Pressure is growing in the policy arena to reallocate more spectrum for 5G, said Gregory Vogt, visiting fellow at the Free State Foundation, in a Wednesday blog post. The push is in line with President Donald Trump’s stated interest in addressing U.S. infrastructure, Vogt said. “A fresh infusion of political capital is quickly taking shape to support broadband infrastructure development, including wireless spectrum needs. The next generation of wireless broadband, often-termed 5G, promises enormous consumer welfare and societal benefits,” he said. “Congress, new [FCC] Chairman Ajit Pai, and Secretary of Commerce nominee Wilbur Ross all have expressed commitments to locate and reallocate more spectrum for 5G wireless networks.”

The FCC established a pleading cycle on Cingular Wireless’s proposed long-term lease of two lower 700 MHz B-block licenses from GigSky Mobile covering two local markets in the Virgin Islands. Cingular is a subsidiary of AT&T. “Applicants maintain that the proposed spectrum leasing arrangement would provide AT&T with additional spectrum that would enable it to increase its system capacity to enhance existing services and enable AT&T to offer faster, higher quality services to its customers” in the two markets, the FCC said in a Wednesday public notice. Petitions to deny are due Feb. 22, oppositions March 1 and replies March 8.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said Qualcomm’s actions leading up to his company's lawsuit filed last week (see 1701230067) were "like buying a sofa, and you charge somebody a different price depending upon the house that it goes into.” During Q&A on the company’s fiscal Q1 earnings call Tuesday, Cook said, “They were insisting on charging royalties for technologies they had nothing to do with. The more we innovated with unique features,” he said -- citing Touch ID, advanced displays and cameras -- “the more money Qualcomm would collect for no reason, and the more expensive it would be therefore for us to innovate.” Qualcomm last week called Apple's claims baseless. Apple set all-time highs for iPhone, services, Mac and Apple Watch sales, said Cook, as revenue reached a record $78.4 billion in the quarter ended Dec. 31, vs. $75.9 billion in the year-ago quarter. Net income dipped to $17.9 billion from $18.4 billion. Cook downplayed industry talk of a maturing smartphone market. Apple sold 78.3 million iPhones in the quarter, up 5 percent from a year ago, and unit sell-through was up 8 percent, he said. The U.S., Canada, Japan, Western Europe and Australia had double-digit iPhone growth and higher growth rates in emerging markets including Turkey, Russia, Brazil, Central and Eastern Europe and Vietnam, said the CFO. In greater China, Apple's overall sales were down 12 percent, said Cook. Revenue was flat year over year in mainland China, said Cook, calling the quarter a “significantly better performance” over what Apple experienced in the prior three quarters. The iPhone 7 was the best-selling smartphone in China during Q1, according to Kantar figures, said Cook. Half of iPhone sales in China were to switchers and first-time smartphone buyers, he said. Apple stock closed up Wednesday 6.1 percent to $128.75.

AT&T said it's buying closely held FiberTower, a company in bankruptcy with extensive 24 and 39 GHz holdings. Terms weren't disclosed. AT&T made the announcement in one line in a lengthy Tuesday blog post. Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche said the buy was a “positive strategic move.” FiberTower spectrum covers 8.4 billion MHz/POPs -- 8.1 billion with 39 GHz spectrum and 374 million with 24 GHz, Fritzsche wrote investors, citing Allnet Insights. The buy also catches AT&T up with Verizon, which gets spectrum in the same band with its buy of XO, she said. “XO brings 188 billion MHz-POPs of this high band spectrum (over 23x what FiberTower brings),” she wrote. “By making this move, AT&T now has an asset to point to and can be a part of the ultra high band spectrum 'conversation.’'' In July, recognizing the importance for 5G, the FCC approved an order reallocating millimeter-wave spectrum for wireless broadband (see 1607140052). The agency reallocated the 39 GHz band and teed up the 24-25 GHz band for further study. Verizon just completed its buy of XO (see 1702010031).

The International Trade Commission began a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into allegations Apple smartphones and tablets infringe patents held by Nokia, said the ITC last week. In a complaint filed Dec. 22, Nokia said Apple’s iPhone 6, 6S, 7 and SE smartphones and its iPad Mini 2, iPad Mini 4, iPad Air, iPad Air 2 and iPad Pro tablets infringe its patents. The ITC will decide whether to issue a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders banning import and sale of infringing merchandise by Apple. That company didn't comment Tuesday.

