There’s no secret agenda in the objectives-based request for proposal issued by FirstNet, the authority stressed Thursday on its blog. FirstNet, the independent government authority charged with building a wireless broadband network for public safety, has answered more than 400 questions in the past month about its RFP, wrote James Mitchell, FirstNet director-program management. It released the RFP in January, and proposals are due May 13 (see 1603160052). “Despite our best efforts, some still think we’ve hidden a series of requirements in the RFP to gear the solution to one corner of industry or that we have a specific outcome in mind that can only be achieved by meeting these imaginary requirements,” Mitchell said. “The simple fact is we have an objectives-based RFP, including 16 objectives, for Offerors to address in their proposals. We even ask for a Performance Work Statement … so that Offerors have the freedom and flexibility to produce truly innovative solutions and approaches for the network.” If FirstNet had chosen a requirements-based RFP, it would have restricted offerers from suggesting a different model or surpassing FirstNet’s expectations for the network. “With this RFP, there’s an opportunity to deliver something truly great for public safety,” he said. “Anything else would just be ‘business as usual’ for the Government, and FirstNet is anything but business as usual.”

An FCC order granting Deere a waiver allowing it to install TV white spaces (TVWS) equipment manufactured by Koos on agricultural equipment (see 1603240068) shows that even when lawyers think they have a “regulatory scheme that works,” engineers can come up with a new idea that doesn’t fit, said Mitchell Lazarus, lawyer at Fletcher Heald, Wednesday in a blog post. “Grant of the waiver is subject to 14 specific conditions, and is premised in part on the common-sense observation that waivered devices will be used in rural areas and in large agricultural fields having few broadcasters and widely dispersed TV receivers,” Lazarus wrote. The waiver is effective only in places where at least half the TV channels are available for TVWS use, he said. “That last is bad news because, personally, we were hoping to use the waiver and some TVWS gear to stream the HGTV Channel across the lawn to our suburban John Deere riding mower,” Lazarus deadpanned. “Maybe it’s just as well. The popcorn would bounce all over the place.”

The FCC, especially its incentive auction team, deserves praise for getting the TV incentive auction off to a safe start, Free State Foundation President Randolph May said in a Wednesday blog post. “Often enough -- more than I would like -- I'm in the position of criticizing the FCC's leadership for what I consider to be a seemingly endless string of unduly regulatory decisions that fail to account for the increasingly competitive communications marketplace,” May wrote. “Not today.” Chris Pearson, president of 5G Americas, also marked the start of the auction. “Getting more licensed spectrum to the market for mobile broadband is critical for the U.S. to maintain its lead in delivering high-speed, innovative wireless applications to subscribers,” Pearson said in a news release. The U.S. ked the world on 4G because of earlier FCC auctions, he said. “The U.S. can maintain its leadership by continuing to provide licensed spectrum for the mobile wireless industry.”

The FCC Wireless Bureau granted additional licenses that had been bought in the AWS-3 auction, which ended in January 2015. The bureau approved multiple licenses for Puerto Rico Telephone Company and Smith Bagley, and a single license for Spotlight Media. Granting the licenses “serves the public interest, convenience, and necessity,” the bureau said in a Wednesday notice. The bureau approved its first set of licenses bought in the auction in April 2015.

The FCC rejected a TracFone counsel's appeal to view Lifeline enforcement records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The agency denied an application for review filed by Mitchell Brecher of Greenberg Traurig seeking to reverse a 2014 Wireline Bureau decision. The bureau had denied his FOIA request that sought information relating to FCC notices of apparent liability (NALs) against his firm's client TracFone and 11 other companies for apparently violating Lifeline USF rules by obtaining subsidy support for more than one subscriber from the same household. Brecher narrowed and clarified his request to three categories of records, but the bureau said the documents were exempt from FOIA disclosure. The full commission agreed in an order Tuesday, with Commissioner Mike O'Rielly partially dissenting. He said he agreed the records were exempt from FOIA release but dissented from the application of Exemption 5 to communications between the FCC and the Universal Service Administrative Co. He said USAC was neither part of the FCC nor a separate federal agency, but an independent, private nonprofit corporation. "FCC-USAC communications are clearly neither intra-agency nor inter-agency communications protected by the deliberative process privilege, and should not be treated as such," he said in a statement attached to the order. Brecher didn't comment.

