The FCC approved AT&T’s proposed buy of 39 Verizon Wireless lower 700 MHz B-block licenses and related spectrum agreements the two carriers are pursuing through Grain Management, said the Wireless Bureau Tuesday night (http://bit.ly/14rrnmG), as was expected (CD Sept 4 p9). The deal, announced in late January, gives AT&T licenses that cover 42 million people in 18 states, including the Chicago, Cincinnati, Los Angeles and Oklahoma City markets. Verizon will receive AWS licenses in western markets, including Los Angeles, Phoenix, Fresno, Calif., and Portland, Ore. (CD Jan 28 p9). The deal won’t result in AT&T exceeding the spectrum screen in markets affected by the deal, said the bureau, saying it did a deeper study of AT&T’s spectrum below 1 GHz in four markets because of public interest groups’ concerns. Although that study found that AT&T’s spectrum in the Lake Charles, La., and Texas 18-Edwards markets raised some potential competition issues, the bureau decided the deal’s benefits outweighed those concerns. The order required Verizon Wireless to meet the AWS buildout conditions it agreed to in a previous spectrum transaction last year: providing coverage to at least 30 percent of the total population covered by its new licenses within three years, and to 70 percent of each license’s area within seven years. The licenses AT&T is buying in the deal already included similar rules. Public interest and small-carrier groups had asked the FCC to impose conditions on the deal for roaming, interoperability, handset exclusivity, early termination fees and special access rules. The suggested conditions weren’t narrow enough to fix harms the groups claimed the deal could cause, said the bureau. Commission scrutiny of AT&T’s spectrum holdings below 1 GHz is “a sign that FCC staff at least could be receptive to the calls by Bell rivals/critics for imposing further limits on carrier spectrum holdings below 1 GHz, including in the planned broadcast/wireless two-sided ‘incentive’ auction,” said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Christopher King Wednesday in an email to investors. The FCC’s review of AT&T’s proposed purchase of former Alltel spectrum licenses from Atlantic Tele-Network remains paused after agency officials asked for more information on AT&T’s plan to migrate prepaid customers affected by the deal onto its network (CD Aug 28 p11). Although AT&T has since provided a response to the agency’s concerns, “we suspect the FCC will need a little longer to finalize that review,” King said.

Maryland State Sen. Catherine Pugh (D) misquoted Baller Herbst Law Group President Jim Baller in a Baltimore Sun commentary on how community broadband projects have become more challenging, he said in a letter to the editor Wednesday (http://bsun.md/14jX1rp). While the projects are more challenging, they also offer “tremendous opportunities for communities and for America’s global competitiveness,” Baller wrote. The eight projects that Pugh gives as examples of the “long pantheon of municipal projects that have failed” are a “tiny fraction” of the more than 400 municipal projects operating in the U.S., and many of which have been “spectacularly successful,” said Baller. Most of the programs are covering their costs “while providing superior services, better customer support and often lower prices,” said Baller. Pugh had no immediate comment when we asked her about Baller’s letter. Her op-ed said municipal broadband network wouldn’t be a good choice for Baltimore after the city hired Magellan Advisors to develop a range of options to expand Internet service for the city (CD Aug 21 p20).

Orbcomm partnered with Doosan Infracore to deliver an end-to-end telematics solution, it said. Orbcomm’s solution “will provide global satellite data service combined with cellular connectivity through Orbcomm’s wireless partners,” including AT&T and Vodafone, Orbcomm said in a news release (http://bit.ly/1dQsmGn). Doosan will use the solution to track and monitor its global fleet of construction equipment, Orbcomm said. The solution provides information, like advanced data reporting and analytics capabilities, it added.

Unified Video Technologies (UNIV) is working with Akamai Technologies and Comcast’s thePlatform for its uVOD solution, said UNIV in a news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/18DRacl). UVOD enables subscribers to stream and watch the content “they choose on any screen or device at their leisure,” and UNIV uses Akamai to ensure uVOD delivers content “to all subscriber screens securely and at top quality,” said UNIV. ThePlatform’s mpx system provides UNIV the backend video publishing system to ingest, manage and distribute live and on-demand videos to customer websites, third-party sites, smartphones and other devices, said UNIV.

Satellite companies and manufacturers urged the FCC to adopt a rule giving federal earth stations operating with commercial satellites full protection from interference. The Satellite Industry Association urged the commission to state in the allocation table that the primary federal allocation for fixed satellite services is limited to earth stations only and that the FCC “has exclusive regulatory jurisdiction over these co-primary allocations ... with NTIA responsible for assignments for federal earth stations that are authorized to operate in these bands,” the SIA said in its comments in docket 13-115 (http://bit.ly/1dHC7pp). There’s no need for change to the spectrum allocations used to support space launches, it said. The association’s launch service providers “are satisfied with access to spectrum for launch services pursuant to special temporary authority as the frequencies have been traditionally specified by the federal launch ranges,” SIA said. EchoStar also urged the FCC to require federal earth station operators “to follow the same rules that govern non-federal earth station licensees, including licensing, coordination, interference protection, technical and ex parte requirements,” it said (http://bit.ly/1dQqIV8). Boeing urged the FCC to increase interference protection for federal earth stations “as long as the chosen approach provides adequate assurances to non-federal users,” it said (http://bit.ly/1fzH0NT). Because such an allocation approach may increase uncertainty over who’s the regulator of the satellite systems operating in these bands, “it may be preferable to avoid the regulatory status questions raised by a co-primary allocation altogether and instead proceed under the proposed interference protection approach via a footnote to the allocation table,” it said. The commission also should avoid limiting the ability of non-federal launches to use the same frequencies as federal launches, “because many launch systems need to support both federal and non-federal missions without costly redesign or replacement of communications hardware,” Boeing said. Lockheed Martin supported SIA’s concern with respect to determining whether a given launch is federal or non-federal for purposes of launch spectrum licensing. The FCC “should avoid inconsistency on this well-settled matter by continuing to follow the FAA’s [Federal Aviation Administration] practice, such that only launches that require FAA licenses are deemed ‘commercial,'” it said (http://bit.ly/17vaYgW).

