Allowing the use of 700 MHz reserve channels for deployable trunked systems is beneficial to public safety and will help emergency response communications and interoperability at major incidents or large planned events, the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council said in a blog post Friday. Regional planning committees may now use the channels in their plans for deployable trunked systems outside of T-band areas, NPSTC said. Any public safety T-band incumbent seeking to relocate must be given priority access to the channels, the post said. NPSTC and the National Regional Planning Council earlier this month released a report on recommended technical solutions to implement the new deployable trunked systems. It recommended best practices to enable improved interoperability among public safety entities that implement deployable trunked systems.

While seeking FCC approval of transfer of control to General Motors' current board, OnStar now also is asking for special temporary authority to keep operating the wireless communications that make up its hands-free calling service, it said in an International Bureau filing posted Thursday. GM has blamed the several years lateness on applying for the transfer of control to "administrative oversight" (see 1510190054) and the automaker said in its application Thursday it "is committed to meeting all of its FCC obligations in the future [including] taking steps to ensure that relevant GM personnel are made aware of ... license transfer of control rules so that a similar administrative oversight can be avoided in the future."

The Competitive Carriers Association fully supports efforts to curb special access prices, CCA President Steve Berry said Friday in a blog post. “Competitive carriers face a number of obstacles trying to compete with the largest national carriers, and with the upcoming incentive auction around the corner, carriers are monitoring their resources more closely than ever before,” Berry wrote. “Competitive carriers should not have to face monopoly rents for necessary inputs purchased from competitors. Limited resources are better directed toward providing the most robust service possible to their customers rather than paid to affiliates of the largest wireless carriers.” The FCC already has the information it needs to review the market for these services, Berry said. The agency recently launched an investigation into the special access terms and conditions of AT&T, CenturyLink, Frontier and Verizon in the market for business data services (see 1510160060).

Ruckus Wireless said it bought closely held Cloudpath Networks, a provider of secure Wi-Fi onboarding software. Onboarding offers a simple way for a new device to be brought onto a Wi-Fi network. Ruckus said it will immediately include Cloudpath software with its Smart Wi-Fi portfolio. “Cloudpath has a particularly strong business and reputation in the education market, given the need for schools to easily and securely manage an ever-changing array of users and devices,” Ruckus said in a Thursday news release. “Cloudpath was also first in the industry to support Chromebook devices, helping schools securely integrate that fast-growing platform into their classrooms.”

“Sprint puts its customers first and is always working to provide clear and necessary information to customers,” a spokesman said in an email Thursday about its settlement with the FTC for violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act (see 1510210066). “The FTC's relatively new Risk Based Pricing Rule requires certain specific disclosures in specific formats be provided by letter to ASL [Account Spending Limit] customers and applicants,” the spokesman said. Sprint has always “clearly disclosed to consumers during the sales transaction and in multiple notices after the transaction” its $7.99 Spending Limit Program Charge to “ensure customers are aware of and not surprised by the charge,” he said. “The FTC agreed that we were including almost all of the relevant information in our ASL letters, but requested that we modify the format of the letter,” he said. “The Account Spending Limit program is designed to provide postpaid wireless services to customers who may not otherwise qualify for postpaid service,” he said. “We appreciated the dialogue with the FTC and we have already implemented the changes requested by the FTC," he said.

FirstNet plans to make certain that Band 14 (758-769/788-799 MHz) is cleared by mid-summer 2017, the leaders of the public safety network told the FCC in a letter posted by the commission Thursday in docket 06-229. The band provides the 700 MHz spectrum for the network. In August, the FirstNet board authorized funds for moving some public safety agencies out of the band, the authority said. “With the continued assistance of the Commission and the cooperation of Band 14 public safety incumbents, the relocation assistance grant program will allow Band 14 spectrum to be cleared for the deployment and operation of the [nationwide broadband public safety network], while ensuring that the public safety entities operating communications systems on Band 14 have an appropriate lead time, as well as assistance funds, to facilitate the relocation of their public safety operations.” Federal funds for the clearing are to be released in early 2016 and are expected to pay for frequency coordination, technical assistance and equipment retuning, FirstNet said. “The program performance period will likely extend through July 31, 2017, but FirstNet hopes that all of the Band 14 spectrum will be clear well prior to that date.”

