T-Mobile told the FCC it should reject arguments by Dish Network and two Dish-backed designated entities that they should be able to bid a second time on licenses they opted not to buy after being the initial winners in the AWS-3 auction. T-Mobile initially argued against Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless participating in the AWS-3 reauction in late October (see 1511020064). The two DEs responded then, calling the letter an “untimely request for reconsideration” of the Aug. 18 FCC order, which said the conduct of Dish, Northstar and SNR during the AWS-3 auction didn't violate commission rules (see 1511100041). “Having gamed the system once” the two DEs “want the Commission to allow them to do it again,” T-Mobile said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 12-268. “The Commission should not allow DISH or the DISH DEs to hide behind procedural arguments to avoid the consequences of their attempts to undermine the integrity of the AWS-3 auction.” Instead, the FCC should “discourage similar action by others” by barring Dish and the DEs from participating in the re-auction “and require them to pay an additional 50 percent upfront payment if they choose to participate in the upcoming incentive auction,” T-Mobile said. It responded directly to the subsequent filings by Northstar and SNR. “The DISH DEs fail to provide any substantive reason why the Commission should not take the steps that T-Mobile has recommended to ensure the integrity of its future auctions,” the carrier said. “The far-reaching consequences of DISH and the DISH DEs’ improprieties in the AWS-3 auction process must be addressed.” Dish and SNR said they aren't commenting. Northstar didn't comment by our deadline.

Phoenix Tower said it closed a transaction with T-Mobile to acquire the ownership or management rights to more than 600 wireless towers. The terms are “confidential,” Phoenix said in a news release. Just as AT&T and Verizon sold cell towers ahead of the AWS-3 auction, “T-Mobile is working to build a war chest for the March broadcast incentive auction,” suggested Seeking Alpha, a financial news service. T-Mobile Chief Financial Officer Braxton Carter said last week T-Mobile plans to raise about $6 billion before the incentive auction, but could spend as much as $10 billion (see 1511120040).

Five G mobile subscriptions will reach 150 million worldwide by 2021, and an increase in mobile video consumption will drive about six times more data traffic volume per smartphone in North America and Europe by the same year, Ericsson said in its 2015 Mobility Report released Tuesday. It projects South Korea, Japan, China and the U.S. will lead the world with the first and fastest 5G subscription uptake, and the new technology will pave the way for new industries in the information and communications technology and IoT spaces. Due to the predicted rise in mobile video consumption, which Ericsson said will make up 70 percent of all mobile data traffic by 2021, data traffic per smartphone in North America will grow from 3.8 GB to 22 GB per month by 2021. Ericsson projects mobile broadband subscriptions will increase worldwide from 3.6 billion in 2015 to 7.7 billion in 2021, and mobile LTE subscriptions will experience a compound annual growth rate of 25 percent in that time. Mainland China will overtake the U.S. by 2021 as the largest LTE market in the world with a predicted 1.2 billion LTE subscriptions, Ericsson said, and Africa will continue to improve connectivity, which will improve opportunities for financial inclusion.

The Competitive Carriers Association outlined a proposal for a new USF mobility fund, in a meeting with FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Roger Sherman and others at the agency, said a filing in docket 10-208. The program should have a “sufficient budget consisting of targeted support to preserve existing service where necessary while also expanding mobile broadband where services are unavailable, to be repeated consecutively over a period of two to four years,” CCA said. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn backed the launch of Phase II of the Mobility Fund, in a speech in October at CCA’s annual convention (see 1510080024).

Verizon was potentially wrongly identified by the FCC as “reserve eligible” and able to buy incentive auction spectrum set aside for competitors in as many as 12 markets, T-Mobile said in a letter to the commission posted Tuesday in docket 12-268. The markets include Oklahoma City; Brownsville, Texas; Springfield, Massachusetts; and Bozeman, Montana. Major national carriers are excluded from bidding for the reserve spectrum if they have holdings of 45 MHz or more in a market, which is about one-third of the available low-band spectrum. Verizon is reserve-eligible in 112 of 416 U.S. markets, said a list published by the FCC (see 1510160065).