Opening up the Uber platform to Daimler on autonomous driving will get the ride-hailing service “to the future faster than going it alone,” Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said in a Tuesday blog post. “It’s a future in which our cities and roads will be safer, cleaner and more accessible, and we couldn’t be more excited about what’s next.” Uber is incredibly excited by the potential for “self-driving cars to further our mission of bringing reliable transportation to everyone, everywhere,” Kalanick said. “They will also help to reduce traffic accidents, which today kill many people a year; free up the huge amount of space currently used to park the world’s billion-plus cars; and cut congestion, which is choking our cities.” The company “can’t do it alone,” he said. Automakers like Daimler “are crucial to our strategy because Uber has no experience making cars -- and in fact, making cars is really hard,” he said.

Mobile Future told the FCC it should reject Competitive Carriers Association requests that the agency adopt band-specific spectrum aggregation limits for high-band spectrum addressed in the spectrum frontiers order. CCA filed a petition for reconsideration on the order in December (see 1612140075). What CCA asks “would undermine the efficient allocation of spectrum and substitute the Commission’s static judgment about how the newly repurposed spectrum will be used and deployed for providers’ own business and technological assessments,” Mobile Future said. It supported other petitions asking the FCC to eliminate a cybersecurity reporting requirement also in rules. CCA, CTIA, NCTA and others sought elimination of the mandate. “The very notion of a cybersecurity reporting requirement fundamentally runs counter to the voluntary, industry-led approach that has served all stakeholders so well in this context,” Mobile Future said. “Collaborative efforts for enhancing cybersecurity protections have proven to be effective, and government officials and industry alike have recognized that multistakeholder cooperation on these issues through existing mechanisms, such as the Commission’s Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council, ‘addresses fast-changing technology-based issues better than prescriptive regulation.’” Mobile Future commented in docket 14-177.

AT&T, Atlantic Tele-Network and Blue Wireless jointly proposed a framework for a new mobility fund, in an FCC filing. The FCC should target areas without LTE “to ensure that subsidies are not provided in areas where private investment is doing the job,” the carriers said. It should establish “objective, technologically neutral performance standards that will ensure that rural Americans get service comparable to that available in urban areas,” the filing said. “The proposal relies on lessons from the Commission’s implementation of CAF [Connect America Fund] programs.” The carriers said the fund should be the right size to address problems and the FCC should ensure that auction winners “know all of their obligations in advance of auction and are accountable for compliance.” The companies urge the FCC to move quickly. “This proposal represents the views of a large provider, a mid-sized provider, and a small provider with a common interest in ensuring high-quality mobile service in rural America,” said the filing in docket 10-90. “It is possible to establish a workable framework for Mobility Fund Phase II in the near term and perfect the coverage data to proceed with an auction without further delay.” The plan attempts to put a price tag on a fund. The carriers suggest 10 percent of eligible square miles could be covered at a cost as low as $39 million per year for a 10-year program, and covering 100 percent would cost as much as $1.86 billion per year. Then-FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler proposed a new mobility fund last year. A Wheeler order was scheduled for commissioners’ November meeting but was pulled from the agenda after Republicans won the White House (see 1611170054).

Americans want and expect a single set of privacy rules, not one for ISPs and a second for everyone else, said Mobile Future interim Chairwoman Diane Smith in a Tuesday blog post. Smith cited results of a poll from last year by the Progressive Policy Institute, which found 94 percent of internet users say all companies collecting or using information online should fall under the same rules. “Nearly a dozen entities have already asked the FCC to reconsider the rules,” Smith wrote. “It is equally appropriate, and likely more expeditious, for Congress to eliminate the conflicting rules. At a minimum, the new FCC leadership should hit the pause button and delay implementation of the rules while regulatory appeals and Congressional action advance.”

Verizon Wireless pitched subscribers in a Monday email to "check out smart home accessories" from partners including from Alphabet's Google and its Nest thermostat. Customers clicking through on the advertisement found connected a Canary webcam and the upcoming Arlo Pro, billed as the "first completely wire-free, weatherproof, rechargeable HD smart security camera with audio and 130° viewing angle." The Arlo Pro, with two-way chat, operates over Verizon’s 4G LTE network. Videos can be stored in the cloud, but on Arlo’s, not Verizon's, a Verizon chat specialist told us. Featured smart home brands on the Verizon website include Belkin and Philips.