The Supreme Court denied cert in a case involving Verizon’s acquisition of spectrum licenses. Chief Justice John Roberts didn’t participate, said a Monday order. In November, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected small carrier NTCH’s challenge of an FCC order approving Verizon’s buy of AWS-1 licenses from SpectrumCo and Cox (see 1611150039). NTCH argued the FCC unlawfully awarded thousands of licenses to Verizon Wireless in violation of the Communications Act. NTCH raised concerns because of the 45 percent ownership of Verizon Wireless then held by the U.K.’s Vodafone. “It’s always an uphill climb to get the Supreme Court to grant cert, but we thought this one had a decent chance given the billions of dollars of licenses that had been awarded unlawfully by the FCC and the extraordinary machinations the FCC went through to prevent judicial review of its actions,” said Donald Evans of Fletcher Heald, who represented NTCH. “It’s disappointing for NTCH, but in the larger scheme, the court’s decision leaves administrative agencies with an unbridled ability to shield their misconduct from judicial review. So it’s not a good outcome from the standpoint of checking the power of administrative agencies to violate the laws they are charged with enforcing.”

The FCC Wireless Bureau is seeking comment on an Arizona Public Service Co. request for a waiver of FCC 800 MHz rules. “APSC states that its legacy 800 MHz radio system relies on equipment that has been discontinued and will no longer be supported by the manufacturer, so APSC proposes to implement a completely new Project 25 radio system in parallel with the existing system in order to facilitate uninterrupted service,” the bureau said in a notice. “The proposed system also will improve coverage in APSC’s service area and along key transmission line corridors.” But to implement the new system, the investor-owned utility needs additional spectrum, the bureaus said. APSC needs a waiver because the operations are in areas along the border with Mexico subject to a freeze on 800 MHz nonrebanding applications. Comments are due July 31, replies Aug. 15 in docket 17-168.

FirstNet leaned on the FCC to tighten the rules for opting out of the national network for first responders. FirstNet Chief Counsel Jason Karp and others from the authority made their case in a meeting with aides to all three FCC commissioners, said a filing posted Friday in docket 16-269. “FirstNet is concerned that the Draft Order’s lengthy, complex, and open-ended processes could result in substantial delay and uncertainty,” FirstNet said. “During the meetings, FirstNet reiterated that the Draft Order’s decision not to require an opt-out State to have in place an executed contract with a vendor prior to submitting an alternative plan to the Commission could have disastrous consequences for the network, and ultimately, public safety.” FirstNet also stressed in the meeting that under no circumstances does the FCC have oversight authority over FirstNet’s network policies. The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 is clear that “FirstNet, and solely FirstNet, has the authority to establish network policies for the NPSBN [Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network], including policies related to the technical and operational requirements of the network,” the filing said. “Any attempt by the Commission to seek comment on, and thus potentially alter, FirstNet’s network policies would constitute significant overreach by the FCC.” Commissioners are to vote on rules for states to opt out of FirstNet at their meeting Thursday (see 1706010049).

Technology distributor Avnet is holding IoT workshops for hardware and app designers in 10 cities through the beginning of October, it announced Wednesday. The workshops are built around Avnet’s SK002 Visible Things IoT starter kit comprising hardware and software to connect smart sensors and embedded devices via gateway solutions or low-power wide area networking technologies to the cloud and smart enterprise software, Avnet said.

The Telecommunications Industry Registered Apprenticeship Program (TIRAP) and the Wireless Infrastructure Association said Thursday that 11 companies signed agreements to be “Participating Employers” in the nation’s only telecommunications apprenticeship program. “This pledge from private businesses will accelerate the fulfillment of TIRAP’s goal to address the skills gap in the telecommunications industry by adopting an apprenticeship model, which is new to the industry,” the groups said in a news release. President Donald Trump Thursday signed an executive order aimed at expanding apprenticeships and improving job-training programs.

