More wireless carriers weighed in on Lifeline reform in comments posted by the FCC (see 1509010073) in docket 10-90 Wednesday. Sprint urged the FCC to use a light hand in imposing new regulations as it moves toward new Lifeline rules. “The Lifeline market -- particularly for wireless Lifeline services -- is robustly competitive, with wireless service offers improving significantly and steadily over the past several years even in the face of higher regulatory compliance costs, higher risk, and higher churn,” Sprint said. While the voice-only support amount should remain at $9.25 monthly per line, a $9.25 subsidy for broadband service, with no subsidy for a broadband device, “will be too low to generate a meaningful increase in broadband subscription by Lifeline customers,” Sprint said. Proposals to cap the Lifeline program are “premature” and should be abandoned by the commission, the carrier said. The FCC also “should decline to adopt any proposal to recover program administration costs exclusively from Lifeline service providers,” Sprint said. “As is the case for every other federal Universal Service program, all Lifeline program costs should be recovered through the general USF contribution factor assessed on all contributors.” A group of wireless eligible telecom carriers, each with fewer than 2,000 Lifeline customers, urged the FCC to cut red tape in the program. “Lifeline providers currently face significant regulatory compliance burdens, including monthly reporting (FCC Form 497), annual reporting (FCC Forms 481 and 555), the need to develop and modify Lifeline enrollment forms, the requirement to review and process certification forms and eligibility documentation during enrollment, the need to upload and manage subscriber information in the National Lifeline Accountability Database (NLAD), the requirement to re-certify all of their Lifeline customers each year, and the need to respond to USAC audits including Payment Quality Assurance (PQA) reviews and other inquiries,” they said. While the FCC is recommending some streamlining of the rules, it's proposing additional regulatory requirements, the small carriers said. “This burden falls disproportionately on small carriers, who cannot spread the regulatory costs of Lifeline compliance -- many of which are fixed costs -- across a large customer base.” Carolina West Wireless, Cellular Network Partnership, East Kentucky Network, Pioneer Telephone Cooperative, Union Telephone and Union Wireless signed the filing.

Kathleen Ham, an expert on spectrum auctions, was named senior vice president in charge of T-Mobile's Washington office, T-Mobile said Wednesday. Andy Levin, former general counsel at Clear Channel, is leaving the company after being named to head the office 13 months ago (see 1407160038), T-Mobile said in a news release. Ham was widely viewed as a leading candidate to replace Tom Sugrue after he retired in April 2014. Ham has been at T-Mobile since 2004, after 14 years at the FCC. She's a former deputy chief of the Wireless Bureau and was the first chief of the agency’s Spectrum Auctions Program, overseeing the first PCS auctions.

Nest Labs unveiled the third-generation Nest Learning Thermostat ($249) Tuesday, with a slimmer profile for closer mounting to a wall, a 40 percent larger, high-resolution screen and an updated user interface. New software features for the latest Nest Thermostat include Farsight, which automatically displays the target temperature or time when it senses movement from across the room, and a diagnostic program that gives advance notice about potential problems with a customer’s heating system, said Nest. Partners for the latest Nest thermostat include ADT, Direct Energy, Infinite Energy, Reliant, Southern Co. and SunEdison. The device is available online at Amazon, BestBuy and Nest.com and will be available soon in Best Buy stores, Google Store, Lowe’s, The Home Depot, Sam’s Club, Target and Verizon Wireless, said Nest.

Amazon added to Prime membership benefits the ability for members in Austria, Germany, the U.K. and U.S. to download select movies and TV episodes to iPhones, iPads and Android phones and tablets for offline viewing at no additional charge. Amazon took aim at competitor Netflix in its announcement of the new Prime perk Tuesday, saying it's the “first and only” online subscription streaming video service that enables downloads of titles, “meaning unlike other subscription streaming services such as Netflix, Prime members can enjoy movies and TV shows as part of their membership even when they don’t have an internet connection available.” The way people watch entertainment is changing, said Michael Paull, Amazon vice president-digital video. “Anytime, anywhere viewing is important and we are excited to provide our Prime members with offline viewing capabilities on iOS and Android platforms.” Netflix didn’t comment.

