The FCC should approve a stay to prevent Universal Service Administrative Co. from de-enrolling customers from Lifeline on Wednesday if they're deemed to be receiving program benefits from multiple providers, TracFone Wireless said in a petition, posted Tuesday in docket 11-42. TracFone supports the FCC’s policy that only one person per household can get Lifeline services, but USAC’s production duplicate subscriber resolution process is “fraught with problems,” the company said. The process won't prevent duplicate enrollments, will reward Lifeline providers for improperly enrolling customers, make “many thousands” of households eligible for the service unable to receive it from their preferred provider, and impose “unnecessary and punitive costs” on providers like TracFone that have “complied fully with the letter and the spirit of the rules,” the company said. USAC didn't immediately comment.

NextNav demonstrated its indoor location technology to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and aide Louis Peraertz, said a filing in docket 07-114, posted by the FCC Tuesday. Executives also elaborated on their views on the draft wireless location order set for a vote next week, the company said. NextNav said in a December filing that it supports location accuracy rules proposed by the FCC last year (see 1402210038) rather than the road map proposed by major carriers, APCO and the National Emergency Number Association.

The IEEE is launching a new group, the 802.19 Wireless Coexistence Working Group. The working group will “explore radio technology independent methods for enabling wireless networks operating in unlicensed frequency bands to coexist,” IEEE said.

The FCC’s 2012 order implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) could be read as exempting Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-related calls from a requirement of prior consent by those receiving the calls, Rite Aid said in comments posted Tuesday in docket 02-278. Given confusion about the order, the commission should retroactively grant Rite Aid and other parties facing TCPA-related lawsuits an exemption from any prior express consent requirement for related calls to wireless numbers, the company said. If the commission doesn't agree that all HIPAA calls are exempted from the prior consent requirement, Rite Aid supported the more limited exemption sought by the American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management (see 1501140045) for autodialed and prerecorded voice calls and messages to wireless telephone numbers. The company backed AAHAM’s petition asking the commission to confirm that “’providing a telephone number to a healthcare provider demonstrates ‘prior express consent’ for healthcare calls to that number on behalf of the healthcare provider.”

The FCC should make sure the U.S. plays a leadership role in global efforts to promote international harmonization of frequency bands to be used for 5G, Samsung said. The company filed comments in docket 14-177 in response to a notice on inquiry on the future of spectrum above 24 GHz (see 1501160037). Some bands, including 28, 39 and 37/42 GHz, should be targeted for licensed use and 5G, Samsung said. “Samsung’s vision for 5G is a global vision, and Samsung believes that a global effort will be necessary for 5G services to reach their full potential,” the company said. “In a 5G world, international harmonization will be more important than ever before, and Samsung asks the Commission to take a leadership role in promoting international harmonization for 5G.” CEA said the spectrum could play a big role in mobile broadband, but reminded the FCC that it will also be used for other purposes. “CEA members have deployed parking assistance, blind spot detection, collision avoidance, and automatic cruise control using radar in the 28 GHz/79 GHz bands,” CEA said. “The mmW bands at 24 GHz, 28 GHz, 39 GHz and 70-80- 90 GHz are being used to provide important backhaul, satellite, and other point-to-multipoint services that should not be foreclosed under new rules.”

The Competitive Carriers Association filed a document proposing alternate rules for smaller carriers for indoor wireless location accuracy, taking into account the differences between smaller carriers and the four national carriers, which signed on to a proposed industry road map (see 1411190064). CCA proposes an alternative to the proposed test bed, which is supposed to evaluate possible location solutions. The “vast majority” of CCA carrier members don’t hold spectrum licenses or other authorizations in markets where the test bed will be located, CCA said. “The Parallel Path fosters opportunities for non-nationwide carriers to nonetheless take advantage of the test bed process.” CCA also proposed that smaller carriers be given additional time to meet various benchmarks, since they're not deploying LTE and VoLTE as quickly as the big companies. “Smaller providers also have trouble getting access to cutting edge devices that include advanced features, such as the A-GNSS capability contemplated by the Roadmap,” the association said in docket 07-114. “Subscribers in rural areas, who have fewer choices in available devices as compared to subscribers in metro areas, are less prone to upgrade their devices -- compounding this problem.”

Virgin Mobile was to begin offering no-contract data-sharing plans Saturday starting at $30 per line, available exclusively at Walmart. The data-sharing plans are “some of the most aggressive shared-line plans ever launched,” Angela Rittgers, Sprint Prepaid vice president, said. Four 4G LTE smartphones are part of the plan initially -- the HTC Desire 510 ($99), LG Tribute ($79), LG Volt ($149) and Samsung Galaxy Core Prime ($129) -- and the phones are preloaded with an app that enables customers to manage data sharing from the device, Virgin Mobile said. Every multiline plan will also come with a free Mobile Hotspot feature, the carrier said. Data buy-up options start at $10 per month for 1 GB, it said. A $20 starter kit is required to activate each new line of service and includes two months of unlimited music streaming without counting against the customer’s data allotment, Virgin Mobile said, and for $5 per month subscribers can get unlimited use of social media and music streaming apps, including Facebook, Instagram, Pandora and Twitter, without counting against the monthly data allotment. The plan will be available on more devices at the end of February, it said.

The FCC granted Allcomm Wireless’ application for 20 different call signs, in a Wireless Bureau public notice Friday, completing its review of Auction 95. Allcomm filed the application Aug. 23, 2013. After a review of several long-form applications, the bureau said it received the required payment and Allcomm’s application for lower and upper paging band spectrum was complete. Allcomm was one of the highest bidders in Auction 95. Allcomm didn't have an immediate comment.

Expedia is giving a free HTC smartphone to customers who sign up for a new or two-year activation with “select service plans” on the Sprint and Verizon networks, Expedia said. Customers can earn triple reward points in Expedia's loyalty program when they use the Expedia smartphone app to book flights and hotels, it said.

Most Americans, 78 percent, view wireless as different from wired broadband service and warranting a different approach in regulations like net neutrality, said a Mobile Wireless Service Survey released Friday by CTIA. Among other results, 73 percent of respondents said the government should be less involved in the evolution of mobile broadband and Internet networks and 64 percent said carriers should be allowed to manage and optimize network traffic, CTIA said. Results were based on 1,280 interviews, half over cellphones and half over landline phones.