AT&T filed a petition at the FCC outlining a smart grid solution that can be deployed in the unpaired C and D blocks of the Wireless Communications Service band, said Joan Marsh, AT&T vice president-federal regulatory, Wednesday in a blog post. The WCS spectrum presents challenges, especially the need to protect adjacent Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service and Aeronautical Mobile Telemetry users from harmful interference, Marsh wrote. “Notwithstanding these challenges, AT&T remains on pace to deploy mobile and fixed broadband services to satisfy the FCC’s performance requirements for the paired WCS A and B Blocks,” she said. “Finding a noninterfering use for the C and D Blocks, however, has proven more daunting, even with the cooperation of our spectrum neighbors.” AT&T partnered with Nokia to “design and develop a private, highly secure, high-capacity LTE network solution for smart grids -- and related smart cities applications” using the spectrum, she said. “AT&T and Nokia recently began to present this solution to utilities companies across the country and the proposal has garnered significant interest and the support of UTC,” the Utilities Telecom Council, she said. The problem is AT&T won't be able to deploy the solution quickly and broadly enough to meet the build-out requirements for the WCS spectrum, Marsh said. AT&T is requesting a waiver or modification of the deadline, she said. “AT&T’s proposal addresses a longstanding national priority, ensures users of adjacent spectrum are protected from harmful interference, and offers the best near-term prospect for making productive use of the C and D Blocks,” Marsh said.

The FCC’s 2013 consumer signal booster rules are working as intended, improving customer coverage while protecting networks from harmful interference, Verizon said in comments filed at the FCC. There's no need for the FCC to change the rules now, Verizon said. Verizon filed its comments in response to a Feb. 29 public notice by the FCC Wireless Bureau asking about the state of play for boosters. “Under the rules adopted by the Commission, safe and effective consumer signal boosters are being manufactured, certified, and used by consumers on wireless networks,” Verizon said. Verizon has more than 10,000 registered consumer signal booster users on its network “and that number has more than doubled in the last year,” the carrier said. “Any customers that want to purchase a consumer signal booster to enhance coverage in rural or other areas may now choose from multiple booster models designed to work on their service provider’s network.” The comments were posted Wednesday in docket 10-4.

Refinements to system design and diversified applications and power ratings are driving the development of the wireless charging receiver market that’s forecast to pass 1 billion unit shipments by 2020, an IHS report said Tuesday. Integrated receivers went mainstream in 2015, as the wireless charging receiver market grew more than 160 percent last year to 144 million units, IHS said.​ The mobile phone market makes up most of wireless charging receiver shipments, led by Samsung Galaxy smartphones that come equipped with dual-mode Qi and PMA (Power Matters Alliance)-certified low-frequency charging, IHS said. It estimated 10 percent of smartphones shipped this year will be wireless charging-capable. The wearables category is the second-largest segment for wireless charging, led by Apple Watch and Samsung Gear S2, it said. The first high-frequency magnetic resonant receivers are expected to launch in laptop computers this year, spreading adoption of wireless charging to more device types, IHS said.

There's a "need for mission-critical networks to be physically diverse and independently powerable to ensure ongoing operations in the event of natural or man-made disruptions to a portion of the network,” said representatives of FiberTower in a series of bureau-level meetings at the FCC on concerns about the resiliency and security of 5G networks deployed using high-frequency spectrum, according to a filing in docket 14-177. “FiberTower also discussed the measures that can be taken to ensure that 5G communications are physically secure." High-band spectrum is seen by the FCC and carriers as a key part of 5G deployment (see 1603100012). FiberTower said "exclusive licensing” prohibiting use of certain frequencies by anyone other than the licensee and “unique device configurations that preclude access to the communications by devices outside the network” can help make networks more secure. Encryption is also important, the company said.

The FCC should refrain from adopting volume control regulations for wireless handsets, as it tackles revised hearing aid compatibility (HAC) rules, CTIA said in reply comments filed in docket 07-250. Volume controls regulations are “unnecessary in light of modern wireless handset capabilities and regulatory requirements,” the group said. “Volume control regulations would duplicate existing wireless handset capabilities and requirements.” CTIA also said it supports an FCC proposal to adopt a “streamlined process” enabling the industry to “utilize the latest ANSI [American National Standards Institute] standards for wireless handsets.” The commission should not adopt “additional consumer consultation requirements in the process to approve the use of specific standards,” CTIA said. “The Commission should also permit the wireless industry to use updated HAC standards adopted by ANSI-approved bodies prior to the Commission’s formal approval of those standards.” The Telecommunications Industry Association told the FCC it should drop a proposal to require standards development organizations to consult with consumers. “In the NPRM, the Commission acknowledged that the ANSI process meets its specified criteria of openness to all stakeholders and opportunity for comment and appeal before final standards are approved,” TIA said in reply comments. “This point is further supported by the majority of commenters that highlight ANSI processes and discuss the ways consumers have participated in HAC standards development, to date.” TIA also opposed the volume control proposal. The mandate would be “duplicative of existing features without providing enhanced consumer experience,” TIA said.