ($27.50), 16-megapixel rear camera module ($18.50) and 5-megapixel front-camera module ($3). IHS said different carriers in different markets see varying versions of the S6 that don’t use the Qualcomm chipset, and it has procured another model to compare cost differences.

The Wireless ISP Association and other groups and companies asked the FCC to extend by six months the deadlines for Part 15 devices in the 5725-5850 MHz band to meet new equipment certification requirements and marketing restrictions. “The Joint Petitioners believe that a brief six-month extension will enable the Commission, other federal agencies and commercial interests to consider the Joint Petitioners’ recent consensus proposal to amend Section 15.407 to help compensate for the elimination of the less-restrictive out-of-band emission requirements in Section 15.247, without increasing the potential for harmful interference to Terminal Doppler Weather Radar facilities,” said a petition for waiver, posted by the FCC Wednesday in docket 13-49. Petitioners include makers of 5 GHz point-to-multipoint and point-to-point equipment, WISPs and critical infrastructure providers, the petition said. Industry faces an initial June 2 deadline. “The Joint Petitioners strongly believe that the Consensus Proposal will promote the public interest by allowing consumers to continue to obtain robust fixed wireless service and by enabling critical infrastructure companies to continue to deliver existing services,” the filing said. Also signing off on the petition were Alcatel-Lucent, the American Petroleum Institute, Cambium Networks, Fastback Networks, Jab Wireless, Mimosa Networks and Zebra Technologies.