T-Mobile US said the FCC Wireless Bureau approved the carrier’s acquisition of Verizon Wireless’s 700 MHz A-block spectrum. The FCC issued its approval as part of a general release Wednesday of license transfer approvals. T-Mobile announced in January that it had reached a deal to buy the long-coveted licenses for $3.3 billion, including the transfer of $950 million worth of AWS and PCS spectrum (CD Jan 7 p1). The Department of Justice approved the application in February. The deal gives T-Mobile low-band spectrum in 21 of the top 30 U.S. markets, including New York, Los Angeles and Washington. The new spectrum covers an area with 158 million potential customers. T-Mobile “is pleased by the FCC’s prompt approval of our acquisition of 700 MHz A-Block spectrum, which will provide the company with low-band spectrum in a number of key markets across the country,” said Kathleen Ham, vice president-federal regulatory affairs, in a statement.
The main area of contention as the FCC takes up a rulemaking on the 3.5 GHz band at Wednesday’s open meeting is likely to be the exclusion zones where the band will not be available for sharing, FCC officials said. The rulemaking offers a much more detailed plan for the band, a testbed of sorts for spectrum sharing and small cells, and would create a new Part 96 to the FCC’s rules (CD April 3 p1). The FCC began its initial rulemaking in December 2012 (CD Dec 13/12 p6) and the exclusion zones in the updated proposal have changed little since then, agency officials said.
The FCC should adopt a “whole network” approach as it revises rules for the E-rate program, PCIA said in comments filed at the agency. “Adopting a whole network approach to E-rate funding will best serve the Commission’s goals to ‘focus E-rate funds on high-capacity broadband, especially high-speed Wi-Fi and internal connections,'” PCIA said (http://bit.ly/1rgcLmA). “A whole network approach enjoys broad support among commenters. Such an approach would eliminate the priority system currently in place for E-rate and give schools and libraries the flexibility to address the most critical areas of need in their networks.”
The FCC’s forthcoming rulemaking on licensing models and technical requirements for the 3.5 GHz band should ask whether the 2007 World Radiocommunication Conference’s (WRC) harmonization for the 3.4-3.6 GHz band should affect licensing terms for the band within the U.S., said Intel Associate General Counsel Peter Pitsch during a meeting last week with Brendan Carr, wireless aide to FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai. The 2007 WRC identified the 3.4-3.6 GHz band for “International Mobile Telecommunications” within much of ITU Region 1 and in eight areas within ITU Region 3, Intel said in an ex parte (http://bit.ly/1he5S2d). The U.S. is included in ITU Region 2.
Broadcom warned that carrier offload, extended range hot spots and other broadband applications will be precluded unless the FCC provides unlicensed channels of at least 6 MHz with 40 mW maximum power. The “Super Wi-Fi” standard continues to be important to delivering wireless broadband services in the 600 MHz band, and the FCC should preserve white space channels wherever possible, Broadcom said in an ex parte filing in docket 12-1268(http://bit.ly/RFFlBQ). Broadcom also highlighted the standard-setting effort to establish 802.11ac, the standard that expands operations in the 5 GHz band, it said. Establishing an inadequate duplex gap and guard band “would both unnecessarily increase the risk of harmful interference to licensed services and preclude unlicensed broadband services in these frequencies,” it said. The filing recounts meetings with FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn, Jessica Rosenworcel, Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly, and with staff from Chairman Tom Wheeler’s office.
Gogo urged the FCC to adopt a five-year substantial service deadline for Qualcomm’s proposed 14 GHz air-to-ground (ATG) mobile broadband service. Developing new equipment, obtaining initial Federal Aviation Administration certification for the airborne components and constructing the base stations needed to cover U.S. airspace “could easily be achieved in less than five years,” it said in an ex parte filing in docket 13-114 (http://bit.ly/1jrEtXD). To the extent the FCC is concerned that a new entrant might require additional time to complete an ATG network, the FCC should establish an alternative substantial service formulation, Gogo said. Within four years, the licensee should be required to demonstrate that it has met an interim construction benchmark, Gogo said. The licensee should be required to make its final substantial service showing within seven years, Gogo said. This benchmark will help ensure “that licensees work diligently to construct their networks, and that the spectrum is not warehoused,” it said.
