T-Mobile executives urged the FCC to clarify LITE-unlicensed rules. “While T-Mobile remains an industry leader in the use of Wi-Fi, with our customers making some 22 million Wi-Fi calls a day, we expressed frustration with the pace of the process to confirm that unlicensed LTE-U technology can fairly coexist with Wi-Fi,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 15-105 on a meeting with Edward Smith, aide to Chairman Tom Wheeler. “The continued delay and uncertainty inherent in the current process, which allows the Wi-Fi community to delay the timing of testing, and consequently the ability of manufacturers to obtain equipment authorization, makes it difficult or impossible for manufacturers to develop commercial products.”

Union Wireless joined the Competitive Carriers Association Device Hub, CCA said Monday. “With this platform, we have one place to choose devices, customize settings … and pre-load apps, and test and certify devices before launch,” said Brian Woody, Union Wireless chief customer relations officer. “Through this venture, we can provide an optimized experience for our customers on our network.” Union has 60,000 subscribers in the U.S. West, a CCA news release said.

Lenovo will use Immersion’s TouchSense haptic technology for Windows and Android devices in smartphones and tablets, in a multiyear agreement announced Monday. It covers Lenovo’s use of TouchSense software for mobile devices with single and dual actuators. Haptic technology lets manufacturers simulate the connected experience of the physical world on mobile devices.

Samsung Electronics America plans 5G demo tests near Verizon HQ in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, said a request for FCC special temporary authority (STA). “We will be operating at low power and within a very limited area of operation.” Samsung asked for an STA that would start July 16 and run six months.

The outlook for Sprint is “bullish,” based on a meeting she had last week with top executives, Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche wrote investors Monday. “There are many good things happening at Sprint right now operationally, with its capital structure and with its network improvement,” she wrote. “The biggest challenge [Sprint] has right now is improving the brand image and adjusting its distribution to help with this brand building effort. That said, it is difficult for us to identify any near term negative headline to derail the shares beyond macro noise.” CEO Marcelo Claure characterized Sprint as "in a good place" on subscriber churn, Fritzsche said. Sprint said permitting for its small-cell deployment is ahead of schedule, she wrote. “Sprint carries more ‘tonnage per subscriber’ of data than any other carrier in the US -- yet it is using only less than 25 percent of its 2.5 GHz spectrum holdings.”

The FCC should refrain from imposing limits on buying high-frequency spectrum, Verizon said in a letter to the agency. The carrier responded to a Thursday fact sheet by the FCC, which said the rules as circulated would limit carriers to buying 1250 MHz of spectrum in the bands in the initial auctions, with a threshold of 1250 MHz for case-by-case review of secondary market transactions (see 1606240026). “A spectrum limit for 5G-suitable bands above some arbitrary threshold could thwart 5G innovation and undermine speedy deployment at this critical time, when much is still unknown about 5G,” Verizon said. “Given that the Spectrum Frontiers Further Notice will propose making an additional 17.7 GHz of [millimeter wave] spectrum available, there will be no dearth of mmW spectrum available as 5G technologies and services develop.” T-Mobile earlier urged the commission to establish a screen to weigh secondary market transactions, while imposing a cap on buys of high-frequency spectrum in FCC auctions (see 1606210034). The Verizon filing was posted Monday in docket 14-177.

BlackBerry’s QNX car infotainment platform gives the company “good leverage into the connected car opportunity,” CEO John Chen said on an earnings call. "We’ve built and operate a secure end-to-end system to deliver over-the-air software updates to cars,” Chen said: QNX comes from BlackBerry technology for updating 50 million mobile phones in more than 100 countries, with "very notable industry players,” he said. BlackBerry continues to make “good progress on driving towards profitability” in its smartphone business, which is under the new Mobility Solutions sector, Chen said Thursday. New executive leadership in Mobility Solutions “will focus on a lean and agile development approach” toward the smartphone business, and on “opening up new distribution channels to augment the traditional carrier channels,” he said. The company has signed “new and more favorable agreements with manufacturing partners,” Chen said. BlackBerry was able to deliver its Android 6.0 Marshmallow release “on schedule,” he said: It’s also “the only vendor that has kept pace with Google in delivering timely Android security patches at the start of every month."

AT&T apparently decided to move forward with an all-LTE future for cellular IoT applications, said Jennifer Fritzsche, analyst at Wells Fargo, Friday in an email to investors. “The company previously said it would review other technology options, such as Low-Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) specifications, but ultimately decided to standardize on the LTE stack vs. unlicensed bands.”

The FCC Wireless Bureau approved a limited waiver of cell signal booster rules sought by Kathrein Automotive for the Kathrein compensator. The compensator is a type of signal booster Kathrein plans to offer to vehicle manufacturers, which will install and embed the product in their vehicles, the bureau said in an order Friday. “Kathrein contends that the product falls outside the goals of the consumer labeling rules due to the unique placement of the compensator within vehicles and that application of those rules would not advance the public interest. We agree, and hereby grant the waiver request.” The waiver was approved despite strong protests by AT&T and Verizon, which filed objections when the FCC sought comment last summer (see 1508210028).

Binge On and other T-Mobile “uncarrier” initiatives contributed to the carrier's recent success, said CEO John Legere and other executives in meetings at the FCC, said an ex parte filing. “These consumer-friendly initiatives, backed by industry-leading technology and network performance, have allowed T-Mobile to grow from 33 million customers to nearly 66 million,” the filing said. “The company representatives explained that T-Mobile continues to aggressively expand the scope and improve the quality of our network to better serve our customers.” T-Mobile reported on meetings with Chairman Tom Wheeler, General Counsel Jonathan Sallet, and Commissioners Mike O’Rielly, Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel. Legere earlier tweeted about his visits to the agency, without supplying details (see 1606230065). T-Mobile executives also “expressed support for the FCC moving forward in the Spectrum Frontiers proceeding to identify and allocate spectrum to support licensed 5G services,” the filing said. “High band spectrum will be an important component for meeting the explosive demand for data, which continues to be driven by video, but will expand even further as the Internet of Things more fully develops.” But carriers want certainty so licensed spectrum is important, T-Mobile said. “The representatives also discussed T-Mobile's support for and leadership in Wi-Fi, noting that T-Mobile customers make some 22 million Wi-Fi calls a day and are able to move seamlessly between Wi-Fi and the wide-area network,” said the filing in 14-177 and other dockets.