Google said it's launching a low-cost wireless phone service, in cooperation with Sprint and T-Mobile, in what it is calling Project Fi. The service is initially by invitation only and requires users to buy the Google Nexus 6 phone, which retails for $649 for a 32 GB handset, $699 for 64 GB. The handset is manufactured by Motorola Mobility. Google rolled out the announcement Wednesday on its blog. Under terms unveiled Wednesday, a subscriber gets basic talk, text, Wi-Fi tethering and international coverage for $20 a month. Subscribers also pay a flat $10 per 1 GB per month, but receive credit for unused data, Google said. Google doesn't require an annual commitment but also doesn't have the family plans offered by most carriers. “Similar to our Nexus hardware program, Project Fi enables us to work in close partnership with leading carriers, hardware makers, and all of you to push the boundaries of what's possible,” Google said. “By designing across hardware, software and connectivity, we can more fully explore new ways for people to connect and communicate.” BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk sounded a note of skepticism. “Google should either write Sprint or T-Mobile a large check for future capacity to help accelerate network buildouts, partner with them in the upcoming incentive auction or just buy one of them,” he wrote. Piecyk also said the Google service isn't necessarily cheap compared with the family data plans offered by the major carriers. The Google phone will also default to Wi-Fi, he said. “So if T-Mobile is offering blazing fast speeds in [New York City] that top the WiFi hotspot that is closest, the user will be stuck on the slower WiFi,” Piecyk said. “In our experience, which we regularly tweet about, that often results in inferior speeds that do not even enable mobile video of [Netflix] or YouTube.” The announcement wasn't a surprise, since details of Google's mobile virtual network operator launch “have been discussed for months,” wrote Wells Fargo Securities analyst Jennifer Fritzsche. “Since the service will not be available on the iPhone or smaller Android devices, we expect the initial impact to be fairly limited.”

Tarpon Towers II secured more than $100 million to acquire and build wireless communications towers and other infrastructure, the company said Tuesday. Tarpon II is a newly formed joint venture created by new funding consisting of a $60 million equity commitment from Redwood Capital Investments and Tarpon’s management team, the release said. Tarpon II will use the new capital to acquire existing towers and build new towers by partnering with local tower developers and through entering into build-to-suit agreements with national and regional communications carriers, it said.

British Telecom launched what it’s calling an “ethical hacking service” to test the exposure of connected cars “and help all market players develop security solutions,” the company said in a Monday announcement. Connected cars rely on a variety of connectivity options, including WiFi, 3G or 4G mobile data links, Bluetooth and other wireless technologies, BT said. “These provide a range of new on-board features and value-added services, such as predictive systems to bypass traffic jams, reduce carbon emissions, improve safety and vehicle performance. Vehicles are also becoming more connected through electronic systems like navigation, infotainment, and safety monitoring tools.” The proliferation of these services also “raises concerns about the ability of hackers to gain access and control to the essential functions and features of those vehicles and for others to use information on drivers' habits for commercial purposes without the drivers' knowledge or consent,” it said. BT is extending its security expertise to “advise vehicle manufacturers, insurance companies and other players in the automotive industry, with the aim of identifying and fixing vulnerabilities before the keys of a new vehicle are handed to a proud owner,” it said. The program it’s launching involves a range of tests targeted at the “attack surfaces” of the vehicle, BT said. “These cover interfaces that are accessible inside the car, such as Bluetooth links, USB ports, or the DVD drive, as well as external connections such as links to mobile networks or power plugs. BT looks at the end-to-end security by testing and verifying all the systems that interact with the connected vehicle. The ultimate objective is to identify vulnerabilities that would allow unauthorized alteration of configuration settings or that would introduce malware into the car.”

The FCC Enforcement Bureau ordered China-based Shenzhen Tangreat Technology to show cause why certification shouldn't be revoked for a device it offers as a Part 15 Class B computing peripheral for preprocessing data. The device is also an illegal cell-signal jammer, the bureau alleged Tuesday. “We take this action based on evidence that Shenzhen apparently misrepresented to the Commission the equipment to be marketed and sold under the Disputed Authorization,” the bureau said. “Instead of the approved use, Shenzhen apparently marketed and sold jammer equipment, in violation of Sections 302(b) and 333 of the Communications Act of 1934.” In November 2010, agents from the bureau’s Atlanta Field Office examined a unit of the TxTStopper, manufactured under the certification, installed in a vehicle owned by Just Driver Training, a driver’s education training school in Canton, Georgia, the bureau said. “Tests conducted by the agents indicated that the TxTStopper was in fact a cellular/PCS jamming device and that, when installed in a vehicle, the TxTStopper was capable of blocking cellular communications initiated from both inside and outside of the vehicle, apparently including 9-1-1 and other emergency calls,” the bureau said.

