AccuWeather launched a virtual reality app for Samsung’s Gear VR headset that allows users to experience and interact with 360-degree video content, weather information and updates, said the company. Owners of the Samsung Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 edge, Galaxy Note5, Galaxy S6 edge+, Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge can use the AccuWeather app by snapping their phone to a Gear VR and watching 360-degree videos of severe weather events, including a close-up viral video of a tornado in Wray, Colorado, that had nearly 1.5 million YouTube views, it said. Users also can immerse themselves in real-time weather animations including rain, snow, thunderstorms and clouds, it said. The company expects to add new VR videos each week.

The FCC provided an updated 2016 listing of all handsets deployed by U.S. carriers, the frequencies they use and whether they're hearing-aid compatible (HAC). It offered fact sheets and much data. For example, it cited more than 100 versions of handsets deployed on the AT&T network. Another fact sheet offered handset totals sorted by service provider and air interface, plus the numbers for each that aren't HAC. Many handsets still can’t be used by people with hearing aids. The FCC said Puerto Rico Telephone has 227 models in use for just the GSM interface and 128 aren't HAC. All handsets offered by the big four carriers -- AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon -- are HAC, said a fact sheet.

Sprint can survive even if it doesn’t work out a transaction with T-Mobile, Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche said in a Monday note to investors. Fritzsche said the 2.5 GHz spectrum owned by Sprint (S) is key. “In many ways, 2.5 GHz should be considered the low band spectrum in a 5G world,” she said. “The depth of S’s spectrum position, as well as the simplicity of the spectrum portfolio, should give it unique advantage in terms of capital efficiency vs. the three other national competitors,” she said. “While we acknowledge there would be significant (massive?!) synergies in a S/[T-Mobile] merger, we do believe S has a long runway even if on a go-alone strategy. Because of its spectrum advantage and technology advancements, we believe even in the absence of a merger with another player, S has more than enough in terms of spectrum and network capabilities to stand on its own two feet.”

PTScientists (PTS) and Vodafone are collaborating on delivering a 4G LTE base station to the surface of the moon, lunar exploration company PTS said in a news release Sunday. PTS said its lunar lander, Alina, was designed to double as a base station that will relay data from a pair of robotic rovers back to earth, it said. PTS said using LTE instead of traditional radio communications will conserve rover battery life.

Jon Peha, former FCC chief technologist, said he met with Chairman Ajit Pai about advantages of dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) being deployed by the auto industry. “I described how the networks work, how they can be used to provide Internet services as well as support highway safety applications, and how vehicular networks can be more cost-effective than cellular systems under some conditions,” said Peha, now a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. “This discussion was informational. I represented no one other than myself.” The filing was posted in docket 13-49.

Dish Network could be a stand-alone player in the 5G world due to the company's "unencumbered, contiguous, plug-and-play spectrum," with its smartest and likeliest route being in wholesale leasing, Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker said in a note to investors Monday. Dish doesn't need to split revenue and profits with a network host when it can build its own for $700 million, and it can make more money "just collecting tolls" than it would in a spectrum sale, Wells Fargo said. If Sprint and T-Mobile pursue a merger, as has been speculated, that regulatory and integration baggage would let Dish slip ahead to become one of the first 5G providers, Wells Fargo said. It also raised the possibility of Dish CEO Charlie Ergen pursuing a partnership of some sort with SoftBank since Ergen and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son share similar thoughts on 5G. SoftBank holds 80 percent of Sprint. Wells Fargo said Dish likely can lease out all its spectrum except the 700 MHz band "because it's just a bit messy."

Ligado, pointing to its work with the Federal Aviation Administration and to National Advanced Spectrum and Communications Test Network (NASCTN) test results (see 1702160056), continues to push for FCC approval. In a docket 11-109 ex parte filing posted Monday, the firm recapped a meeting between outside counsel and FCC acting General Counsel Brendan Carr at which it discussed its ongoing FAA collaboration and the NASCTN results showing Ligado's proposed LTE system can coexist with GPS. The company also again pushed for issuance of an NPRM regarding allocating 1675-1680 MHz for shared commercial use (see 1701300066).

ARRL, representing amateur radio operators, said there's unanimous support in the FCC record for its petition asking the agency to allocate 5351.5-5366.5 kHz to the amateur radio service on a secondary basis. The 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference agreed to a change of the international table of allocations to reflect the use of the spectrum by amateur radio operators, ARRL said in a January petition (see 1701130054), on which the FCC sought comment. “There are as of this writing just over 60 comments filed in response to ARRL’s Petition,” the group said in a filing posted Monday in RM-11785. “All of them were filed by individual Amateur Radio licensees. They all support an allocation to the Amateur Service of a contiguous band in the vicinity of 5 megahertz. They are all in agreement with ARRL that a contiguous band in the vicinity of 5 MHz will assist in conducting emergency and disaster relief communications in the United States; with the Caribbean basin; with Alaska and with other parts of North, Central and South America.”

A U.S. magistrate judge in St. Paul, Minnesota, postponed Friday for the fourth time the deadline for iQor Global Services, Best Buy's former smartphone refurbisher, to answer the retailer's November complaint that iQor botched the job of restoring phones to mint condition and charged Best Buy millions of dollars in contract fees for work it didn't perform. Magistrate Judge Steven Rau’s Friday order gave iQor until March 31 to respond to Best Buy allegations in a Nov. 29 complaint (in Pacer) that it’s guilty of six counts of breach of contract and one count of unjust enrichment. For five years through 2016, iQor was the service provider for Best Buy’s Rapid Exchange Program, which allowed Best Buy customers to return defective phones to Best Buy and exchange them for refurbished phones, said the complaint. “The Rapid Exchange Program was intended to provide Best Buy customers a convenient way to return defective phones and to minimize the time those customers were without a properly working device,” it said. But iQor didn’t properly refurbish “a large portion of the phones it received,” and in many cases had to refurbish the same phones “multiple times,” all the while charging Best Buy “a new service fee each time iQor tried (and failed) to adequately service the same phone,” it said. Best Buy estimates it "overpaid" iQor more than $17 million in service and warranty fees and credits, said the complaint. Representatives at iQor didn’t comment Friday.

CTIA officials met Thursday with aides to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn on the contraband cellphone draft order and Further NPRM. Earlier in the week, the group met with an aide to Commissioner Mike O’Rielly (see 1703160020). “While understanding that wireless devices are but one piece of the contraband problem faced by prison officials, CTIA explained that it continues to work with corrections officials and managed access vendors,” the association said in a filing in docket 13-111.