The Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee meets Wednesday 1-4 p.m. NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling will make opening remarks, and Paige Atkins, associate administrator of the NTIA Office of Spectrum Management, will deliver a spectrum update, said an agenda. The administration advisory panel will also hear reports from subcommittees, including on federal access to non-federal bands (bidirectional sharing), government and industry collaboration, measurement and sensing in the 5 GHz band, 5G wireless, and a Spectrum Access System spectrum data base international extension. The meeting is being webcast at an NTIA Web page.

The FCC should ensure wireless carriers can identify handsets complying with rules on hearing aid compatibility, said Commissioner Michael O’Rielly in a blog post following up on a vow he made Nov. 19 to seek a fix (see 1511190032). He said there is no definitive list of HAC-compliant handsets, causing confusion and “unnecessary and time-consuming enforcement actions against wireless providers, which, oftentimes through no fault of their own, procured” handsets that don't meet the agency’s standards. “In fact, hundreds of thousands of dollars have been paid in FCC penalties just because available data regarding hearing aid compatibility compliance turned out to be inaccurate,” he said. O’Rielly said compiling such a list “can be done post haste” because industry participants already submit necessary information on Form 655. O’Rielly said he is pleased commissioners agreed to seek comment on the issue in the FCC’s recent Further NPRM aimed at expanding its HAC rules: “Without prejudging the comments to be received, the answers to the questions should provide a sufficient platform to address a flaw in our hearing aid compatibility requirements.”

Several cellular carriers filed a petition for reconsideration against the incentive auction application procedure public notice because of its limitations on which applicants are eligible for Rural Service Provider Bidding Credits, said a document posted online in docket 14-252 Tuesday. The credits, designed to make auction participation easier for rural companies, are limited to “providers of commercial communications services,” excluding carriers wholly owned by rural service providers, said Bulloch Cellular, Pineland Cellular and Planters Rural Cellular, member companies of PBP Group, which is also listed as a petitioner. “Limiting Rural Service Provider Bidding Credit eligibility in this manner could have a chilling effect on the use of innovative business relationships between rural service providers and dampen Incentive Auction competition,” said the petition. The PN “prevents an LLC comprised of rural service providers” from being eligible for a Rural Service Provider Bidding Credit, “on its face,” the petition said. The FCC should change the rules so that an entity wholly owned by rural service providers could receive the credit, the petition said.

The FirstNet board will have two open meetings in Houston, Dec. 8 and 9, said a notice in Monday's Federal Register. A joint meeting of FirstNet's four board committees will be held 8-10 a.m. CST Dec. 8,: Governance and Personnel; Finance; Technology; and Consultation and Outreach. The committees will then go into a closed session 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m., the notice said. The full FirstNet board plans an open public meeting 8-10:30 a.m. Dec. 9. The agenda for the meetings wasn't posted.

Changes to rules designed to facilitate the use of vehicular repeater units are on circulation at the FCC, though they're "fairly noncontroversial changes," an agency source tell us. The source didn't provide details. The FCC in August approved public safety use vehicular repeater systems and other mobile repeaters in six more control and telemetry channels in the VHF band (see 1508100055).

Movado CEO Efraim Grinberg expects “a lot of evolution” in smartwatches, he said on an earnings call. And President Ricardo Quintero thinks “there is a big runway in front" of the category in international market potential, he said Tuesday. For Movado, which introduced its first smartwatches a week ago, it’s “too early to predict” how big a business connected devices will be for the company, Grinberg said. The Movado Motion smartwatch line was fashioned through a collaboration with Silicon Valley-based Fullpower Technologies, while the Movado Bold Motion line is the result of work done with Hewlett-Packard, Movado said in a Nov. 16 announcement. Both lines were created with iOS- and Android-compatible apps and will be available in time for the peak holiday selling season, it said.

T-Mobile provides service to its customers who travel within Alaska through a partnership with General Communications Inc. (GCI) because the geography, climate, terrain and government land-ownership issues make it challenging for T-Mobile to do it on its own, the company said in an FCC filing Tuesday in docket 15-265. Because T-Mobile doesn't have the infrastructure to deploy services in Alaska, it chose to use one of the facilities-based operators serving the state that could make more efficient use of the spectrum covered by the license involved in the transaction in question -- consent to assign a lower 700 MHz A block license. GCI, as well as both T-Mobile and GCI's customers, will benefit because the sale of the license will ensure that spectrum covered by the license will be deployed more quickly than it might otherwise be, the filing said. GCI will also benefit from acquiring additional low-band spectrum that provides more coverage over large distances than high- or mid-band spectrum and can reduce network deployment costs in rural areas, T-Mobile said. T-Mobile will benefit from having an enhanced network for customers to roam on.

M2M Spectrum Networks and PCIA met with the FCC on the company's request for a proceeding to let business/industrial/land transportation license applicants provide for-profit service to "eligibles" for those categories. The agency should "eliminate special privileges for incumbent users" in the 800 MHz band, said the association on a meeting including PCIA CEO Jonathan Adelstein and M2M representatives with Wireless Bureau officials. "Machine-to-Machine ('M2M') applications can be utilized in both regional and national scopes and impact a variety of verticals including the retail, education, and entertainment sectors," said a PCIA filing posted Wednesday to RM-11719. "As the technology is in its nascent stage, however it is important that the FCC allow for innovation and competition to thrive as these applications develop and mature." Though PCIA backed the company's request, the Enterprise Wireless Alliance and other groups raised concerns (see 1509220034).

Comments on the ex parte proposal made by FirstNet to facilitate the relocation of incumbent public safety communications systems operation on Band 14 are due Dec. 9, said a notice published by the FCC Public Safety Bureau in Wednesday's Federal Register. In its ex parte filing, FirstNet said its board recently approved a Spectrum Relocation Grant Program designed to facilitate the relocation of Band 14 incumbents, and it expects a federal funding opportunity for the grant program to be released in early 2016.

The FCC should encourage public safety answering points to implement 911 call-blocking methods directly, either within the PSAP's networks or on customer premises equipment, CTIA said in an ex parte notice posted Wednesday in docket 08-51. Even though PSAPs are worried about fraudulent or harassing 911 calls from non-service-initialized wireless handsets, CTIA said the FCC's record shows that millions of legitimate 911 calls are made from NSI devices.