The FCC released its order on the 3.5 GHz shared spectrum band, approved at last Friday’s open meeting (see 1504170055). “We live in a world of wirelessly connected people, apps, and things,” the Tuesday order said. “The 3.5 GHz Band has physical characteristics that make it particularly well-suited for mobile broadband employing small cell technology. The creation of our new Citizens Broadband Radio Service in this band will therefore add much-needed capacity to meet the ever-increasing demands of wireless innovation.” A further notice asks a battery of questions on how the agency should define the rights of priority access licensees (PALs), allow for a secondary market for PALs and protect fixed satellite service use of the 3650-3700 MHz portion of the band.

Sisvel is expanding the scope of its LTE patent pool, offering patent licenses covering all LTE and LTE-Advanced specifications, a news release from Sisvel said Monday. The portfolio includes patents owned by Airbus DS, Bräu, the China Academy of Telecommunication Technology, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, KPN, Orange and TDF, Sisvel said. The patent license covers the most recent LTE and LTE-Advanced specifications without any additional changes to the terms and conditions set for the license previously offered only for the LTE patent portfolio, providing for the same running royalty rate.

NTIA envisions the spectrum model city program as a public-private partnership, including federal, state and local governments, carriers and network equipment makers, the technical community and academics, the agency said in a Friday blog post. It followed a two-day workshop by NTIA and the FCC that ended Thursday (see 1504160049). “The Model City initiative will bring this exciting technology out of the labs and remote testing environments to prove its functionality and resiliency in the field with a broad cross-section of users, from local emergency responders to commercial wireless subscribers to federal officials,” NTIA said. “It will demonstrate how the new technology will perform in an actual metropolitan setting with all of its related challenges, such as urban canyons formed by tall buildings that impede propagation of wireless signals and dense populations that place serious constraints on network capacity.”

The FCC Public Safety Bureau extended until Oct. 18 the freeze on filing new nonrebanding related 800 MHz applications in Washington state. The freeze had expired Saturday. The extension is necessary “to preserve vacant channels for licensees re-tuning their systems according to the reconfigured band plan adopted by the Bureau for incumbents operating along the U.S.-Canada border,” the bureau said in a Friday order. Some border region licensees in the state haven't completed system re-tunes, the bureau said. “Accordingly, to preserve currently vacant channels for use by these licensees and avoid potential licensing conflicts that could delay rebanding, we have determined that temporarily extending the freeze … is in the public interest.” The latest development is part of the rebanding of the 800 MHz band required by a 2004 FCC order.

The FCC Wireless Bureau denied a petition for reconsideration by Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center for an 800 MHz expansion band frequency pair, said an order released Monday by the commission. After being denied its initial application for the expansion and subsequent petitions, the commission made the band available in some regions, but not all, the order said. Despite the hospital’s region not being on that list, the order said Wake Forest filed a waiver request, which also was denied. In the petition for reconsideration the hospital said the underlying purpose of the rule wouldn't be served by application to this case because “release of the expected frequencies is expected to be forthcoming” and the use of the frequency channel would serve the public interest, the order said. The FCC said it disagrees because the required level of clearing hasn't been achieved in the region. The order also said granting the waiver request would undermine the commission’s purpose in establishing an orderly procedure that allows all interested applicants a fair opportunity to request expansion band and guard band channels.

The FCC dismissed and denied a 2012 petition for reconsideration filed by NTCH challenging Verizon’s buy of AWS-1 licenses from SpectrumCo and Cox. NTCH had raised concerns about the deal because of the 45 percent ownership of Verizon Wireless then held by the U.K.’s Vodafone, the FCC said. Verizon purchased that ownership interest in February 2014, the order notes. “At the outset, we note that this challenge to the Commission’s order is now moot,” the FCC said Thursday. “Vodafone no longer holds the 45 percent foreign interest in Verizon Wireless that NTCH claims was not properly approved by the Commission. ... As a separate and independent basis for denial, however, we further conclude that NTCH’s argument is without merit.”