Verizon told the FCC it supports AT&T’s goal of a timely auction of 39 GHz spectrum but opposes its proposed solution, as presented in December (see 1712120010). “Two key features of the AT&T proposal are that incumbent licensees would be: (i) moved involuntarily if they do not participate in the auction and (ii) forced to win the bidding in each market to retain spectrum they already hold if they do participate in the auction,” Verizon said in a filing in docket 14-177. “Both of these features raise serious legal questions regarding incumbent licenses in the 39 GHz band, particularly for a company such as Verizon, which has agreed to invest billions of dollars to acquire this spectrum.” Verizon officials said they met with staff from the Wireless Bureau and the Office of Strategic Planning.

T-Mobile customers will get free unlimited calls and high-speed data in South Korea Feb. 7-March 20 during the 2018 Winter Games, the carrier announced Thursday. Fine print said as with all its mobile plans, “during congestion, the small fraction of customers using >50GB/mo. may notice reduced speeds until next bill cycle due to data prioritization.” Video typically streams at 480p, it said, and qualifying postpaid service with “capable device” are required.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai released a collection of quotes from APCO and federal and local officials supporting the FCC's proposed changes to wireless emergency alerts rules. Pai is promising more precise geo-targeting of WEAs, in an order teed up for Tuesday’s commissioners' meeting. “Most significantly, the Report and Order would improve the geographic accuracy of these alerts so that they reach the intended communities without disturbing others,” said a fact sheet on the draft. The document is titled, "What They’re Saying About Chairman Pai’s Wireless Emergency Alert Proposal."

Ford’s goal in moving into its first test city for autonomous vehicles this quarter is to assess its “business model” in self-driving cars and begin “implementing the first cycle of new prototypes,” said President-Global Markets Jim Farley Wednesday on an earnings call. The automaker is “engaged with the local government and will announce the city in the months ahead,” CEO Jim Hackett told CES. This "is the year where you are going to see a lot of progress” on the company’s autonomous-vehicle development, said Farley on the earnings call. Testing and development work will take “the next several years until we launch in 2021,” he said. The goal “is to get people in the vehicles this year to see” how its autonomous-vehicle platform “works by itself,” said Farley.

FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly asked for a Metrorail wireless update from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) on progress installing wireless communications in the subway system. O’Rielly sent a similar letter to WMATA in 2016 (see 1609080072). The ability of Americans to make 911 calls is “of paramount importance” to the FCC, he said in a letter to the authority, released Thursday. WMATA riders have for too long been unable to call 911 in parts of the system “causing increased risk of bodily injury and possible death,” he said. O’Rielly also asked about progress installing Wi-Fi at Metro stations. He said he needs the information to prepare for an expected House Communications Subcommittee FCC oversight hearing on 911, scheduled for next month.

General Electric, active in the past on the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio services band, met FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to urge the agency to stick with a plan to license priority access licenses on a census-tract basis. The FCC is examining whether it should instead license the PALs in larger sizes, as proposed by wireless carriers (see 1710240050). “Census-tract licensing is critically important to GE and its industrial and critical-infrastructure customers, since the CBRS band is an ideal spectrum platform for the ‘Industrial Internet of Things’ (IIoT) and can serve as a unique catalyst for accelerated growth throughout the U.S. industrial and manufacturing sector,” GE filed Wednesday in docket 17-258. “Robust IIoT applications require significant spectrum, secure localized networks, and specialized technology, and today industrial and critical-infrastructure entities are typically unable to obtain the necessary wireless functionality from commercial mobile operators on a cost-effective basis.” Also on 3.5 GHz, GeoLinks CEO Skyler Ditchfield and others from the wireless ISP explained the importance of the band to his company. Ditchfield met over two days with officials, including all FCC members other than Jessica Rosenworcel. “The Company explained the challenge of operating on unlicensed bands such as 5 GHz in urban environments, where overcrowding can slow and disrupt service,” said a Wednesday filing. “It could provide better and more reliable service, including Gigabit service to the home, if the Company had access to sufficient licensed or lightly licensed spectrum.”

Global smartphone average selling prices (ASPs) had record year-on-year growth in Q4, and in North America, the 6 percent unit-sales growth Q4 to 6.2 million phones was the highest in two years, GfK reported Wednesday. North American smartphone unit sales jumped 2 percent for all of 2017, to 201.3 million phones, but the “upturn” isn't expected to last into 2018, it said. GfK forecasts demand in North America to be flat in 2018 compared with 2017, it said. Smartphone year-on-year demand growth globally “moderated” for the fourth straight quarter, rising only 1 percent to 397 million units in Q4, it said. However, ASPs jumped by 11 percent year-on-year in the quarter, “which is exceptional growth for such a mature technology category,” it said. “This came as the proliferation of smartphones with larger and bezel-less displays incentivized consumers to purchase more expensive devices.”

Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Wednesday urged the FCC to release a spectrum calendar, listing the dates of spectrum auctions. “Make public a #spectrum calendar, identifying what #wireless bands will be brought to market in the future,” Rosenworcel tweeted. “It can start with 28, 37, 39, and 3.5 GHz. The sooner we make our plans -- for licensed and unlicensed airwaves -- clear, the stronger our #5G future.” The FCC has been in limbo over auctions. Chairman Ajit Pai says the agency won’t hold any spectrum auctions until Congress approves legislative language that would let auction deposits be sent directly to the Treasury Department (see 1801160034). Pai says the Communications Act requires deposits placed by bidders in spectrum auctions be sent to the Treasury. “Recent regulatory requirements have dissuaded private institutions from holding upfront payments,” he testified to the House Communications Subcommittee in October. “Public institutions have indicated that they will not set up the special purpose accounts that would be necessary to offer such services. As a result, no financial institution will accommodate the holding of upfront payments in an interest bearing account for a large spectrum auction.” An FCC spokesman said Pai has been clear on the issue.

Dish Network designated entities Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless have 90 days to renegotiate business arrangements with Dish and show how they qualify for their AWS-3 auction bidding credits, the FCC Wireless Bureau ordered Wednesday. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in August upheld FCC denial of those bidding credits, giving the DEs a chance to negotiate a solution to Dish's de facto control (see 1708290012). The three companies didn't comment.

Broadband Access Coalition representatives explained their plan for the 3.7 GHz band (see 1708080050) in meetings with Commissioner Brendan Carr, Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp and other officials over two days. BAC is proposing fixed satellite service users be required to disclose how much spectrum they actually use, a spokesman said. Most use only a fraction of the band’s 500 MHz, he said. “For example, Associated Press, which has 975 registered earth stations, roughly 25 percent of the total, uses at each location only 23 MHz, since all of its earth stations are locked on a single transponder on a single satellite,” the spokesman said. “The BAC representatives urged the Commission to act as soon as possible to gather accurate data from the FSS industry, and to require earth stations seeking interference protection to register by a date certain,” said a filing in docket 17-183. The main proponents of the proposal are Mimosa Networks, the Wireless ISP Association and New America’s Open Technology Institute. AP didn't comment.