More than 4,000 letters have been filed at the FCC supporting T-Mobile’s push for changes to the proposed TV incentive auction rules (see 1506150067). The letters were filed in docket 12-268, carrying the letterhead of the Save Wireless Choice coalition. The proceeding is currently the most active at the FCC, with 4,669 filings in the past 30 days, said the agency’s most active proceedings page.

AT&T has a long history of broken promises, said Andy Levin, T-Mobile senior vice president-government affairs, Wednesday in a blog post. Levin reacted to a recent AT&T post that suggested all spectrum licenses sold by the FCC should come with stringent buildout requirements. “The funny thing is that AT&T has a long history of promising to build out broadband to consumers -- then failing to deliver on those promises -- and not just in rural areas, but in urban areas as well,” Levin fired back. In 2006, AT&T promised it would make broadband available to every household in its market area as part of its transaction with BellSouth, Levin wrote. “Six years later, residents in rural Mississippi were still waiting for high speed Internet,” he said. “That’s a long time to wait for a webpage to load.” In 2011, AT&T said it would bring wireless 4G to 95 percent of the U.S. if only the FCC would approve its buy of T-Mobile, he added. “Turns out, that statement was not accurate either,” Levin said. “Within months after the FCC denied the acquisition, AT&T announced plans to expand its LTE network to cover 94.3 percent of American consumers -- without T-Mobile’s help.” AT&T is "un-impressed with the un-carrier’s latest un-intelligible efforts to un-inform the debate," a spokesman said. "The reserve is a set aside; and it will significantly restrict our bidding in 44 out of the top 50 markets, which will leave American consumers who want a successful auction dependent upon T-Mobile and Sprint finally showing up at an auction with something other than actual un-checkbooks.”

Cumulative shipments of wearables are expected to top 750 million units by 2020, with smart watches 45 percent of all delivered products, said research released Monday by Tractica. It said that by 2020, fitness trackers will be 30 percent of total device shipments and wearable cameras will be 15 percent.

The FCC updated its “Public Safety Answering Point Text-to-911 Readiness and Certification Registry,” the Public Safety Bureau said. The registry lists PSAPs that are ready to receive text-to-911 messages. “Pursuant to the Commission’s text-to-911 rules, covered text providers must begin routing 911 text messages to requesting PSAPs within six months of this notice date,” the bureau said.

FCC rules opening the 3.5 GHz band partly for unlicensed use and for small cells, while protecting the Navy systems already in the band, take effect July 23, said an FCC notice in Tuesday's Federal Register. The exceptions are the parts of the rules that contain information collection requirements that aren't effective until approved by OMB. The FCC said it will publish an update when OMB review is complete. The commission approved an order creating the new Citizens Broadband Radio Service in the 3550-3700 MHz band at its April meeting (see 1504170055). “This document implements a three-tiered spectrum authorization framework in the 3550-3700 MHz band to facilitate a variety of small cell and other broadband uses of the band on a shared basis with incumbent federal and non-federal users,” the agency said.

The FCC got projections right on the explosive growth ahead for mobile data traffic in its 2010 National Broadband Plan, but the government has fallen short in meeting the plan’s goals for making more spectrum available for wireless broadband, CTIA said in a report dated Monday. The plan called for 500 MHz to be reallocated to broadband by 2020, with 300 MHz for mobile broadband by 2015, but only 135 MHz have been cleared, less than half the 300 MHz goal, CTIA said. “Looking ahead, projections predict that mobile data traffic by 2019 will be nearly six times the 2014 amount,” CTIA said. “The U.S. commercial wireless industry cannot meet this explosive growth simply through improved engineering, more infrastructure, and the spectrum that is currently scheduled to come online. Rather, the government, industry, and other stakeholders must come together to find additional spectrum bands that can be repurposed from existing uses to mobile broadband.” CTIA President Meredith Baker said the government needs a plan beyond 2020. “The FCC’s thorough projections of our mobile usage from 2010 to 2014 were extraordinarily close to reality,” she said. “To meet the next wave of exponential growth, it is crucial that the government, industry and other stakeholders work together to find more licensed spectrum opportunities.”