Wi-Fi advocates continue to have concerns about LTE-unlicensed, said Michael Calabrese of New America’s Open Technology Institute in meetings with aides to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, in a filing posted Friday in docket 12-268. “Mobile carriers have both the ability and strong incentives to use LTE-U to engage in anti-competitive behavior harmful to consumers, while for the first time being able to charge consumers for the use of unlicensed spectrum,” he said. “Carriers have powerful incentives to use LTE-U to deter mobile market entry by ‘Wi-Fi First’ providers, such as wireline ISPs.”

In what NTIA called an “important step" forward on spectrum sharing, its Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS) launched an online site that allows carriers and federal agencies to coordinate spectrum use in the 1695-1710 MHz band. Access requires a username and password that must be provided by the NTIA. The band was one of three sold in the AWS-3 auction. “Although many federal incumbents will eventually relocate out of the AWS bands, relocation is not feasible for agencies that operate meteorological satellite Earth stations in the 1695-1710 MHz band,” NTIA said in a Monday blog post. FCC rules require AWS-3 winners to coordinate with these federal incumbents. “A team of 10 ITS developers, documentation experts and quality assurance personnel worked over a period of five months to develop the portal,” NTIA said. “The solution was designed to be cost efficient, modular and scalable, combining commercial off-the-shelf hardware and software into an advanced web-based architecture.”

François Rancy, ITU director-radiocommunication, highlighted the importance of an agreement on the allocation of spectrum for global flight tracking in civil aviation at the World Radiocommunication Conference, in a blog post Monday. U.S. officials reported the agreement last week (see 1511120035). Rancy said more than 3,000 delegates from some 160 countries are attending the monthlong meeting. “The countries present in Geneva are taking great effort to ensure that everybody’s interests are taken into account so that at the end of the conference, all 193 Member States can sign the new treaty which will result from the conference decisions,” he said. “Consensus ensures that decisions are not challenged once adopted, thus building a sustainable ecosystem which enables new developments and investments in radiocommunications, while avoiding disruptions to the services provided to [billions of] users around the world.”

The FCC should quickly reject NAB arguments that the agency locate one or more vacant channels for unlicensed users in broadband spectrum rather than the UHF band, the Competitive Carriers Association said in a letter to the FCC in docket 15-146. NAB “contrary to evidence in the record, questions the need for wireless broadband spectrum opportunities,” CCA said. “NAB’s proposal contradicts the Spectrum Act, disregards competitive carriers’ dire need for low-band spectrum and the likely robust competition for reserve spectrum, and ignores the agency’s consistent public interest findings regarding the 600 MHz band plan.” NAB and other broadcaster commenters strongly opposed the FCC’s vacant channel proposal in comments at the agency (see 1511020059). NAB warned in Oct. 30 reply comments the proposal would be a windfall for some big companies that want spectrum for free rather than buying it in the TV incentive auction. “The Commission’s reversal of years of decisions regarding the priority of licensed over unlicensed services is not only legally questionable, it also represents picking winners and losers in the marketplace,” NAB said.

The FCC approved a waiver for Verizon to use real-time text (RTT) IP-enabled wireless services as a substitute for text telephony (TTY) services for the deaf and hard of hearing. AT&T earlier received a similar waiver (see 1510060026). The waiver expires Dec. 31, 2017, “or upon the effective date of Commission rules providing for alternative IP-based wireless accessibility solutions, whichever is earlier,” the agency said. “We find that good cause has been demonstrated to grant Verizon’s request for a temporary waiver,” the order said. “We are persuaded that the Commission’s goals of ensuring access to telecommunications specifically for individuals with disabilities and more broadly for the general public, will be best served by granting a temporary limited waiver of the Commission’s TTY requirements for Verizon’s wireless IP offerings.” The order was issued by the chiefs of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs, Public Safety, Wireless and Wireline bureaus.