The FCC Enforcement Bureau proposed a $25,000 fine against a Bay Shore, New York, man for allegedly operating a radio transmitter without a license and interfering with the radio communications system of the Melville Fire District, also in New York. Newsday reported that Drew Buckley, of Bay Shore, was charged with chanting “aah, la, la” and other “gibberish” on Melville Fire Department’s radio frequency over a period of nine months before he was arrested last year (http://nwsdy.li/TBBTsk). Buckley’s alleged actions demonstrate “a deliberate disregard for public safety and the Commission’s authority and rules, warranting a substantial penalty above our normal sanction for unlicensed operations that interfere with licensed communications,” the bureau said Thursday (http://bit.ly/1jRHaSZ).

T-Mobile welcomes Supreme Court review of T-Mobile South v. City of Roswell, Georgia, a case that takes on tower siting rules, said Kathleen Ham, vice president-federal affairs, Thursday in a blog post. The court last month agreed to hear the case, from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (http://1.usa.gov/1mwRFzZ). While the FCC respects “the role of municipalities in the siting process and its actions have been well within the bounds set by Congress, a number of cities and towns across the country continue to find ways to delay or halt altogether the deployment of wireless infrastructure,” Ham wrote (http://t-mo.co/1qeubT8). “Some impose arbitrary restrictions on the number of carriers that can put antennas on a single tower, while others require multiple public hearings for the upgrade and replacement of existing antennas or charge thousands of dollars for a simple permit to switch out copper wires for fiber optic facilities.”

The Edison Electric Institute asked the FCC to clarify that Telephone Consumer Protection Act rules don’t prevent electric utilities from using text messages and prerecorded calls to tell customers about outages, information on programs for low-income programs or other information. EEI made a filing Tuesday in docket 02-278 following a meeting between an association official and staff from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau (http://bit.ly/TmUoQU). Many customers rely on wireless phones as their main point of contact, which could trip TCPA rules, the group said.

Android-powered wearable-device owners are “highly engaged” smartphone users who access a variety of apps and use “significantly more data” than average Android users, according to data from Nielsen. Smart watches are a quarter of wearable devices used by Android users, while fitness trackers are 60 percent, Nielsen said. MHealth (mobile health) devices are 8 percent of wearable owners’ devices, Nielsen said. The average Android owner uses 5.61 GB of data a month, while the average Android owner using a wearable Bluetooth device uses 9.49 GB, Nielsen said. The average data usage for wearable-device owners on Wi-Fi networks is 74 percent higher than that of all adult Android users, Nielsen said. In February, 2.5 million Android users owned a wearable device -- such as a fitness tracker or smart watch -- up five times from September, it said. Wearables owners used their devices an average of 14 times during the month, it said. Data was gathered using Nielsen on-device software installed with permission on roughly 5,000 panelists’ Android and iOS smartphones.

The FCC Wireless Bureau rejected a petition by Blanca Telephone asking the agency to find that the agency erred in not imposing a uniform time limit or “shot clock” on all data roaming negotiations as part of its 2011 data roaming order (CD April 8/11 p1). Blanca “presents no material error or omission in the Commission’s Data Roaming Order or any additional new facts warranting reconsideration,” the bureau said Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1wyi9nP). A decision to consider requests for time limits on a “case-by-case basis” provides “appropriate flexibility” in negotiations “while allowing parties to seek Commission intervention if a negotiating partner unduly delays a particular negotiation.”

Only a small percentage of U.S. broadband households are “very likely” to buy a smart watch this year, said a Parks Associates study released Wednesday. It canvassed 10,000 broadband households in Q1 and found only 4 percent very likely to buy a smart watch in the next 12 months, it said. That’s double the percentage of broadband households that actually acquired a smart watch last year, though nearly half said they received one as a gift, it said. The survey identified Samsung as the leading brand and found 20 percent bought direct from the manufacturer, 18 percent from Amazon, 17 percent from Best Buy, it said (http://bit.ly/TwAX8t).

The FCC Technological Advisory Council Tuesday asked for expressions of interest from anyone interested in serving on a working group “committed to exploring multilayered solutions to mobile device theft.” Applications to join the group and nominations of potential members are due at the FCC July 8, said a public notice (http://bit.ly/1rvkYTP).

The FCC should rely on the standards process for “rolling out” solutions for more accurate indoor wireless calls to 911, 4G Americas officials said in a series of meetings at the agency. The group also discussed “various technology approaches” to improve the accuracy of wireless indoor location information and the “importance of avoiding any mandate -- either explicitly or implicitly -- of a proprietary technology standard,” said a filing Friday in docket 07-114 (http://bit.ly/UFqTej). Kris Rinne, chair of the board, and Chris Pearson, president of 4G Americas, met with all of the FCC commissioners except Chairman Tom Wheeler.

The FCC Wireless Bureau approved two waiver requests from Sprint allowing the carrier to deploy 800 MHz wideband operations in parts of Northern California and Nevada National Public Safety Planning Advisory Committee (NPSPAC) regions before the ongoing 800 MHz band reconfiguration is completed there. Granting the waivers “will permit LTE deployment in most of the counties within the Northern California and Nevada NPSPAC regions, providing Sprint’s subscribers access to these valuable broadband wireless services while protecting the remaining public safety entity from harmful interference,” the bureau said (http://bit.ly/1v2e3BV), saying taking the step is in the public interest. The 800 MHz rebanding is complete in both regions, except for two sites licensed to San Bernardino County in Northern California and one site licensed to the county in Nevada, the bureau said.

Ketchikan, Alaska, was granted a waiver by the FCC Wireless Bureau to allow licensing of a Common Carrier Fixed Point to Point Microwave Station in the 6425-6525 MHz band, said a bureau order released in Tuesday’s Daily Digest (http://bit.ly/1iu8gVB). It said Ketchikan demonstrated it has no reasonable alternative to using frequencies in the 6425-6525 MHz band.