Verizon has been “part of the solution” in improving wireless E-911 location accuracy, two Verizon executives told aides to FCC commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly, as well as officials from the Public Safety Bureau, during a meeting Thursday. Verizon has made caller location information available within an average of 12-15 seconds, and within 25 seconds for 99 percent of all wireless E911 calls when information is available, the telco said in an ex parte filing. Verizon is also working with E911 vendors to improve chipset sensitivity to GPS signals and to improve related network capabilities. Verizon said it’s also enhancing its A-GPS location accuracy solution for VoLTE “in ways that will improve indoor accuracy,” including coupling location data from satellite systems and the Observed Time Difference of Arrival positioning feature with GPS data (http://bit.ly/NzQMJj).

The FCC Wireless Bureau said it’s extending the deadline for consumer signal boosters marketed, distributed and sold in the U.S. to meet new commission technical standards to April 30. The FCC had set the deadline at March 1, but has determined an extension was necessary because of “unforeseen delays” in developing equipment testing procedures for the boosters, it said Tuesday. The extension will also give the FCC “additional time to certify Consumer Signal Boosters under our new rules and will provide consumers with additional choices among compliant Consumer Signal Boosters."

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse declined to comment specifically on continued speculation about a possible Sprint/T-Mobile US merger, but said during a Tuesday conference call with investors that he continues to believe further consolidation of the U.S. wireless industry beyond top carriers Verizon Wireless and AT&T “would be healthy for the competitive dynamic of the industry. It would be better for the country, and better for consumers, and I still believe that that’s very much the case.” The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Sprint and T-Mobile were rethinking the feasibility of a merger after FCC and Department of Justice officials publicly signaled concerns about a possible deal. Some industry observers said those statements were nearly unprecedented, with one saying they constituted “regulation by raised eyebrow” (CD Feb 6 p1). Sprint added a net 58,000 postpaid subscribers during Q4, beating analysts’ consensus expectations that the No. 3 carrier would report a net loss of 365,000 subscribers during the quarter. Sprint also added 322,000 prepaid subscribers and 302,000 wholesale and affiliate subscribers during the quarter. Sprint lost a net $1.04 billion for the quarter on $9.14 billion in operating revenue. The carrier had a net loss of $1.35 billion for the same period in 2012. Sprint shares closed up 2.73 percent at $7.90.

Nokia and HTC said they reached a settlement ending all pending patent litigation between the companies and signed a patent collaboration agreement. HTC agreed to pay Nokia an undisclosed amount of money and will allow Nokia access to its LTE patent portfolio. All other terms of the agreement are confidential, the companies said Monday. The agreement “validates Nokia’s implementation patents and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities,” said Paul Melin, Nokia chief intellectual property officer, in a news release (http://nokia.ly/M9bui5).

Representatives from 11 companies in the professional audio industry, including ESPN, NBC Network News and Sennheiser, met with staff of the FCC Wireless Bureau Wednesday to discuss the commission’s proceedings on the 3.5 GHz band and wireless microphones. The industry representatives urged the FCC to define rules for shared use of the 3.5 GHz band “in a manner that would make this band a viable option for manufacturers and users to consider, along with other frequency bands, to support professional wireless microphone operations.” The group also asked the FCC to ensure that future rules will allow for narrowband emissions and will either minimize or eliminate exclusion zones for low-power services when they aren’t an interference threat to coastal radar. The group said in an ex parte filing that current Part 74 rules are “grossly out-of-date and the public interest requires that they be revised so that all professional wireless microphone operations are eligible for Part 74 wireless microphones licensing” (http://bit.ly/1fZNau3).

AT&T believes now is the right time “to begin discussing Indoor Location Accuracy for E911,” executives from the company said during a meeting Friday with Louis Peraertz, aide to FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, and a legal intern. The AT&T executives also urged the FCC to ensure any rules on location accuracy “are aligned with proven capabilities of the current state of technology and they should set realistic accuracy benchmarks that the industry and public safety can embrace.” The FCC should also continue to seek guidance from the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council on indoor location accuracy benchmarks, AT&T said in an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1eO0lOg).

Opponents of a deal by T-Mobile US to buy Verizon Wireless’s 700 MHz A-block licenses for $3.3 billion have until Feb. 28 to file a petition to deny, under a pleading cycle released Friday by the FCC. Combined with the low-band spectrum T-Mobile already has in the Boston area, T-Mobile said it will have low-band spectrum in 21 of the 30 top U.S. markets once the sale is culminated (CD Jan 7 p1). “The Applicants assert that the proposed transactions would provide T-Mobile with low-band spectrum associated with significant population coverage for the first time,” said a public notice from the FCC (http://bit.ly/1fEWpxb). “According to the Applicants, T-Mobile expects that its acquisition of this low-band spectrum would increase the reliability, performance, and coverage of its network in specific markets, particularly improving in-building penetration in urban areas and coverage in suburban and rural areas.” Oppositions are due March 10, replies March 17.

Dish Network urged the FCC to deny NTCH’s request to review Dish’s waiver regarding operations of its AWS-4 spectrum. “NTCH does not, and cannot, explain why it is harmed in any way by the flexibility and additional buildout time provided by Dish,” said the direct broadcast satellite company in an opposition filing in docket 13-225 (http://bit.ly/1f2gUlT). It said NTCH mischaracterizes Dish’s H-block bidding commitment, the Wireless Bureau’s decision and commission precedent. Dish said its interest in the H-block auction “was related to the requested flexibility for the lower AWS-4 band.” Absent the flexibility that was granted, Dish isn’t able to fully utilize the lower AWS-4 band in the uplink direction given that the adjacent H block is planned for downlink use, it said. The bureau’s inclusion of the H-block bidding commitment in its public interest analysis was hardly unprecedented, the company said. It said that in 1995, “the commission cited MCI’s commitment to bid $175 million for Advanced’s DBS channels, if the FCC chose to reclaim them.” NTCH claimed that the waiver gives Dish an unfair advantage in the H-block auction, which began Jan. 22 (CD Jan 24 p10).

Cable One agreed to sell AT&T Mobility AWS-1 licenses in 119 counties across 24 Cellular Market Areas, said a notice from the FCC. “Post-transaction, AT&T would hold a total of 63 to 153 megahertz of spectrum in the CMAs involved in this transaction, including 20 to 50 megahertz of AWS-1 spectrum,” the notice said (http://bit.ly/1b9I9jb). “The Applicants assert that the proposed assignment would serve the public interest because it would enable AT&T to increase its system capacity to enhance existing services, better accommodate its overall growth, and facilitate the provision of additional products and services to the public in the geographic areas authorized under the licenses.” The licenses “cover geographic areas scattered throughout the country,” said the notice. Petitions to deny are due at the FCC Feb. 20, oppositions March 3 and replies March 10.

Qualcomm proposed a rule aimed at acknowledging that a non-geostationary satellite system in the 14.0-14.5 GHz band could be deployed at some future point. Qualcomm proposed limiting the aggregate increase in interference into a future NGSO satellite system to 1 percent and requiring the system licensee coordinate operations with the air-ground mobile broadband licensee to the extent it seeks to operate at elevation angles below 8 degrees, it said in a filing in docket 13-114 (http://bit.ly/1jkSj30). To comply with these levels, the air-ground mobile broadband base station beam may turn its power down, or off, as appropriate, when it causes the aggregate increase in interference of the NGSO system to exceed the 1 percent level, it said. Qualcomm asked the FCC to promptly issue a report and order establishing the air-ground service on a secondary licensed basis in the 14.0-14.5 GHz band. This should be followed by scheduling an auction of the secondary licensed spectrum, said the company.