NTIA published amendments to the regulations for its Technical Panel, giving it the new responsibility to review and approve plans submitted by federal entities that request funding from the Spectrum Relocation Fund. The 2015 Spectrum Pipeline Act requires the panel to approve or disapprove a spectrum pipeline plan within 120 days after a federal entity submits it, NTIA said. The act dedicates $500 million from the Spectrum Relocation Fund “on the date of enactment and not more than 10 percent of future deposits for the Office of Management and Budget to make payments to federal entities for research and development, engineering studies, economic analyses, or other planning activities intended to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the spectrum use,” NTIA said. The changes took effect Thursday with publication in the Federal Register.

“Effective immediately,” any application for Antenna Structure Registration (ASR) that has been pending for more than 10 months and was not submitted with an environmental assessment will be returned to the applicant, the FCC Wireless Bureau said Thursday. “If an applicant wishes to complete a returned application, it may resubmit the application within 60 days of having the application returned,” the bureau said. “An application will be dismissed if the applicant does not resubmit the application within this time period, and thereafter the applicant would need to file a new application.” A growing number of applicants aren't filing EAs in a timely manner, the bureau said. “By dismissing older applications that are not awaiting any Commission action, we ensure that pending applications in the ASR system do not become stale,” the bureau said in its public notice.

The Office of Management and Budget approved, “on an emergency basis,” a revision to collection requirements on FCC Form 175, the “short-form” application that will be used to bid in the forward part of the TV incentive auction. A notice to that effect is set for publication in the Federal Register Friday. OMB approved the information collection requirements, the notice said. Applications to bid in the forward auction are due Feb. 9, but the filing window opens Monday.

An unexpected spike in U.S. online sales via smartphones in the week before Christmas led to a 12.7 percent bump in holiday season sales versus the 2014 period, Tyler White, manager-Adobe Digital Index, told us. A record $83 billion was spent online Nov. 1-Dec. 31, for 28 percent of total 2015 online sales, Adobe said. U.S. online spending jumped 56 percent year over year on Dec. 23, generating $920 million in sales. Traffic from smartphones drove most of the growth, White told us. A big shift occurred with what consumers could accomplish shopping with their phones this season, White said. Retailers have done a good job making the mobile shopping experience easier and more useful, said White. Cyber Monday led all online shopping days with $3.07 billion in receipts, he said. Retailers will gear e-commerce sites toward the smaller screen shopping experience, he said. “It used to be that you designed for the traditional PC first, but going forward I think people will develop a smaller format for a phone and then make it work on the desktop as well.” Other researchers have predicted similar trends (see 1601080061).

Comments to the FCC are due March 21 under the Paperwork Reduction Act regarding reporting and record-keeping duties of recipients of USF Mobility Fund Phase I support. The FCC estimates it will take respondents up to 15,874 hours collectively to comply with requirements in submitting Form 690, according to a notice Wednesday in the Federal Register.

T-Mobile renewed its attack on AT&T’s proposed buy of three lower 700 MHz C-block licenses from East Kentucky Network, saying the FCC should show “aspirational words” on competitive markets in the agency’s 2014 mobile holdings order don’t “ring hollow.” Last week, AT&T called T-Mobile’s opposition to the deal “magenta madness” and asked the FCC to wrap up an order on the transaction, saying it would help the carrier deploy LTE in the markets covered (see 1601110062). “If ever there were a transaction the FCC should deny under ‘enhanced factor’ review, it is AT&T's proposed acquisition of low-band spectrum in parts of West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky,” T-Mobile said in its latest filing. “These are mostly rural markets where AT&T already controls 60 percent of the market in some areas and stands to benefit from excluding competitive entry.” The letter was posted by the FCC Wednesday in docket 15-79.