IBM’s Bluemix cloud platform, using Watson IoT, is behind BMW’s CarData services set to launch this fall, the company announced. CarData users will be able to opt in to share data from a BMW vehicle with third-party companies, IBM said Wednesday, and customers will have to actively agree to share their encrypted telematics data when they want to use a specific service from a service provider.

Smart thermostats will reach 13 percent adoption in North America, vs. 1.5 percent adoption in Western Europe, by the end of 2017, said a Wednesday Parks Associates research report. “Interoperability initiatives at the application layer are moving the industry toward broader compatibility,” said analyst Brad Russell. Interoperability advances aim to bridge the gap between the connected kitchen, connected entertainment systems, connected energy management solutions, “and what we think about today as the smart home,” Russell said. In the security monitoring market, meanwhile, national security players continue to show growth but the number of subscribers has grown only marginally since 2014, said Parks. Interactive services helped boost revenue in home security, and growing adoption of smart home devices and services will open opportunities to bring more U.S. households into the security market, “provided security providers adapt their business models to the new IoT reality,” said analyst Dina Abdelrazik. Some 26.6 million U.S. households with professional security monitoring will generate $14.7 billion revenue in 2021, said the research firm.

There’s “severe discord” between 5G “market hype” and industry’s “readiness to deploy the technology,” ABI Research said in a Wednesday report. The company canvassed 455 U.S.-based companies in nine businesses, and found 62 percent have no plans to deploy 5G in the foreseeable future, it said. Of those that do have 5G plans, nearly all said they're only in the “early investigation phase,” it said. “The hype of 5G is currently driven by the technology supply chain rather than by demand from the end-markets,” the company said. “All indicators lead us to believe that 5G will take hold in the consumer market before it claims its stake in the enterprise and industrial sectors.” The survey found the retail industry has “the most aggressive outlook in its willingness to adopt 5G technology,” with slightly more than half of retail respondents saying they're “assessing or planning to deploy 5G in the coming years,” it said. This suggests the retail industry “has a specific need for 5G to support bandwidth-hungry and low- latency use cases,” including virtual-reality and robotic applications, it said. “Conversely, autonomous driving is the most hyped use case in the 5G technology supply chain,” it said. “The misalignment between demand and supply planning clearly indicates that 5G technology vendors need to better communicate with implementers to ensure that well-informed decisions are being made to ultimately fulfill long-term customer requirements.”

The FCC mostly gets things right in its proposed rules for states that want to opt out of FirstNet, but a few tweaks are appropriate, AT&T said in a filing Wednesday. One change AT&T proposed is that the FCC strengthen the requirement that governors take ownership of a decision to opt out. “The Commission should require a Governor intending to opt-out and to delegate the authority to convey such intent to the Commission to (i) memorialize his/her delegation of authority in writing, and (ii) include that written delegation with the opt-out notice to the Commission,” the carrier said. AT&T said the agency should require states that want to go alone to award a contract to an alternative provider within 180 days rather than the 240 proposed in the draft order. AT&T officials met with aides to Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Mignon Clyburn, said the filing in docket 16-249. The company heads the industry team that will build FirstNet's network.

The National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers (NCSHPOs) slammed the FCC for proceeding on an NPRM and notice of inquiry on wireless siting rules without talking to SHPOs first. The group filed comments in docket 17-79. The FCC approved the wireless proceeding in April and initial comments are due Thursday (see 1704200037). “We do not think that the appropriate solution is through rulemaking, and are disappointed that the FCC has seemingly drafted the NPRM informed solely by industry,” the group said. “When approaching rulemaking, we believe a Federal Agency should consult with the affected parties prior to the issuance of such a notice. Clearly your agency had extensive conversations with industry prior to the pursuit and release. … Why was the same courtesy not extended to the other entities impacted by this action?” If some approvals are slow, SHPOs aren’t to blame, the group said. Projects are rarely scuttled because of a historic review, NCSHPO added. “On a rare occasion, a tower on or near a historic property might need to be reduced or a specific installation technique might need to be employed in order to avoid damage.”