The IoT will be a $1.8 trillion revenue opportunity for wireless operators by 2026, GSMA said. “There is a real sense of momentum behind Mobile IoT networks in licensed spectrum, with multiple commercial launches around the world, as well as the availability of hundreds of different applications and solutions, but there is still much to be done,” said Alex Sinclair, chief technology officer. The U.S. region will account for $534 billion, GSMA estimated Wednesday.

CTIA representatives met with aides to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Mike O’Rielly on pending changes to siting rules, said a filing in docket 17-79. “CTIA highlighted the importance of modernized siting policies at the federal, state, and local levels and their key role helping to ensure the U.S.’s 5G leadership,” CTIA said. Timely action across all levels of government will be essential to creating capacity for today’s 4G LTE networks and building out the nation’s next-generation wireless networks.” CTIA reported on a second meeting, in docket 14-177, to discuss spectrum frontiers rules. The U.S. "leads the world in the deployment and adoption of 4G wireless services" and "5G wireless services hold the promise of unlocking even greater benefits to consumers, businesses, and the U.S. economy by providing much faster speeds and enough bandwidth to support the" IoT, the group said. Representatives met with an aide to Commissioner Mike O'Rielly and staff from the Wireless and International bureaus and Office of Engineering and Technology, the filing said.

The FCC Wireless Bureau denied requests by Bristol-Meyers Squibb and Mobile Relay Associates (MRA) to use airport terminal use (ATU) channels for their own operations. “The Commission specifically designated enough ATU frequencies to allow air carriers to use the same frequency(ies) at each airport where they operate,” said an order released Wednesday. “The separation distances are intended to balance the interference protection needs of ATU users with the spectrum capacity requirements of non-ATU users. Grant of the instant requests would conflict with these purposes, for it would reduce the amount of spectrum set aside for current and future ATU operations below what may be needed and increase the potential for interference to current and future ATU communications.” ATU uses frequency pairs between 460/465.650 and 460/465.89375 MHz. Bristol-Meyers proposed to use the spectrum in New Jersey and Connecticut, MRA in Colorado, Florida and Nevada.

FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly proposed government use the budgeting process to encourage federal agencies to give up more spectrum they use. A lack of spectrum is “choking future economic progress,” O’Rielly blogged Wednesday. “Some consider the incentives offered to government agencies to be fairly paltry (e.g., five or ten percent of auction revenues) and not worth the time and effort.” Some predict it could take 30-50 percent of auction gross proceeds to pique agencies' interest, he said. “To bring about some systemic efficiencies to Federal agency spectrum holdings, I suggest that federal agencies be permitted to use their spectrum holdings to offset the annual budgetary caps and sub caps,” O’Rielly said. “In achieving its respective budget limits, a federal agency could substitute the market value -- as determined by an average of Congressional Budget Office and Office of Management and Budget estimates -- of their surrendered spectrum to offset other cuts or even expand its spending options. It amounts to a spectrum-for-cash swap.” The FCC needs to act on rules for planned auctions, including for high-frequency spectrum, O’Rielly said in a speech Wednesday to the seventh Congreso Internacional de Espectro in Bogotá. “These auctions should occur as soon as possible, but at a minimum we should schedule them so that interested parties can plan appropriately,” he said. “Planning ahead is especially important, because the auction rules will need to be considered and implemented. ... Auction policy is rarely done hastily.” O’Rielly offered the international audience a broad view of FCC action so far across the spectrum front, according to prepared remarks. U.S players are very interested in the 24 GHz and 42 GHz bands “as they are near the 28 GHz and 37 and 39 GHz bands the U.S. has already opened,” he said. “As devices can be manufactured to operate over tuning ranges, these frequencies are near bands that other countries are considering, such as 26 GHz, for 5G, creating opportunities for de facto global harmonization.” O’Rielly urged other nations in the Americas to work together headed into the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2019.

Energous announced a near-field product reference design to charge devices with up to 10 watts, it said Tuesday. That expands Energous’ wireless charging capabilities beyond wearables to smartphones, tablets, smart speakers, game controllers, drones and other similarly powered devices, it said.

Qualcomm will appeal a Seoul High Court decision denying the company’s application to stay a remedial order issued against it by the Korea Fair Trade Commission, it announced Tuesday. The court denied Qualcomm's stay application, saying its business won't suffer irreparable harm if the KFTC's order remains in effect, said the company. The order reviewed by the court doesn't invalidate existing license agreements, doesn't prohibit Qualcomm from entering into licenses for its standard essential patents and other patents at the device level and doesn't limit the royalties Qualcomm can seek or collect for SEPs under current or future licenses "as long the license agreements are consistent with Qualcomm's fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms commitments," it said. The order requires Qualcomm to engage in "good-faith negotiations with chip companies seeking a license and to negotiate possible amendments with current licensees upon request," it said.

The 800 MHz Transition Administrator clarified the Canadian border region (CBR) enhanced specialized mobile radio (ESMR) dividing line at the instruction of the FCC, said a filing. The TA said it determined the highest frequency occupied by a non-ESMR licensee in each of the six CBRs “by reviewing replacement frequency proposals for 800 MHz licensees, amendments to frequency proposals, and licensing records in the FCC’s Universal Licensing System.” The TA said it then identified the dividing line as “the frequency 12.5 kHz above the highest frequency licensed by a non-ESMR licensee in each CBR.” The TA has assisted with the 800 MHz rebanding, underway since 2004, designed to address interference to public safety in the 800 MHz band.

Microsoft is continuing to meet with FCC officials to pitch its idea of launching rural broadband using TV white spaces spectrum (see 1707100042). In a docket 12-268 ex parte filing posted Tuesday, the company recapped meetings with staffers including Media Bureau Chief Michelle Carey and Incentive Auction Task Force Chairwoman Jean Kiddoo at which it said a single channel can be preserved in the TV bands nationwide for unlicensed use without affecting full-power broadcasters and having only de minimis effect on a few scattered low-power broadcasters.

T-Mobile, Southern Linc and GCI Communication said they plan to participate in the FCC’s voluntary wireless resiliency cooperative framework. The filings (see here, here and here) were made in docket 11-60. In a December order, the FCC determined that the voluntary framework, “jointly submitted by signatories AT&T, CTIA, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, and Verizon presented an appropriate path forward to improving wireless resiliency and provider transparency,” the Public Safety Bureau said in an Aug. 3 public notice. The bureau asked for commitments from carriers within 30 days. Industry officials said other major carriers are still expected to file their commitment letters this week.

Wireless carriers, except Sprint, want the next iPhone to include AWS-3 spectrum, band 66, BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk told investors. “This mid-band spectrum not only offers more capacity with existing cell site spacing, but can also deliver faster speeds through carrier aggregation technology,” he wrote Tuesday. “AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have already started deploying this spectrum, but financially strapped Sprint did not buy any of this spectrum. Samsung put Band 66 in the Galaxy S8 and Note8.” AT&T wants the spectrum it's deploying as part of FirstNet to be included, he said. Sprint is focused on inclusion of high performance user equipment (HPUE) enabling its 2.5 GHz spectrum to “match the network coverage of its 1.9GHz mid-band spectrum,” Piecyk wrote. “Investors are optimistic that HPUE will be included in this year’s iPhone, especially given the strong relationship that Sprint Chairman Masa Son has with Apple.” One big question is whether Apple will add a chip allowing the phone to use TV band spectrum purchased in the incentive auction, he said: “Inclusion is a long shot but would be a huge win” for T-Mobile. Another question is whether the 38 GHz spectrum being championed by Verizon, a building block for 5G, will “ever be in an iPhone,” he said.