Verizon’s proposed buy of TracFone from America Movil would be a boon to the low-priced carrier's “generally value-conscious set of customers,” giving them more devices to choose from and opportunities to roam on international networks, Verizon said in a still-undocketed filing seeking authorization from the FCC. Verizon unveiled the nearly $7 billion deal last month (see 2009140010). It asks for “streamlined processing” and quick action by the FCC. “The transaction will provide TracFone customers with access to a wider variety of Verizon-compatible devices (including smartphones, tablets, and wearables),” Verizon said. The carrier “will bring its world-class vision for 5G and other technological advances to TracFone’s customers more rapidly, as well as new services such as home internet solutions,” the filing said. Verizon will make international roaming “anticipated to cover more than 100 countries around the world, more broadly available to TracFone customers,” who today have limited options, the document said. The deal is good for consumers overall, “promoting competition” in the wireless prepaid market and accelerating Verizon’s pursuit of those customers, Verizon argues. Verizon is already the “underlying facilities-based carrier for TracFone,” serving almost 64%, or 13.3 million, of TracFone’s customers, the filing said. Verizon has a “small prepaid presence” but not an “established flanker brand that it can use to attract value customers,” it said. AT&T, T-Mobile and Dish Network have prepaid brands, Verizon notes. Prepaid competition won’t be harmed since most TracFone customers are already on its network, Verizon said. It noted TracFone customer rolls have had recent declines. “Verizon intends to use TracFone’s existing distribution points, and to develop thousands of additional distribution points -- some of which will expand distribution exclusively for TracFone brands -- in a variety of geographic areas,” it said.

Verizon, competing with AT&T and FirstNet on the first responder market, launched “Push-to-Talk Responder,” saying it “delivers a more efficient way for first responders to seamlessly share and receive data, voice, and, in the future, video.” Push-to-talk is a recurring issue for public safety (see 2008260065). The offering is “built and secured to international standard and complements the capabilities provided by Land Mobile Radio networks, and expands those networks to a greater number of users,” Verizon said.

Asus Republic of Gamers is now shipping the ROG Phone 3 (starting at $999), based on the Snapdragon 865 Plus 5G mobile platform. The 6.6-inch phone, with Wi-Fi 6, has a 144 Hz/1 millisecond, active-matrix OLED, 10-bit display; up to 16 GB RAM; up to 512 GB Universal Flash Storage 3.1 ROM; and three cameras. Gaming features include a motion sensor, programmable ultrasonic touch sensors, HDR and artificial intelligence experiences, said the company. It has a cooling system and a hibernate function to preserve life of the 6000 mAh battery.

Don’t “exclude mobile-satellite service providers" from the 2022 5G Fund auction if they can deliver in unserved or underserved areas to "technical and performance standards,” AST & Science said in calls with FCC staff. “Encourage the use of advanced technologies to deliver universal service funding to the most difficult to serve areas by earmarking a small portion (10% to 15%) of the 5G Fund for qualified applicants who commit to use innovative, non-traditional systems to serve areas that otherwise are highly unlikely to receive service.” Monday's posting is in docket 20-32.

Nokia signed 17 new 5G commercial deals in Q3, bringing to 100 its total wins with individual customers, said the company Friday. It also has 160 commercial 5G “engagements,” including paid trials, it said. “Nokia is present in all 5G early adopter markets,” including deals with the top four communications service providers in the U.S. and the top three in Japan and South Korea, it said. “Nokia also boasts a 180-strong portfolio of private wireless customers, many of whom are expected to migrate to 5G.”

The FCC Public Safety Bureau ordered Sprint, now part of T-Mobile, to pay R&M Repeater the full amount in a frequency reconfiguration agreement, settling a dispute in an 800 MHz rebanding case. Sprint wanted to withhold $76,254 from the final payment “because it claims to have mistakenly paid that amount to another licensee, Christopher Salgot … whose system was rebanded by R&M,” said the Friday order in docket 02-55. “Despite being a party to numerous rebanding disputes, Sprint did not raise the alleged overpayment under the Salgot Agreement during negotiation of the R&M Agreement, though it was fully aware of the facts and could easily have done so,” the bureau said. The two were ordered to close the agreement within 30 days.

The 5G Automotive Alliance and members showed the FCC test results on interference to cellular vehicle to everything (C-V2X) from sharing the 5.9 GHz band with Wi-Fi devices. Engineering teams from Ford and General Motors presented “the results of recent, real-world interference testing assessing the harmful impact of unwanted unlicensed emissions on C-V2X Direct safety services,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 19-138. The testing “involved vehicles equipped with C-V2X equipment” and “was conducted by an automotive consortium comprised of Ford, General Motors, Hyundai, Nissan, and Qualcomm over the course of eight months in Farmington Hills, Michigan.” 5GAA presented to acting Chief Ron Repasi and others from the Office of Engineering and Technology.

The Public Safety Spectrum Alliance criticized the FCC’s 3-2 decision Wednesday to reallocate the 4.9 GHz band to the states (see 2009300050). “This is not the time for an untested and unsupported experiment with a critical asset relied upon by public safety in order to appease commercial interests,” said Sue Swenson, former FirstNet board chair. In dissenting, Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel's and Geoffrey Starks' “comments show that they clearly understand the significant negative impacts to public safety of this order and pointed out the procedural flaws in this proceeding that may violate the Administrative Procedures Act,” the group said.

NTCH is seeking Supreme Court review of a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decision upholding the FCC’s actions on the $1.56 billion nationwide aggregate reserve price in the 2014 auction of H-block spectrum (see 2002210044). In April, the D.C. Circuit turned down (in Pacer) NTCH’s request for en banc review. NTCH filed for review Sept. 23, and it was placed on the docket Tuesday under 20-410, the Supreme Court said Friday (in Pacer).

The FCC Wireless Bureau gave Pine Cellular an additional year to meet the tribal lands bidding credit construction requirements for a 600 MHz license in Texarkana, Texas, to serve Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma communities. The carrier had problems because it’s using Huawei equipment at the site, the bureau said. “Because Pine Cellular is prohibited from using USF funds to maintain, improve, modify, operate, manage, or otherwise support its Huawei equipment, it asserts that it cannot act without a significant cost burden until the Commission acts in the Supply Chain proceeding to establish a cost reimbursement program for USF recipients to replace equipment from covered companies,” said the Thursday order. “Pine Cellular is presented with limited options for network deployment to the Choctaw Nation communities: build out its existing Huawei network and try to prove it used non-USF funds (recognizing that it also may need to replace this network); or build out an expensive parallel network for which it has no guarantee of reimbursement.” The extension is through Jan. 9, 2022.