Verizon's announcement it's moving forward on a sponsored data program (see 1601190070) should be seen as a sign that markets are working, Randolph May, president of the Free State Foundation, said in an emailed statement. “This experimentation is the way that business models evolve to meet consumer demands for services they value, and it is especially important to allow such experimentation to continue at this stage of the Internet's development,” May said. “Of course, the other aspect of plans like Verizon's and others is that, by allowing content providers to pay for some of the overall network costs, end user consumers are required to pay less. Thus zero-rating and sponsored data plans are even more beneficial to low-income persons than those further up the income scale.” May said it's odd that many “so-called consumer groups” object to zero-rated plans. “I don't think there have been that many objections raised by real live actual consumers,” he said. Mark Jamison, visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said sponsored data is nothing new and networks have provided free content delivery for decades. “Denying sponsored data hurts the poor,” he said in a written statement. "Opponents see sponsored data as an exercise of market power. Indeed some developing countries are prohibiting the practice in the name of net neutrality.”

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against advertising firm Campbell-Ewald in a class-action case, saying Wednesday the lawsuit can proceed over claims the company violated a federal consumer law by sending unsolicited text messages on behalf of the U.S. Navy. The messages were part of a recruitment drive and were sent to around 100,000 people, emailed Sheppard Mullin class-action defense lawyer David Almeida. In September 2014, a court ruled the case could move forward despite a settlement offer to lead plaintiff Jose Gomez, Almedia said. The Supreme Court upheld a ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, rejecting Campbell-Ewald's bid to avoid the class action case -- Campbell-Ewald v. Gomez. Campbell-Ewald had argued that the court had no grounds to hear the case brought by Gomez on behalf of himself and others who received the messages because the advertising firm offered to pay Gomez the maximum amount available under the law to settle the claims. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing on behalf of the Supreme Court majority, said an "unaccepted settlement offer ... does not moot a plaintiff's case." Three of the court's conservatives, including Chief Justice John Roberts, dissented. Roberts said basic legal principles dictate that the case should have been brought to a close once the offer was made. "When a plaintiff files suit seeking redress for an alleged injury, and the defendant agrees to fully redress that injury, there is no longer a case or controversy," Roberts wrote. The case is one of three in the current Supreme Court term in which the justices are hearing class-action appeals, with one other brought by Spokeo.

FirstNet will do what it can to protect public safety operations as it clears incumbent systems from Band 14 (758-769/788-799 MHz), the band the authority is using to build its network, FirstNet representatives told FCC officials in a meeting at the commission. “We highlighted that FirstNet’s intent is to ensure that the relocation process is fair and equitable,” the authority said in a filing at the agency. “FirstNet was tasked with building a nationwide, interoperable public safety broadband network for first responders. We take this public safety mission seriously and will ensure that Band 14 incumbent licensees are able to maintain reliable operations during their relocation.” Various states and groups filed comments on the relocation at the FCC in December (see 1512100019). The FirstNet officials said they're developing a grant program to pay transition costs. But they said the FCC shouldn't set itself up as an arbiter if disagreements occur between FirstNet and licensees. “A dispute resolution process would not only delay the deployment of the [network], but would also run counter to Congressional intent,” FirstNet said. The filing was posted in docket 12-94.

APCO urged the FCC to take prompt action to sunset a requirement that retired handsets, known as non-service-initialized (NSI) devices, still be able to connect to 911. APCO cited a November filing by CTIA in which the wireless association said no one has a count on how many 2G phones are still in circulation and are being used by some as a way of calling 911 in an emergency. CTIA estimated as many as 136 million 2G handsets are still in circulation, but will no longer be able to contact 2G at some point as carriers shut down their 2G networks. That dynamic is important, APCO said. “Reduced NSI access to 9-1-1 resulting from technology retirements will only worsen as carriers shut down 2G, and then 3G networks,” the filing said. “To address this situation, it should be the wireless industry, not [911 call centers], that leads efforts to educate affected consumers. The carriers should be responsible for managing expectations related to their networks, and their responsibility includes educating all affected parties, not just their remaining subscribers.” APCO officials said they met with Public Safety Bureau staff to discuss the problem. National Emergency Number Association officials reported on a separate meeting with bureau staffers on the issue. “NENA’s representatives stressed the extreme importance of solving the NSI problem on a short timeframe,” NENA said. “We explained that the cost burden to Public Safety Answering Points from the added equipment, telecommunications services, and personnel required to handle the flood of NSI calls -- most of which do not relate to actual emergencies -- has become unsustainable.” The filings were posted in docket 08-51. CTIA did not comment.

