A U.S. district court in Maryland awarded Sprint $26.9 million in damages from Wireless Buybacks for “tortious interference” stemming from a handset resale operation involving several individuals and business entities, said the carrier Monday. "While we understand there is a legitimate secondary market for devices that is beneficial to customers and to carriers, we strongly believe that customers are injured by the types of activities challenged in this case," said Sprint Chief Legal Officer Jorge Gracia. Wireless Buybacks didn’t respond to a request for comment. The decision is subject to appeal, said Sprint.

Don't open up the 6 GHz band to 5G until there's evidence unlicensed U-NII usage can be done in a way that won't cause destructive interference, Enterprise Wireless Alliance said in an FCC docket 17-183 posting Monday. It said the "silo-focused regulatory approach" of dedicated allocations may not be practical but sharing has to be proven before it's allowed in heavily used bands. It said the FCC should refrain from action until it assess the waiver given to Higher Ground for up to 50,000 unlicensed devices in the band.

The DOJ Inspector General should open a new investigation of the agency’s alleged misleading of Congress on encryption back doors (see 1805230027 and 1805300050), wrote the American Civil Liberties Union, Free Press, FreedomWorks, New America’s Open Technology Institute, R Street Institute, TechFreedom and about a dozen other civil society groups Monday to the IG. The probe should determine how the FBI made errors in reporting the scope of its “going dark” issue, why Justice officials knowingly cited false figures and what the department is doing to inform lawmakers, the group said. “This latest misstep, combined with the Inspector General’s conclusion that the FBI intentionally slow-rolled its efforts to unlock the San Bernardino shooter’s encrypted iPhone, makes clear that everyone should be seriously questioning the FBI’s credibility and reliability in the encryption debate,” said Open Technology Institute Policy Counsel and Government Affairs Lead Robyn Greene. The IG didn't comment.

Sprint began selling the LG G7 ThinQ flagship smartphone Friday (see 1805020016) online and in stores, said the carrier. It's offering the 64 GB device at $792 in a buy-one-get-one-free offer for $33 a month over 18 months for the first line, and $0 per month after two billing cycles for the second line, under its unlimited data, talk and text plan. The offer requires two new lines or eligible upgrades.

Google and Somos, the toll-free numbering administrator, sought tweaks to the draft declaratory ruling on the integrity of texting to toll-free numbers teed up for a vote at Thursday’s commissioners’ meeting (see 1805170068), in meetings at the FCC last week. Google officials reported on meetings with Wireline Bureau staff and aides to the four commissioners, filing in docket 18-28. “We expressed Google’s support for providing additional clarity regarding text-enabling toll free numbers and emphasized that, in the current environment, user privacy and security concerns are impediments to commercial use of text-enabled toll free technology,” it said. “We encouraged the Commission to recognize those concerns.” Somos officials met with aides to Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel. The company “explained the concerns that had given rise to Somos's 2016 Petition for Declaratory Ruling, including the text-enablement of Toll Free Numbers without subscriber permission and the text-enablement of unassigned numbers,” Somos said. “Somos expressed its hope that the clear statement in the proposed Declaratory Ruling that Toll Free Numbers may not be text-enabled without subscriber consent will address the worst of these abuses.”

Ford, Panasonic and Qualcomm formed a strategic collaboration to deploy cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) technologies in Colorado in the 5.9 GHz band, said the companies Friday. It's the first in the U.S. and is part of a partnership between the Colorado Department of Transportation and Panasonic to integrate connected vehicle technology in the state, the companies said. C-V2X has been gaining ground as an alternative to dedicated short-range communications in the band (see 1803140055). “Panasonic, Qualcomm Technologies and Ford have joined the advanced development efforts to help deploy the technology, and to assess C-V2X capabilities this summer on select roadways throughout Panasonic’s CityNOW headquarters in Denver, which will be followed by deployment in select areas along the I-70 Mountain Corridor later in the year,” they said. “We’re ready to help advance vehicle safety and serve as a hub for advanced vehicle testing, and development, with the support" of the companies, said Michael Lewis, Colorado DOT executive director.

Elefante Group, developing a stratospheric-based communications and IoT-enabling system, petitioned the FCC to amend part 2 and 101 rules to allow deployment of stratospheric-based communications services (SBCS). Friday's petition seeks "a new model of spectrum access" where SBCS systems "will exhibit compatibility by design," and it wants co-primary access to the 21.5-23.6 GHz band for uplinks, 25.25-27.5 GHz band for downlinks and the 71-76 and 81-86 GHz bands for feeder links. It said its proposed stratospheric platform stations will operate at nominally fixed locations at 65,000-feet altitudes and allow SBCS services of 1 Tbps in both directions between the stations and user terminals. The company said each airship would have a coverage area of 6,000 square miles. Elefante said SBCS applications include 5G deployment and commercial communications services such as 4G and 5G backhaul and residential broadband. The petition asks for a co-primary allocation in the 26 GHz band, SBCS technical and operational rules for the 22-23 GHz and 26 GHz bands, rules allowing SBCS feeder links the 70/80 GHz bands and licensing rules for non-exclusive assignments to SBCS operators based on regional economic area. It asks the agency to start a rulemaking within a year and complete it within two years.

The FCC said Friday that as of May 31, 64 entities had access to the Universal Service Administrator Co.'s Mobility Fund Phase II challenge process portal to participate in the process, two days after Chairman Ajit Pai said he would extend the challenge period. Parties with access include 37 carriers required to file Form 477 data, seven state governments, six local governments, 11 tribal government entities and three "other" entities, said a public notice. The Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force and Wireless and Wireline bureaus said they will provide further updates. Pai told lawmakers he backed extending a challenge process window by 90 days for the $4.53 billion Connect America Fund Mobility Fund II, and he directed the task force "to figure out the procedural steps necessary" to do that. "By lengthening the period during which challenges can be submitted, challengers will have an opportunity to conduct additional tests, which in turn means a more accurate map for carrying out the Mobility Fund Phase II auction," Pai wrote, responding Wednesday to a bipartisan letter the same day from Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and 29 Senate colleagues posted Thursday (exchange here).

Belkin’s 10-watt Boost Up wireless charging stand ($69) and pad ($59), launched at CES, are available for purchase, said the company Thursday. The Qi-based devices, which work with generation 8 and higher iPhones -- along with LG, Samsung and Sony smartphones -- have premium shielding and resistors to minimize interference so battery life, touch screen and Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and LTE signals aren’t disrupted, said the company. Belkin added LED alerts for foreign-object detection to prevent the charger from emitting unnecessary power and heat that could damage the phone, it said. The accessories maker notes on its website that placing magnetic mounts, metal cases or other objects between a phone and a wireless charger could reduce performance or damage magnetic strips or RFID chips like those found in some credit cards, security badges and passports. Belkin warns users that if their phone cases hold any of those items, they should remove them before charging and make sure they aren’t between the back of the phone and the charger.

The U.S. can win the race to 5G but not without help from policymakers, said Roslyn Layton, visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. “States and municipalities must streamline policies on infrastructure deployment,” Layton blogged Thursday. “Old siting and permitting rules designed for large cell towers must be modernized for today’s smaller and less intrusive technologies.” Layton stressed importance of the FCC making more mid-band spectrum available on a quick timeline. “Until now, the availability of mid-band, more flexible use spectrum has been lacking,” she said. “It will be critical that FCC deliver on mid-band spectrum, the so-called ‘Goldilocks band,’ which is neither too low -- which is best for long distances and penetrating obstacles -- nor too high -- best for high data throughput but only moves short distances.”