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).

The FCC Public Safety Bureau extended a freeze on non-rebanding related 800 MHz applications along the Canadian border for Washington state, but not for other border states. The FCC imposed the freeze Oct. 14, 2008, for Wave 4 800 MHz licensees in the U.S.-Canada border regions. “As of this date, some border region licensees in Washington State have yet to complete their system re-tunes,” said a Friday order by the bureau (http://fcc.us/1hTnnWe). “Accordingly, to preserve currently vacant channels for use by these licensees and avoid potential licensing conflicts that could delay rebanding, we have determined that temporarily extending the freeze in NPSPAC Region 43 (Washington State) is in the public interest."

T-Mobile representatives laid out their vision of rules the FCC could approve to guarantee the most vibrant use of the 3.5 GHz band, the subject of a rulemaking scheduled for a vote at Wednesday’s open meeting, in a series of meetings at the FCC. The FCC is looking at use of the 3.5 GHz band by small cells and as a large-scale test site for spectrum sharing. “We stressed that T-Mobile supports both licensed and unlicensed use of the 3.5 GHz band and urged the Commission to designate sufficient spectrum for licensed use to drive investment and technology adoption,” T-Mobile said in an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1lgnOZB). “We highlighted the importance of certainty for licensed users of the band. That certainty can be enhanced by, among other things, longer license terms and renewal expectancies.”

The Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition is open to Battelle Memorial Institute’s request for a rulemaking for service rules in the 102-109.5 GHz band but thinks the band should potentially be used for short links and small cell operations, the coalition told the FCC in reply comments (http://bit.ly/1lgzonq). Battelle had requested, as part of its February petition, a rulemaking that focused on long links. There also shouldn’t be any minimum antenna gain requirement, as Battelle had requested, the coalition said. The coalition countered Battelle on the point of how congested the 70 GHz and 87 GHz bands are, saying “areas with any appreciable congestion are actually extremely limited.”

Facebook unveiled an opt-in location-based mobile feature to let users see which connections are geographically nearby, the company said in a blog post (http://bit.ly/Rstas3). “If you turn on Nearby Friends, you'll occasionally be notified when friends are nearby, so you can get in touch with them and meet up,” said Product Manager Andrea Vaccari in the Thursday post. Users also may set a specific location for a distinct period of time, she said. Vaccari said the feature will be available on Android and iPhone in the U.S. “over the coming weeks."

NTCH continued to urge the FCC Wireless Bureau to rescind Dish Network’s waiver extending the buildout of its terrestrial network and giving Dish flexibility in how it will operate its AWS-4 spectrum. In adopting service rules for the adjacent AWS-3 band, the FCC proposed to put the 2020-2025 MHz band to uplink/mobile broadband use, NTCH said in a supplement to its application for review (http://bit.ly/1teRwUf). Since that band isn’t subject to any statutory licensing deadlines, the FCC decided the public interest is best served by deferring action on that band, “without prejudice to the ultimate disposition of service rules for that band,” NTCH said. This 5 MHz of spectrum “must be put on ice pending Dish’s decision about how it wants to configure its adjacent band,” it said. Granting Dish’s waiver has directly delayed the allocation of 5 MHz of vacant broadband spectrum “for any use at all while Dish dithers about what to do with its adjacent spectrum,” NTCH said.

The government has a big job ahead of it in coordinating with nonfederal users both before and after the AWS-3 auction “to allow commercial use of the band as soon after the auction as possible,” said Steve Sharkey, senior director at T-Mobile, Thursday in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1pdJ4Fs). The AWS-3 spectrum, like the AWS-1 band, is government spectrum being repurposed for commercial use. “Much work still needs to be done to ensure potential bidders fully understand the scope of federal incumbency, relocation timelines, and the potential for temporary or indefinite sharing through geographic or temporal access to spectrum,” Sharkey wrote. “Without additional clarity about the impact of government operations in the band, wireless carriers’ bidding strategies will have to be made in a vacuum, potentially depressing auction participation and revenues.” Potential bidders also need to be able to “determine the realistic impact of incumbent federal users through the transition,” he said. Also important is “an understanding that realistic models will be used to coordinate between industry and government,” he said.

The FCC should stick with a three-tiered framework as proposed by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in developing rules for the 3550-3700 MHz band, Google representatives said in a meeting with Louis Peraertz, aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. The FCC will take up a rulemaking on the shared use of the band at its April 23 open meting. Google said the rules should mandate “broad eligibility for the secondary (priority access) tier of users,” according to an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1hPMCcI). The rules should also specify “general authorized access wherever priority access reservations are not in use” and management through a spectrum access system (SAS), the company said. “In particular, we emphasized that an SAS can adequately protect both government incumbents and priority access users,” Google said. “We also stressed that the Commission should set baseline requirements for an SAS but allow SAS providers to innovate and differentiate among themselves in offering more sophisticated technologies that enable increased spectrum utilization.”

The FCC must stand firm on spectrum aggregation rules for the TV incentive auction, Carri Bennet, general counsel to the Rural Wireless Association, said in an email. On Wednesday, AT&T hinted it might not bid in the auction if the FCC imposes rules as proposed by agency staff (CD April 17 p1). “The FCC has a big task in front of it to ensure that the auction is a success,” Bennet said. “RWA believes that everyone will be unhappy about some aspects of the order. The important thing is to ensure that as many companies as possible are able to participate so that there is the potential for more competition in this spectrum band. By stamping its feet and threatening not to participate because it isn’t getting its way, [it] highlights AT&T as the 800-pound gorilla bent on perpetuating a mobile wireless duopoly. RWA trusts that the FCC will stand its ground.” NTCA made a similar comment. “It is unfortunate to see AT&T resort to a thinly veiled threat of not participating in the upcoming 600 MHz incentive auction to seek out policies favorable to its business plan,” NTCA said in a news release. “It’s important, however, that the Commission balance various competing concerns for the licensing of a limited public resource -- especially one that has as much value as this low-band spectrum that AT&T and many others clearly desire."

The FTC is seeking public comment on mobile security “with an eye towards a report,” it said in a Thursday release (http://1.usa.gov/1lcCF7m). The report idea springs from the FTC’s daylong forum last June on the issue, it said. The FTC is asking for comments on secure mobile platform design, secure distribution channels, secure development practices and the security lifecycle of a mobile device. The public can file comments online (http://bit.ly/RsNVUg) until May 30. Commenters must write “Mobile Security Project, Project No. P145408” on their comment, according to FTC guidelines for submissions (http://bit.ly/1r32vfA).