The FCC is continuing to clamp down on audio equipment makers for violating its digital device rules, most recently, a fine to professional audio supplier Peavey Electronics, said wireless lawyer Mitchell Lazarus of Fletcher Heald in a post on the law firm’s blog Sunday (http://bit.ly/1r9nfEo). “Are there no music lovers at the FCC?” Lazarus asked. “Perhaps not in the Enforcement Bureau, which over the last few years has singled out audio and music companies for large fines relating to the FCC’s digital device rules.” Lazarus doesn’t represent Peavey. He said the lessons to be drawn are clear. “In none of the recent cases had any of the equipment actually been shown to cause interference,” he said. “There are not even allegations that the equipment exceeded the FCC’s technical limits. A few of the cases charged the manufacturer with not properly testing the equipment for compliance. ... In the remaining cases, including Peavey, the only offenses involved missing labels and information in the instruction manuals. But the penalties are still substantial."
Microsoft said it signed a patent licensing agreement with Motorola Solutions that covers Motorola devices on both the Android platform and the Chrome operating systems that use Microsoft patents. “Microsoft prefers licensing to litigation, since licensing is a more effective way to share technology and accelerate the pace of innovation,” said Nick Psyhogeos, associate general counsel-IP licensing for Microsoft’s Innovation and Intellectual Property Group, in a Monday news release (http://bit.ly/1eWEiHM).
The FCC’s proposed spectrum aggregation rules for the TV incentive auction “reflect what the marketplace has known for years: that low-band spectrum is particularly well suited for wireless services -- especially in rural America,” said Roger Cox, chief financial officer of Atlantic Telephone Membership Corp., in a written statement. “No one or two carriers should be allowed to run the table and foreclose all others from gaining access to low-band spectrum,” Cox said. “Smaller carriers need assurance that they will have real opportunities to meaningfully participate in order to raise capital and prepare to enter the auction.” The spectrum aggregation rules are slated for a vote at the FCC’s May 15 open meeting (CD April 21 p1).
The FCC denied applications from Phyllis Wilson and Robert Wilson to waive commission rules restricting assignment of 800 MHz licenses before stations have been constructed. Phyllis Wilson and Robert Wilson separately hold licenses the FCC granted in September for 800 MHz Trunked Specialized Mobile Radio Stations -- Phyllis Wilson holds a license for Station WQSF861 in West Des Moines, Iowa, while Robert Wilson has a license for Station WQSG679 in Sioux Falls, S.D. The FCC had originally granted the license for Station WQSG679 to John Wilson, but allowed the license to transfer to his brother, Robert Wilson, in January after John Wilson died. Phyllis Wilson filed in January to transfer her license to Zalman Sirota, while Robert Wilson filed in February to transfer his license to Jeffrey Downs. Both said they are no longer able to construct the stations because of changes in financial situation and other circumstances. The FCC said Friday it was denying both requests because neither party had demonstrated grounds for receiving a waiver. The commission said it had warned Phyllis Wilson at the time of her license application that a lack of financing would not be grounds for a future waiver. Phyllis Wilson also claimed she did not have as much time as originally anticipated to construct her station because the FCC issued her license later than expected, which the FCC said Friday “does not entitle her to relief.” The FCC said Robert Wilson “appears to be no differently situated from any other licensee who acquired a license for an unconstructed 800 MHz station by involuntary assignment upon the licensee’s death. The rule does not authorize such involuntary licensees to further assign the licenses prior to station construction” (http://bit.ly/1eRjwcQ).