The FCC Enforcement Bureau proposed a $10,000 fine against Dalrymple Realty for “apparently failing to clean or repaint” an antenna in Elmira, New York, “as often as necessary to maintain good daytime visibility.” Lights were installed on the 320-foot tall structure, but weren’t operating the day FCC agents made their inspection, the bureau said (http://bit.ly/1pWYihq). “Dalrymple informed the agents that the white obstruction lighting had been in place in lieu of painting for approximately ten years.”

"Robust” Wi-Fi networks are critical to schools and libraries and funding such wireless connections should be a focus of the agency as it expands the E-rate program, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a blog post. Wheeler told of a visit he made to Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax, Virginia, on Thursday. The visit demonstrated that Wi-Fi to each student’s desk “is the essential component of interactive, personalized instruction tailored to each student’s strengths and weaknesses,” Wheeler wrote Friday (http://fcc.us/1mxw729). While almost 60 percent of U.S. schools in America lack “sufficient” Wi-Fi, “far too many schools have no Wi-Fi at all.”

The FCC Public Safety Bureau will allow the city of Harlingen, Texas, to revise its cost estimate for the reconfiguration of its 800 MHz public safety communications system, said a Monday order (http://bit.ly/1xyZTfw). The costs of the retooling are to be paid by Sprint as part of the ongoing 800 MHz rebanding. The bureau said it would be “amply justified” in rejecting the request. “Considering, however, that Sprint is willing to accept a modified cost estimate, and because the upgrade proposal might possibly accelerate the rebanding of Harlingen’s system, we are granting the Request,” the bureau said. But it also issued a warning to other licensees that “they face an exceptionally heavy burden in advancing untimely upgrade requests.”

The FCC released a Form 603 summary Friday of the joint argument Cincinnati Bell, Grain and Verizon are making for commission approval of Cincinnati Bell’s planned sell-off of its wireless portfolio (http://bit.ly/TnKyi6). The sale involves six AWS-1 licenses, two personal communications service (PCS) licenses and one 700 MHz A-block license, for markets in southeastern Indiana, northern Kentucky and southern Ohio. Verizon’s spectrum in the covered counties will increase to between 107 MHz and 147 MHz, up from its current range of between 77 MHz and 107 MHz, the FCC said in its summary. The AWS-1, PCS and 700 MHz A-block licenses that Grain will gain in the deal will be the company’s first holdings in those bands in the Cincinnati area, the summary said. The parties claim neither Grain nor Verizon will hold spectrum in the area in excess of the FCC’s spectrum screen as a result of the deal. The parties claim the FCC should approve the deal because it would enable Grain, a minority-owned firm, to “expand its spectrum-based services and complement its existing business of owning and managing telecommunications infrastructure assets.” The parties also say the deal would provide Grain with additional capital through planned leases with Verizon, which in turn will allow Verizon to “meet the growing demands of customers,” the summary said.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau is giving San Diego more time to submit an estimate to Sprint and the 800 MHz Transition Administrator on the cost of retuning its radios. The city previously got an extension through June 1, which was extended until Aug. 15, said an order posted by the FCC Friday (http://bit.ly/1i8RJkb). The city is working with Motorola Solutions on the retuning and work on the cost estimate has taken longer than expected, the bureau said. It said the delay “is a matter apparently outside San Diego’s control."

The Los Angeles Police Department was granted an extension until June 30 to submit a cost estimate for reconfiguring its 800 MHz communications system to Sprint and the 800 MHz Transition Administrator, said an FCC Public Safety Bureau order Wednesday (http://fcc.us/1pU8GUf). It said LAPD said its planning activities were complicated by difficulties in validating the subscriber inventory.

A request by El Paso, Texas, for an extension to submit to Sprint and the 800 MHz Transition Administrator a cost estimate for reconfiguring the city’s 800 MHz communications system was denied by the FCC Public Safety Bureau Thursday. Rather than reconfigure its existing 800 MHz analog system, El Paso opted to upgrade to digital technology, the FCC order (http://bit.ly/1ogKiNw) said. The city said 98 percent of the digital system is constructed, but despite previous FCC extensions, it has not yet finished a planning agreement with its vendor, Motorola Solutions, or received final approval for the agreement from city officials, the order said. The cost estimate is due by July 31.

Adoption of next-gen “802.11 2x2 Multiple-In Multiple-Out” (MIMO) Wi-Fi technology on smartphones is on the rise, said a study by IHS Technology. MIMO technology uses multiple antennas at the transmitter and receiver ends to signal range and improve performance between devices, IHS said. Smartphone OEMs are gravitating to 2x2 MIMO technology, which employs two transmitter antennas and two receiver antennas, it said Wednesday. “The improved capabilities of 2x2 MIMO make Wi-Fi a suitable alternative to 3G and 4G wireless networks.” IHS sees global smartphone shipments doubling to 1.9 billion units in 2018 from 1 billion in 2013, and all but a tiny fraction of all mobile handsets in 2018 will support Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Samsung’s Galaxy S5 was the first smartphone to support 2X2 MIMO, and other makers are expected to follow Samsung’s lead, “due to a growing need for better-performing Wi-Fi in smartphones,” it said.

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology asked for comment on an application by Medimetrics Personalized Drug Delivery for a waiver allowing the marketing, sale and operation of its medical device trademarked as the IntelliCap Portable Unit. The device connects an electronic capsule swallowed by a patient to a central control unit, typically a laptop computer, and can be used to pump drugs into the body at a specific location, said the company (http://philips.to/1hb5jIJ). The waiver would be needed to accommodate the capsule’s small antenna that requires the use of higher power limits than now allowed to connect the pill to the control unit, OET said Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1iXAy57). The connections use 433 MHz and 2.4 GHz spectrum. Comments are due July 7, replies July 21, in docket 14-84.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau agreed to a request by CTIA that the agency extend by 30 days the June 11 deadline for reply comments on proposed changes to the commission’s wireless location accuracy rules. The new deadline is July 14. Under rules proposed in February (CD Feb 21 p1) carriers for the first time would have to meet standards for wireless calls made from indoors. The extension “is warranted to provide commenters with sufficient time to prepare reply comments that fully respond to the complex technical, economic, and policy issues raised” by the FCC, the bureau said Wednesday (http://bit.ly/Ucg7fH).