Verizon's announcement it's moving forward on a sponsored data program (see 1601190070) should be seen as a sign that markets are working, Randolph May, president of the Free State Foundation, said in an emailed statement. “This experimentation is the way that business models evolve to meet consumer demands for services they value, and it is especially important to allow such experimentation to continue at this stage of the Internet's development,” May said. “Of course, the other aspect of plans like Verizon's and others is that, by allowing content providers to pay for some of the overall network costs, end user consumers are required to pay less. Thus zero-rating and sponsored data plans are even more beneficial to low-income persons than those further up the income scale.” May said it's odd that many “so-called consumer groups” object to zero-rated plans. “I don't think there have been that many objections raised by real live actual consumers,” he said. Mark Jamison, visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said sponsored data is nothing new and networks have provided free content delivery for decades. “Denying sponsored data hurts the poor,” he said in a written statement. "Opponents see sponsored data as an exercise of market power. Indeed some developing countries are prohibiting the practice in the name of net neutrality.”

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against advertising firm Campbell-Ewald in a class-action case, saying Wednesday the lawsuit can proceed over claims the company violated a federal consumer law by sending unsolicited text messages on behalf of the U.S. Navy. The messages were part of a recruitment drive and were sent to around 100,000 people, emailed Sheppard Mullin class-action defense lawyer David Almeida. In September 2014, a court ruled the case could move forward despite a settlement offer to lead plaintiff Jose Gomez, Almedia said. The Supreme Court upheld a ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, rejecting Campbell-Ewald's bid to avoid the class action case -- Campbell-Ewald v. Gomez. Campbell-Ewald had argued that the court had no grounds to hear the case brought by Gomez on behalf of himself and others who received the messages because the advertising firm offered to pay Gomez the maximum amount available under the law to settle the claims. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing on behalf of the Supreme Court majority, said an "unaccepted settlement offer ... does not moot a plaintiff's case." Three of the court's conservatives, including Chief Justice John Roberts, dissented. Roberts said basic legal principles dictate that the case should have been brought to a close once the offer was made. "When a plaintiff files suit seeking redress for an alleged injury, and the defendant agrees to fully redress that injury, there is no longer a case or controversy," Roberts wrote. The case is one of three in the current Supreme Court term in which the justices are hearing class-action appeals, with one other brought by Spokeo.

FirstNet will do what it can to protect public safety operations as it clears incumbent systems from Band 14 (758-769/788-799 MHz), the band the authority is using to build its network, FirstNet representatives told FCC officials in a meeting at the commission. “We highlighted that FirstNet’s intent is to ensure that the relocation process is fair and equitable,” the authority said in a filing at the agency. “FirstNet was tasked with building a nationwide, interoperable public safety broadband network for first responders. We take this public safety mission seriously and will ensure that Band 14 incumbent licensees are able to maintain reliable operations during their relocation.” Various states and groups filed comments on the relocation at the FCC in December (see 1512100019). The FirstNet officials said they're developing a grant program to pay transition costs. But they said the FCC shouldn't set itself up as an arbiter if disagreements occur between FirstNet and licensees. “A dispute resolution process would not only delay the deployment of the [network], but would also run counter to Congressional intent,” FirstNet said. The filing was posted in docket 12-94.

APCO urged the FCC to take prompt action to sunset a requirement that retired handsets, known as non-service-initialized (NSI) devices, still be able to connect to 911. APCO cited a November filing by CTIA in which the wireless association said no one has a count on how many 2G phones are still in circulation and are being used by some as a way of calling 911 in an emergency. CTIA estimated as many as 136 million 2G handsets are still in circulation, but will no longer be able to contact 2G at some point as carriers shut down their 2G networks. That dynamic is important, APCO said. “Reduced NSI access to 9-1-1 resulting from technology retirements will only worsen as carriers shut down 2G, and then 3G networks,” the filing said. “To address this situation, it should be the wireless industry, not [911 call centers], that leads efforts to educate affected consumers. The carriers should be responsible for managing expectations related to their networks, and their responsibility includes educating all affected parties, not just their remaining subscribers.” APCO officials said they met with Public Safety Bureau staff to discuss the problem. National Emergency Number Association officials reported on a separate meeting with bureau staffers on the issue. “NENA’s representatives stressed the extreme importance of solving the NSI problem on a short timeframe,” NENA said. “We explained that the cost burden to Public Safety Answering Points from the added equipment, telecommunications services, and personnel required to handle the flood of NSI calls -- most of which do not relate to actual emergencies -- has become unsustainable.” The filings were posted in docket 08-51. CTIA did not comment.