AT&T added 2.5 million net new wireless connections in Q3, the company said in a news release Thursday. That included 289,000 postpaid and 466,000 prepaid net adds, the highest number of prepaid adds in eight years, AT&T said. But the biggest growth came through device additions -- 1.6 million in the quarter, including 1 million connected cars. Total wireless churn was 1.33 percent. Other business lines grew at more modest rates -- 26,000 domestic net adds for DirecTV and 192,000 IP broadband net adds. Consolidated revenue was up 19 percent over the year-earlier quarter, driven by DirecTV revenue, at $39.1 billion. Adjusted net income came in at $3 billion, versus $3.1 billion in the same quarter last year. AT&T Chief Financial Officer John Stephens said on a call with analysts he sees the net add of prepaid customers, after losing them in the same quarter last year, as the “big story” of the quarter. “This has been a remarkable turn around story for us,” he said. Stephens also emphasized AT&T’s progress in Mexico, where the company recently bought Nextel’s wireless properties and carrier Iusacell. By the end of the year, AT&T expects to cover 40 million POPs with 4G LTE, he said. AT&T is still integrating the two networks, Stephens said. “This is the heavy lifting of the wireless business, but we have done it before and we are confident we can do it again successfully,” he said. “We are also confident that we will grow market share.”

Industry has nothing to fear from the FCC, despite concerns raised by Google and others that the agency’s new device certification rules would prohibit third-party firmware installation on devices, including Wi-Fi routers, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said Thursday during a news conference. The FCC has received numerous comments raising that concern (see 1509300063). “I think that everybody ought to calm down and take a deep breath,” Wheeler said. “What we were doing was putting out a notice talking about the responsibility of Wi-Fi routers not to interfere with other pieces of spectrum, which is important, of course, for their own operation.” The FCC only wanted to “flush out” concerns, he said. “There is no way, shape or form” that it was intended to do the “nefarious” things some fear, Wheeler said.

TracFone told the FCC it supports rules in its recent Lifeline reform order requiring eligible telecom carriers to retain for three years and make available for audit copies of customer eligibility documentation as well as documentation that was reviewed to verify subscriber information for the National Lifeline Accountability Database dispute resolution process. The FCC said in the order that the revised rules would “benefit the integrity of the program,” the low-cost carrier said in a filing in docket 11-42. “TracFone concurs fully with that conclusion.”

Sprint will pay $2.95 million in civil penalties to settle FTC charges the company “failed to give proper notice to consumers who were placed in” an Account Spending Limit “program for customers with lower credit scores and charged an extra monthly fee” of $7.99 in addition to cellphone and data services charges, an FTC news release said Wednesday. “Sprint failed to give many consumers required information about why they were placed in a more costly program, and when they did, the notice often came too late for consumers to choose another mobile carrier,” FTC Consumer Protection Bureau Director Jessica Rich said. In addition to having to pay a $2.95 million penalty for violating the Risk-Based Pricing Rule, the FTC is also requiring Sprint to abide by the rule’s requirements in the future; provide the required notices to consumers within five days of their signing up for Sprint service or by a date that gives them the ability to avoid recurring charges like those in the Account Spending Limit program; and send corrected risk-based pricing notices to consumers who received incomplete notices from the company, the release said. The commission vote to authorize FTC staff to refer the complaint to the Justice Department and to approve the proposed stipulated order was unanimous. The DOJ submitted the proposed order on behalf of the FTC to the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas on Wednesday. The order is subject to court approval, the release said.