The FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology will host a meeting of prospective Spectrum Access System (SAS) administrators and environmental sensing capability (ESC) operators in the 3.5 GHz shared spectrum band Feb. 16, they said. The meeting starts at 9:30 a.m. at FCC headquarters, a Thursday public notice said. FCC staff “will only address questions related to the SAS or ESC requirements or the process for reviewing proposals,” the agency said. Other matters, including those raised in pending petitions for reconsideration in docket 12-354, won't be addressed. Potential SASs and ECSs have until April 15 to file applications with the FCC. The window opened Jan. 15.

Taoglas opened a 16,000-square-foot antenna and RF design center for M2M (machine-to-machine) and IoT applications in San Diego. The facility offers prototyping of antennas and printed circuit boards, and antenna and device testing, the company said. The facility also houses an antenna and cable assembly operation for customers requiring products “in a few days rather than weeks,” President Dermot O’Shea said. The facility targets vendors in IoT looking for off-the-shelf or custom antennas along with design services, O’Shea said.

The FCC Wireless Bureau approved a deal under which Triangle will lease spectrum from Verizon under one partitioned upper 700 MHz C-block license covering five counties in parts of two "very rural" local markets in Montana. “After carefully evaluating the likely competitive effects of the leasing arrangement, we find that the likelihood of competitive harm is low,” the bureau said in the Friday order in docket 15-210. “Some public interest benefits are likely to be realized, such as the expansion of broadband services, increased network quality, and a better consumer experience for consumers living in these very rural areas.”

Sprint moved up the expected date of the release of fiscal Q3 financial results by a week to Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche said the move was likely aimed at stopping its bond and equity “free fall.” Fritzsche said in a note to investors that she welcomes the report. “Our checks would show that S saw some momentum with net adds and continued low churn,” she wrote, referring to its stock symbol. “We continue to believe the bonds (which are trading at distressed levels) and equity are trading a worst case scenario and well below the asset value of the 2.5 GHz spectrum” owned by Sprint, she wrote. Jonathan Chaplin, analyst at New Street Research, said recent Sprint moves on its network mean the carrier won’t be deploying additional macro cell sites (see 1601150061). “We always thought Sprint needed to significantly boost the number of cell sites in order to have a competitive network,” Chaplin wrote. “They may be able to get there more cheaply and quickly using small cells for 2.5 GHz rather than traditional macro cells. The expense savings come primarily from using wireless backhaul for the small cells rather than fibre. The time savings come from a significantly streamlined zoning and permitting process (in many cases none is required at all).” Sprint did not comment.

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.