Samsung announced the Gear S2 smartwatch Tuesday in two versions geared to classic and minimalist tastes. The 0.4-inch-thick watch has a 1.2-inch round screen with 360 x 360 resolution and has a 1-GHz dual-core processor running the Tizen operating system. Users who choose 3G connectivity have access to e-SIM with voice capability, allowing them to perform quick functions without being closely tethered to the phone, said Samsung. The S2 has Bluetooth and near-field communications connectivity and built-in sensors including accelerometer, gyroscope, heart rate, ambient light and barometer. Internal memory is 4 GB with 512 MB RAM, it said. The battery, with wireless charging, has a typical life of two days, said the company.

The Department of Transportation delayed various deadlines on a rulemaking on whether it should prohibit voice calls on scheduled flights within, to and from the U.S. DOT originally expected to release the rulemaking last December, but that was pushed back until March 31, 2016, said a DOT report. Comments are now expected to be due May 23, 2016, DOT said. In December 2013, the FCC approved an NPRM seeking comment on modernizing rules to allow mobile wireless calls on airplanes while in flight (see 1312130061).

Security company AVG said 72 percent of U.S. parents with children aged 3-17 say their children received their first connected mobile device before seventh grade, and one in two “connected” children received his or her first device before first grade, citing findings from a poll conducted by Harris for AVG. Parents are “on the right track” in talking about Internet security with their K-12 children, but they “can do better,” AVG said. Some 72 percent of parents with children aged 3-17 have proactively spoken to their children about the dangers of the Internet, but only 56 percent know the passwords to their children’s connected devices, said AVG. Forty-one percent have installed a parental block on the mobile devices, it said. Some 51 percent of parents said they check their child’s activity at least weekly and one in five monitored the activities less than once a month or not at all, said the survey. "The numbers suggest that many parents are not engaged in knowing what their children are really doing on their devices,” said Tony Anscombe, AVG senior security evangelist. The security company recommends parents have an ongoing discussion on the potential dangers of the Internet with their children and use parental features and other safety measures on the devices. It also encouraged parents to be sure devices are protected from malware. The survey was done online in the U.S. by Harris Poll Aug. 5-12 among 893 parents of children ages 3-17.

CTIA released a request for proposal (RFP) for an administrator for the 911 location accuracy test bed. Proposals are due Oct. 16. CTIA also said Tuesday the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions was chosen as the program manager for the test bed. The RFP follows an FCC order approved in January, requiring carriers to improve their performance in identifying the location of wireless calls to 911 (see 1501290066). “By establishing the test bed and working with ATIS, we are taking key steps toward meeting the FCC’s aggressive timelines,” said 911 Location Technologies Test Bed Vice President Tom Sawanobori.

The FCC released comment deadlines on a proposal to designate a second available vacant channel in the UHF band for use by white space devices and wireless mics in areas where the “duplex gap” is impaired by a TV station. The FCC agreed to seek comment on making the channel available in its incentive auction procedures rules approved in August (see 1508060029). Comments are due Sept. 30, replies Oct. 30, a notice in Tuesday's Federal Register said.

The FCC Wireless Bureau approved PTC-220’s grant of the Alaska portion of five nationwide 220-222 MHz band licenses to the Alaska Railroad so the company can implement positive train control. PTC-220 is a joint venture of the nation’s seven Class I freight railroads. The Alaska Railroad provides freight and passenger service “linking ports and communities to major metropolitan centers such as Anchorage, Fairbanks, and other communities throughout South-central and Interior Alaska,” the bureau said. PTC emerged as a big issue after the deadly May 12 Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia (see 1505150047). “PTC systems, once implemented, are intended to reduce the risk of rail accidents caused by human error, including train-to-train collisions, derailments caused by excessive speed, and unauthorized train movements in work zones,” the bureau said.