The FCC pleading cycle was set on petitions for reconsideration on revised Part 15 rules to permit unlicensed national information infrastructure devices in the 5 GHz band. Oppositions to the petitions are due June 23 and replies July 5, said a commission notice published Wednesday in the Federal Register. The petitions to revise out-of-band emission limits were filed by two auto groups -- the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and Global Automakers (see 1605090052) -- and by the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association in docket 13-49.

Sprint’s stock price is on the rebound, but there are plenty of reasons for investors to have doubts, said Craig Moffett, analyst at MoffettNathanson, Wednesday in a blog post. “Obviously, no company can borrow its way out of debt. But Sprint has successfully pulled off a series of clever financial engineering maneuvers that have provided additional liquidity, and at a generally lower cost of borrowing than that of Sprint’s existing debt,” Moffett wrote. But Moffett questioned some of the numbers, particularly recent write-downs based on property, plant and equipment (PP&E). In a recent 10-K filing, Sprint revealed an “astonishing” $256 million write-down on leased devices, “part of a huge $487 [million] loss on disposals of PP&E in Fiscal 2015, which accelerated throughout the fiscal year,” he said. The leasing loss number “gives one pause,” he said. At a $650 average value per leased handset, that translates to 393,000 customers “simply walking off with a Sprint handset at lease inception, without ever making a single payment.” Sprint closed at $3.82 Wednesday, down 9 cents for the day.

The automotive and transportation industries must expand the scope and relevance of 5G cellular connectivity to enable vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X) communication for future vehicles, said an ABI report Wednesday. By 2025, ABI forecasts, 67 million automotive 5G vehicle subscriptions will be active, and 3 million of those will be low-latency connections deployed primarily in autonomous and driverless cars. ABI said 5G will “unify connectivity” in autonomous vehicles, enabling broadband multimedia streaming, cloud services for vehicle lifecycle management and the capturing and uploading of sensor data. V2X communication will enable “cooperative mobility,” which will allow vehicles to exchange status and event information via reliable, low-latency communication technologies so vehicles proactively can share “critical events happening locally with each other” to ensure safe driving practices, it said. The most promising capability of 5G for automotive applications will be its low latency, potentially as low as one millisecond, but that will require underlying URLL (ultra-reliable low latency) 5G capabilities based on the use of millimeter wave bands, latency reduction techniques and advanced device-to-device (D2D) communication, said ABI analyst Dominique Bonte. Whether those latencies will be achieved will depend on 5G standards and deployment strategies, "but the question is not so much if, but when the industry will embrace the disruptive approach,” said Bonte. Currently, the telecommunications industry is upgrading LTE/4G networks, Bonte said, but it will eventually build new radio access networks (RANs) based on millimeter waves. Bonte gave the second half of next decade as the timetable for RANs when “very low-latency capabilities will be achievable and V2X-enabled smart mobility applications will be possible.”

AT&T sold fewer handset upgrades but more protection since it began selling smartphones at full price without subsidies, said AT&T Senior Vice President Steve Hodges Wednesday at the Baird 2016 Global Consumer, Technology & Services Conference in New York. AT&T previously sold expensive phones at what appeared to be low prices, subsidizing the high cost with higher service rates. But today, customers pay either full price upfront or smaller monthly payments over time. In the live-streamed presentation, Hodges said the increased transparency about price has meant consumers better understand the value of their devices and take more care to extend their lifespans. AT&T had its lowest handset upgrade rate ever in Q1, but the company also sold more cases, screen protectors and handset insurance, he said. “There was this unintended element of people seeing the value and all of the sudden starting to take care of it differently.” But “iconic” phone launches could still sway consumers to buy the latest model, said Hodges. “This is like global warming -- I don't know. It's just a tough one to predict.” Also in the presentation, Hodges said AT&T sees IoT, the Cricket brand and expansion into Mexico as big growth opportunities. Most connected cars are on the AT&T network, he said. Cricket, which targets “low-end” customers seeking value, has strong average revenue per user, he said. And Mexico is a market of 80 million people that also gives AT&T the capability to provide roaming between the U.S. and its southern neighbor, “a powerful proposition,” he said.