T-Mobile asked the FCC to reject AT&T’s proposed buy of three lower 700 MHz C-block licenses from East Kentucky Network. T-Mobile said the proposed deal points to a larger trend of AT&T and Verizon buying up low-band spectrum. “The Commission has repeatedly acknowledged the dominance of AT&T and Verizon in the market for mobile wireless broadband and the potential for harm to competition resulting from the concentrated power of these two companies,” T-Mobile said. If the deal is completed, AT&T would hold more than one-third of the low-band spectrum in two Kentucky markets, Huntington-Ashland and Lexington-Fayette, T-Mobile said. Verizon also has more than 36 megahertz of low-band holdings in the markets, the carrier said. “No other competitor holds more than 14 MHz of low-band spectrum, and T-Mobile holds no low-band spectrum in any of the Markets.” T-Mobile noted it has only 41,977 subscribers in the Lexington region, or 4 percent market share, while AT&T owns more than half the market. “T-Mobile needs access to low-band spectrum in order to better compete in that area against AT&T’s commanding market share,” it said. T-Mobile “should stop complaining and start investing in rural America,” Joan Marsh, AT&T vice president-federal regulatory, replied in a blog post Tuesday. The purchase gives AT&T spectrum it needs to deploy up to a 10x10 megahertz LTE network in the markets, “which will enable AT&T to offer faster and higher quality services to its rural customers,” Marsh said. “The proposed transaction also has no adverse competitive effects. AT&T will not exceed the Commission’s spectrum aggregation screen and -- because the spectrum at issue currently sits completely fallow and unused -- the deal will not reduce any actual competition.”

T-Mobile attorney Ari Fitzgerald of Hogan Lovells discussed the importance of reserve spectrum in the TV incentive auction with Louis Peraertz, aide to FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, said an ex parte filing in docket 12-269. T-Mobile lost in its push to get the agency to approve a spectrum reserve larger than the current 30 MHz, industry and agency officials said last week (see 1506170052). “I discussed the need to ensure that the spectrum reserve established for the forward auction component of the upcoming Incentive Auction is large enough to avoid the risk of anti-competitive foreclosure by the largest mobile carriers, and urged the Commission to adopt spectrum reserve modifications generally consistent with the petition for reconsideration filed by T-Mobile in this proceeding,” Fitzgerald said.

The FCC Wireless Bureau rejected an application by Northwest Utilities Service Co. (NUSCO) to modify its license for an automated maritime telecom system (AMTS) by adding a new location at Mt. Sunapee, New Hampshire. Mission Broadcasting had objected, saying the new transmitter would cause interference to viewers of its WVNY Burlington, Vermont, which broadcasts on Channel 13, the bureau said Monday. “Mission asserts that there are over 30,000 residences within both the proposed AMTS station's predicted interference contour and the television station's noise limited service contour, and the proposed AMTS station is predicted to cause interference to almost 2,300 residences.” The bureau said that as a result it is dismissing the utility company’s application as defective. NUSCO failed to demonstrate that the site is “the only suitable location” for the new AMTS site, the bureau said.

The FCC established a pleading cycle on C Spire’s proposed buy of three lower 700 MHz C-block licenses from Waller Wireless, covering parts of Mississippi. The licenses cover three cellular market areas and would give C Spire 39-84 MHz of spectrum in total in the markets, as well as 24-49 megahertz of below-1-GHz spectrum, the FCC said Monday. “The Applicants assert that the proposed transaction would allow C Spire to augment its spectrum holdings in the applicable markets, offer improved services, and become a stronger competitor,” the agency said. “The Applicants contend that the additional spectrum would permit C Spire to improve capacity and throughput speeds.” Petitions to deny are due July 22, oppositions Aug. 3 and replies Aug. 10.