The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is scheduled to vote on funding for three California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) projects at its Oct. 3 meeting. Each grant will pay for 60 percent of the project costs, with the telcos providing the other 40 percent, the PUC said. The commission recommended funding of about $2 million from the CASF for the Winterhaven Last Mile Underserved Broadband Project by the Winterhaven Telephone Grant, which would extend high-speed Internet service to 15.67 square miles covering the Winterhaven community and other areas of unincorporated Imperial County (http://bit.ly/1ajLPOe). The project will reach about 961 households at maximum advertised speeds of 25 Mbps/5 Mbps, the PUC said. The commission also recommended funding of about $1.8 million from CASF for the Happy Valley Telephone Co. for its Olinda Last Mile Underserved Broadband Project to bring high-speed Internet service to 19.86 square miles covering the Olinda and Anderson communities in addition to other unincorporated areas of Shasta County (http://bit.ly/14rfY6b). The program will reach an estimated 1,908 households at maximum advertised speeds of 25 Mbps/5 Mbps, said the PUC. The commission recommended funding of $117,000 from CASF for the Foresthill Telephone Co. for its Big Dipper Underserved Broadband Project to extend high-speed Internet service to 10.88 square miles covering the Iowa Hill community in Placer County (http://bit.ly/1efwuNU). The project will reach an estimated 84 households at maximum advertised speeds of 10 Mbps/3 Mbps, said the PUC.

The enterprise edge market reached almost $3.5 billion revenue in Q2, up 2 percent year-over-year as enterprise-class 802.11ac wireless LAN products “shipped for revenue” for the first time, the Dell'Oro Group said Wednesday in a report. The enterprise edge market includes wireless LAN, campus Ethernet switching equipment and related software. “With new 802.11ac-compliant WLAN devices now shipping, enterprises are faced with the prospect of having to upgrade their cabling and campus Ethernet switches to satisfy the greater power and throughput requirements for these devices,” said Chris DePuy, Dell'Oro vice president-enterprise edge research, in a news release. “Much of the installed base of Ethernet switches that are 802.3af-capable may not be adequate to service 802.11ac wireless. Newer switches have more power available, yet the throughput needs of 802.11ac may require multiple Gigabit Ethernet ports or even 10 Gigabit per second ports which may drive additional in-building cabling” (http://bit.ly/17F1Bxy).

Gray Television customers can now watch big four affiliated channels on the Syncbak app during time periods when the channels broadcast their licensed programming, said the companies in a news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/15zsk2y). Through Syncbak’s geo-located authentication technology, customers are only able to view channels located within the TV market providing its signal via the Syncbak app, said the companies. “Gray now joins the more than 200 broadcast stations that have chosen Syncbak for their mobile broadcast solution and we are pleased that Gray is among the first in their markets to provide on-the-go mobile access to viewers,” said Syncbak CEO Jack Perry. Syncbak investors include CBS, CEA and NAB (CD April 23 p9).

Cox Communications agreed to buy EasyTEL Communications, a Tulsa, Okla.-based telco. The deal will give Cox “a deeper metropolitan fiber network and further enables the company to provide the businesses of Tulsa with enhanced technology solutions and a commitment to the best customer experience in the industry,” said the cable operator in a news release Wednesday. After Cox completes the purchase, it will have a fiber network in the Tulsa area that covers 95,000 route miles and connects 21,000 buildings (http://bit.ly/17zLQK1).

The Rural Telecommunications Group urged the FCC to finalize spectrum aggregation rules and address calls for a 700 MHz interoperability mandate. “Excessive spectrum concentration, especially when scarce spectrum resources transfer from small, rural and regional carriers to the country’s largest mobile carriers like AT&T and Verizon Wireless” hurts competition, the group said (http://bit.ly/15UHUmF). “The FCC’s failure to take action in its pending spectrum aggregation and interoperability proceedings is harming consumers. The Commission needs to act as soon as possible to address these pending issues in a manner that ensures a competitive wireless telecommunications marketplace.” The FCC should “take note of the policies of nearly two dozen international regulators and adopt clear, upfront limits on the amount of low-frequency spectrum any one carrier can acquire in the upcoming incentive auction,” the Competitive Carriers Association said in a separate letter to the FCC, according to a news release. “There is international consensus that low-band spectrum is less costly to deploy, especially in rural and hard-to-reach areas, provides better coverage over larger distances, and provides superior coverage inside buildings in urban and suburban areas,” said CCA President Steve Berry. “Every carrier, large and small, needs low-band spectrum. The FCC should carefully review these international findings that prove how important it is for all carriers to have meaningful opportunities to bid on and win this spectrum at the upcoming incentive auction."