The FCC needs a better handle on what uses of the 5.9 GHz band protect the “safety of life” of vehicle drivers, as the agency moves forward on rules for sharing the band between Wi-Fi and dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) systems designed to prevent motor vehicle accidents, FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said Wednesday in a blog post. “Fundamentally, the benefits of allowing unlicensed services in the 5.9 GHz band could be considerable,” O’Rielly wrote. “The proximity to other unlicensed spectrum means the possibility of huge advancements in functionality, including gigabit Wi-Fi. Providing non-safety-of-life DSRC applications the same protection as safety-of-life uses, however, would unnecessarily restrict the use of unlicensed devices, if and when the Commission approves sharing in the band.” The FCC released a public notice last week seeking to refresh the record on the 5.9 GHz band (see 1605260059). Certain potential uses of the spectrum don’t save lives, O’Rielly said, offering a partial list. These include locating and paying for parking, electronic tolling, mapping, navigating or driving directions, advertising, any type of social media or entertainment, or traffic updates, O’Rielly said.

Representatives of Nextlink Wireless explained in meetings with FCC staff their opposition to an FCC proposal to license the 28 GHz band on an unprecedented county-by-county basis. There's broad opposition to the commission’s “novel, never-before-tested county-based proposed licensing scheme,” Nextlink said. The proposal would create “financial and technical burdens” for companies interested in using the spectrum. “Nextlink chronicled the specific financial challenges that county-based licensing would create for an operator in its position to meet substantial service requirements on a county-by-county basis,” said a filing in docket 14-177. “These costs include both capital expenditures and ongoing operating expenditures for each new site Nextlink would deploy within a county.” Nextlink said its upfront costs for each new site would include “the purchase of radios, fiber connectivity, telemetry routers, as well as construction, permitting and real estate fees -- potentially totaling in the tens of millions of dollars.”

Federated Wireless CEO Iyad Tarazi and others from the company met with FCC staff about use of the spectrum sharing technologies Federated is developing for the 3.5 GHz band in high-frequency bands. “Federated Wireless also reiterated its support for the Commission’s efforts to make spectrum available for premises occupants and other indoor users through innovative sharing regimes and encouraged the Commission to continue seeking such solutions in the millimeter wave and other bands, including at 37 GHz,” Federated said in a filing in docket 14-177. “Federated Wireless urged the Commission to foster the development of a robust shared spectrum ecosystem, including through the establishment of near-term ‘use or share’ obligations for licensees.” The Federated executives met with officials from the Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology.

The 800 MHz rebanding is substantially complete nationwide, except for areas along the borders with Mexico and Canada, Sprint said in a report filed in docket 02-55 at the FCC. The rebanding has been underway since 2004. Only 13 of the 55 National Public Safety Planning Advisory Committee (NPSPAC) regions are incomplete, Sprint said. “Excluding the five Regions located within in the U.S.-Mexican Border Area and the State of Washington (Region 43) located in the U.S.-Canada Border Area, only two individual licensees (one public safety and one non-public safety) remain to complete 800 MHz band reconfiguration in the seven non-border NPSPAC areas of the United States,” Sprint said. "These accomplishments demonstrate that, by any measure, the multi-year, multi-billion dollar 800 MHz band reconfiguration project is reaching its final stages."

T-Mobile’s latest “Uncarrier” initiative, unveiled Monday, offers a share of T-Mobile common stock to new subscribers who open a postpaid consumer smartphone account, T-Mobile said in a news release. T-Mobile also is offering current subscribers stock for convincing someone else to open an account. “Get ready for a gratitude adjustment, America!” said CEO John Legere. A share of T-Mobile stock was worth $43.07 at the close of trading on Monday.

DVIGear will demonstrate its DisplayNet 10-gigabit Ethernet technology at InfoComm this week, said the company. DisplayNet switches, extends and distributes uncompressed AV signals in real time at resolutions up to 4K Ultra HD with zero frame latency, compression or artifacts, DVIGear said. Applications include “limitless” matrix switching and video wall displays, it said. DVI Gear also is showing active optical cables that can extend DisplayPort v1.2 4K signals up to 328 feet and a fiber optic extender that supports HDMI 1.4 (or DVI) with or without HDCP, RS-232, bidirectional IR, 10/100 Ethernet and balanced or unbalanced audio over a single optical cable, said the company.