The Competitive Carriers Association asked the FCC to set the short-form application deadline for the AWS-3 auction at a date that would let carriers discuss the auction without fearing they have violated anti-collusion rules at the group’s early September trade show. CCA asked for a Sept. 24 deadline, but said “at a minimum,” the deadline should be Sept. 12, which follows the conclusion of CCA’s annual show in Las Vegas. CCA said both CTIA and CCA are slated to meet the week of Sept. 7. CTIA did not file comments on the AWS-3 auction procedures, a spokeswoman said Tuesday. “A wide range of wireless industry representatives … are expected to be in attendance at those conventions and to participate in business negotiations and panel discussions regarding a broad range of wireless industry topics including the AWS-3 auction,” CCA said. “To ensure ample participation at the conventions and to provide certainty to industry participants that these activities will not run afoul of the anti-collusion rules, CCA requests that the anti-collusion period not commence until after the conclusion of the conventions.” Even a Sept. 24 deadline would allow “an ample period of almost two months” for the processing application before the auction starts Nov. 13, it said. CCA also asked the FCC to clarify that long-form applications and the corresponding final payments will be due in 2015. CCA also “reiterates” its limited request that the agency waive the enhanced upfront payment requirement for some bidders found to be in default on debt owed to federal agencies. The filing was made Monday in docket 14-78.
The FCC terminated a 2006 rulemaking proceeding looking at possible changes to rules for the Multilateration Location and Monitoring Service (M-LMS) bands, in an order released Tuesday. The proceeding examined future use of the 904-909.75 and 919.75-928 MHz bands. M-LMS licensee Progeny had sought the rulemaking in 2002, citing the “continued failure” of the bands. But there was little agreement when the FCC took comments eight years ago (CD June 1/06 p4). “We find that wholesale changes to existing M-LMS framework that the Commission sought comment upon in the M-LMS NPRM are not warranted and that the types of revisions that the Commission sought comment [on] are not necessary to provide sufficient flexibility to M-LMS licensees to provide their location services,” the FCC said now (http://bit.ly/1nvVmp1).
The FCC Public Safety Bureau will allow the city of Harlingen, Texas, to revise its cost estimate for the reconfiguration of its 800 MHz public safety communications system, said a Monday order (http://bit.ly/1xyZTfw). The costs of the retooling are to be paid by Sprint as part of the ongoing 800 MHz rebanding. The bureau said it would be “amply justified” in rejecting the request. “Considering, however, that Sprint is willing to accept a modified cost estimate, and because the upgrade proposal might possibly accelerate the rebanding of Harlingen’s system, we are granting the Request,” the bureau said. But it also issued a warning to other licensees that “they face an exceptionally heavy burden in advancing untimely upgrade requests.”
"Robust” Wi-Fi networks are critical to schools and libraries and funding such wireless connections should be a focus of the agency as it expands the E-rate program, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a blog post. Wheeler told of a visit he made to Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax, Virginia, on Thursday. The visit demonstrated that Wi-Fi to each student’s desk “is the essential component of interactive, personalized instruction tailored to each student’s strengths and weaknesses,” Wheeler wrote Friday (http://fcc.us/1mxw729). While almost 60 percent of U.S. schools in America lack “sufficient” Wi-Fi, “far too many schools have no Wi-Fi at all.”
The FCC Enforcement Bureau proposed a $10,000 fine against Dalrymple Realty for “apparently failing to clean or repaint” an antenna in Elmira, New York, “as often as necessary to maintain good daytime visibility.” Lights were installed on the 320-foot tall structure, but weren’t operating the day FCC agents made their inspection, the bureau said (http://bit.ly/1pWYihq). “Dalrymple informed the agents that the white obstruction lighting had been in place in lieu of painting for approximately ten years.”
The FCC Public Safety Bureau is giving San Diego more time to submit an estimate to Sprint and the 800 MHz Transition Administrator on the cost of retuning its radios. The city previously got an extension through June 1, which was extended until Aug. 15, said an order posted by the FCC Friday (http://bit.ly/1i8RJkb). The city is working with Motorola Solutions on the retuning and work on the cost estimate has taken longer than expected, the bureau said. It said the delay “is a matter apparently outside San Diego’s control."
The FCC released a Form 603 summary Friday of the joint argument Cincinnati Bell, Grain and Verizon are making for commission approval of Cincinnati Bell’s planned sell-off of its wireless portfolio (http://bit.ly/TnKyi6). The sale involves six AWS-1 licenses, two personal communications service (PCS) licenses and one 700 MHz A-block license, for markets in southeastern Indiana, northern Kentucky and southern Ohio. Verizon’s spectrum in the covered counties will increase to between 107 MHz and 147 MHz, up from its current range of between 77 MHz and 107 MHz, the FCC said in its summary. The AWS-1, PCS and 700 MHz A-block licenses that Grain will gain in the deal will be the company’s first holdings in those bands in the Cincinnati area, the summary said. The parties claim neither Grain nor Verizon will hold spectrum in the area in excess of the FCC’s spectrum screen as a result of the deal. The parties claim the FCC should approve the deal because it would enable Grain, a minority-owned firm, to “expand its spectrum-based services and complement its existing business of owning and managing telecommunications infrastructure assets.” The parties also say the deal would provide Grain with additional capital through planned leases with Verizon, which in turn will allow Verizon to “meet the growing demands of customers,” the summary said.
A request by El Paso, Texas, for an extension to submit to Sprint and the 800 MHz Transition Administrator a cost estimate for reconfiguring the city’s 800 MHz communications system was denied by the FCC Public Safety Bureau Thursday. Rather than reconfigure its existing 800 MHz analog system, El Paso opted to upgrade to digital technology, the FCC order (http://bit.ly/1ogKiNw) said. The city said 98 percent of the digital system is constructed, but despite previous FCC extensions, it has not yet finished a planning agreement with its vendor, Motorola Solutions, or received final approval for the agreement from city officials, the order said. The cost estimate is due by July 31.
The Los Angeles Police Department was granted an extension until June 30 to submit a cost estimate for reconfiguring its 800 MHz communications system to Sprint and the 800 MHz Transition Administrator, said an FCC Public Safety Bureau order Wednesday (http://fcc.us/1pU8GUf). It said LAPD said its planning activities were complicated by difficulties in validating the subscriber inventory.
Adoption of next-gen “802.11 2x2 Multiple-In Multiple-Out” (MIMO) Wi-Fi technology on smartphones is on the rise, said a study by IHS Technology. MIMO technology uses multiple antennas at the transmitter and receiver ends to signal range and improve performance between devices, IHS said. Smartphone OEMs are gravitating to 2x2 MIMO technology, which employs two transmitter antennas and two receiver antennas, it said Wednesday. “The improved capabilities of 2x2 MIMO make Wi-Fi a suitable alternative to 3G and 4G wireless networks.” IHS sees global smartphone shipments doubling to 1.9 billion units in 2018 from 1 billion in 2013, and all but a tiny fraction of all mobile handsets in 2018 will support Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Samsung’s Galaxy S5 was the first smartphone to support 2X2 MIMO, and other makers are expected to follow Samsung’s lead, “due to a growing need for better-performing Wi-Fi in smartphones,” it said.