Private equity firm Atlantic Street Capital said Tuesday it's selling A Wireless, a reseller of wireless voice and data communications services, to an affiliate of Lone Star Funds. A Wireless sells a full suite of products and services from more than 600 stores in 31 states, the firm said.

The FCC Wireless Bureau reminded owners and operators of certain fishing and passenger vessels Tuesday that a requirement that they upgrade to VHF radiotelephone equipment that includes digital selective calling (DSC) capability kicks in Wednesday. The requirement is for commercial vessels of 300 gross tons or more and small passenger vessels capable of transporting seven-12 passengers for hire in the open sea or any adjacent tidewater of the United States. Licensees needing additional time to meet the DSC requirement may file an application for an Exemption from Ship Station Requirements, most quickly through the FCC’s Universal Licensing System, the bureau said in a public notice.

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project’s (3GPP) Release 13 will include messaging support for terrestrial beacon system location technologies, compatible with NextNav’s metropolitan beacon system (MBS), said the company, which offers location accuracy technology, Tuesday in a news release. “NextNav has adopted MBS for its nationwide deployment, an innovative ‘terrestrial constellation’ bringing GNSS-like [Global Navigation Satellite System] positioning performance to indoor and urban environments where satellite-based positioning is either unavailable or significantly degraded,” NextNav said.

A cloud-centric 5G network architecture that enables user experiences "perceived as always sufficient for their current context" could be a "disruptive change" for next-generation wireless networks, the University of Surrey's 5G Innovation Centre said in a white paper released Tuesday. The proposed network would provide a "more connected experience over a dynamic and distributed cloud based architecture" that is "flatter" than LTE, and designed to "always make best use of the resources available at the time of each new communications request." Recent global connectivity statistics show wired broadband coverage is "largely driven by direct or indirect government influence" on the local telecom industry, so fixed broadband rates are "disparate across the globe, but do not correlate with mobile penetration," 5GIC said. Mobile penetration is "likely" to be higher than 100 percent in nearly all markets by 2020, with multiple devices per person, it said, while rates on mobile broadband are "potentially likely" to be higher than home broadband, and mobile broadband should "dominate" the market by 2020 "unless there are major changes in fixed broadband." More people now "prefer a nomadic and/or mobile approach where devices are concerned," 5GIC said, and "a network that enables true device mobility and supports the user of the device to be able to declare the context they are operating the device with, is what is required." The Flat Distributed Cloud 5G network proposed by 5GIC can add user profiles to the network architecture that can be operated by the users and the network to trade information selectively enabled by the users to inform the network of parts of their context that improve their experiences, the white paper said. 5GIC identified three "key tenets" that should be offered by a 5G network architecture -- the perception of infinite bandwidth, an always-connected capability and tailored context awareness -- and established a set of architecture requirements to support a "much flatter" distributed network.

Google and SpaceX are facing increased pushback to their experimental license proposals from opponents citing health worries tied to altitude-based microwave radiation-emitting projects. "Widely available fast Internet access is a goal that can be safely attained using various forms of cabled connectivity," Global Union Against Radiation Deployment from Space said in informal objections filed Friday (see here and here) with the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology. The GUARDS filing included a letter dated Jan. 12 that the group said it had submitted to the European Commission raising concerns about the growth of wireless networks and the "millions of people in the developed world [who] have already become functionally disabled due to the electromagnetically polluted environments produced by terrestrially based wireless communications infrastructures. With the deployment of Project Loon and other space-based wireless communications projects proposed or underway, and Google's widespread deployment of microwave radiation, such persons will have no place to go." GUARDS also filed similar Google and SpaceX objections directly to OET last year (see here and here). So far this month, SpaceX also has seen four informal objections from individuals raising similar health claims, while Google has received seven. The companies didn't comment Tuesday.

During consultation meetings in 2015, FirstNet received many accounts of how first responders throughout the country prepare for and respond to emergencies of all sizes to improve communications, coordination and situational awareness during emergency response operations, FirstNet said in a Tuesday blog post. Many consultation meeting participants provided case studies about how mobile broadband technology is assisting law enforcement and how a dedicated nationwide public safety broadband network would help them with timely and efficient responses to emergencies, it said. Over the past year and a half, FirstNet said it's engaged with the public safety community in 55 states and territories, giving the network in-person feedback from almost 4,000 public safety representatives. "Each state and territory is different, and we strive to be accessible, flexible, and adaptable to account for their unique characteristics and needs," the post said. "In addition to briefing law enforcement agency representatives directly, FirstNet increased its federal outreach and briefed the leadership of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers," which it said trains most U.S. federal agencies.