Fifteen percent of U.S. households don’t get internet service at home, reported Leichtman Research Group Monday. The 85 percent of households with internet service is up a point from 2014. Broadband serves 96 percent of households with Internet service at home, it said. In addition, 81 percent of adults access the internet on a smartphone, and another 1 percent have access on another type of mobile phone, up from 63 percent in 2014. Three quarters of U.S. households get internet service at home plus on a mobile phone, up from 59 percent in 2014, it said. Half of U.S. households with an internet service at home watch video online daily vs. 29 percent five years ago, it said. Among adults with an internet service at home, the mean time spent online at home is 3.7 hours per day -- up from 2.8 hours per day in 2014. The segment of households opting to solely access the internet on a mobile phone “has plateaued,” said principal Bruce Leichtman.

Montgomery County, Maryland, and the FCC disagreed sharply in pleadings at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which will hear the challenge of the FCC’s small-cell order. The agency told the court a Dec. 4 order (see 1912040036) resolved any questions by the county on RF concerns. “If Montgomery County has concerns about how the Commission resolved the 2013 RF Notice, it may raise them in a challenge to the Radiofrequency Order,” the FCC said last week (in Pacer) in docket 19-70123. “There is thus no basis for this Court to reach such concerns here.” The order doesn’t resolve the challenge, the county said Monday (in Pacer). “The FCC mischaracterizes this lawsuit and comments in the administrative record,” the county said: “Montgomery County and others asked the FCC to update the RF standards and ensure they are protective of human health before rolling-out 5G small cells in public spaces and residential areas. … While it made sense for Montgomery County to reference the ongoing 2013 proceedings, simply closing that docket does not mean that its comments and lawsuit have been fully addressed.” Argument is Feb. 10 in Pasadena, California (see 1912020018).

NTIA reported $98.2 million in initial estimated sharing costs in the citizens broadband radio service band, as required by law, six months before the June auction of priority access licenses. OMB reviewed the estimates, NTIA said in the report released Monday. It's sending the numbers to the House and Senate commerce committees and appropriators and the Comptroller General, NTIA said. The Defense Spectrum Organization reported $48.4 million in costs and the Navy $30.4 million. The Air Force reported $5.1 million and the Army $12 million. NTIA provided the estimates even though the FCC said in September the 3.5 GHz band isn’t subject to Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act reimbursement requirements (see 1909270059). The FCC and NTIA didn’t comment. NTIA says in a footnote the band contains “'eligible frequencies’ as described in Section 113(g)(2) of the NTIA Organization Act.”

The FCC sought comment Friday on a waiver request by Rohde & Schwarz USA for a security scanning system that uses the 70-80 GHz band. The Office of Engineering and Technology noted the request replaces an earlier filing that asked for waiver of a different rule part, on which the office already took comment (see 1903280023). The QPS201 is “designed to detect the presence of concealed metallic and non-metallic threats that may be carried in or underneath the clothing,” OET said. Comments are due Jan. 21 in docket 19-88, replies Feb. 5.

Louis Peraertz, Wireless ISP Association vice president-policy, argued for sharing the C band (see 1912190015) between receive-only earth stations and fixed wireless point-to-multipoint users (see 1908080041). Peraertz met Chief Julius Knapp and others from the Office of Engineering and Technology. “Because there is substantial experience demonstrating that co-channel sharing by fixed wireless services and … earth stations is not only possible but currently exists, opponents of WISPA’s sharing proposals have not been able to identify any evidence that, when properly coordinated, this type of sharing is not possible in the C-Band in the future,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 18-122.

FCC auction of licenses in the 37, 39 and 47 GHz bands ended the week with $5.76 billion in gross proceeds. The auction started Dec. 10. Three rounds are scheduled for Monday.

Utility representatives told an aide to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks their companies “have voluntarily implemented programs and partnerships to proactively facilitate the collocation of small cells and other wireless communications facilities on utility-owned street lights.” Southern Co. and Xcel Energy were among those on a call with the aide, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 17-84. “These programs foster innovation and cooperation that result in faster and more efficient deployment of 5G and other wireless infrastructure than could be achieved through regulation.”

Prioritize 5G buildouts in high-demand agriculture states, Deere asked the FCC in docket 10-90 Thursday and in meetings Wednesday with the Wireless and Wireline bureaus, Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force and Office of Economics and Analytics. It sought improved data collection and mapping techniques that accurately identify gaps in mobile coverage areas. The company outlined potential mapping tools that would combine cell tower data from the FCC and publicly available crop information from the Agriculture Department. Deere shared a coverage analysis of several states using such tools. The FCC proposes $1 billion for precision ag (see 1912040027).

The Wireless and Public Safety bureaus put a temporary freeze on acceptance and processing of new and expanded use applications for the 5.9 GHz band, as the FCC explores the band's future (see 1912180019). The freeze will "stabilize the 5.9 GHz spectrum landscape by suspending the acceptance and processing of applications in these portions of the band while the Commission considers future use of the band and continues to solicit comments,” said Thursday's public notice on docket 19-138: “Imposition of the freeze is procedural and, therefore, not subject to the notice and comment and effective date requirements.”

U.S. Cellular is “fully supportive” of a public auction of the C-band, it told the FCC in docket 18-122, posted Wednesday. “Time is of the essence,” the company said: “The FCC should clear, auction and license as much spectrum as possible but no less than 280 MHz of spectrum. … If spectrum is cleared and made available on different timeframes, separate clock products should be utilized for ‘earlier’ and ‘later’ license blocks.”