NTIA supported a limited waiver for Verizon, allowing it to adopt a temporary, 60-day lock on 4G LTE handsets to ensure only bona fide customers are buying the handsets. It faces special restrictions because of the rules for the 700 C-block spectrum the carrier bought in a 2008 auction (see report, March 6 issue). The FCC took comment on the waiver in April (see 1903050057). “NTIA is sympathetic to Verizon’s concerns around theft and fraud and would not object to short-lived locking of handsets to the extent such locking may be effective in combating the described criminal activities,” said Thursday's letter in docket 06-150. “NTIA urges the Commission, however, to narrowly construct any waiver to avoid adverse impacts on consumer choice and handset portability. Such a waiver should only permit temporary device locking for the minimum duration necessary to mitigate the risk of theft or fraud in a particular instance (which may be shorter than sixty days), and should require Verizon to provide customers with a simple and effective way to request accelerated unlocking.”

Charles Cooper, a longtime spectrum engineer, was named Friday as associate administrator of NTIA’s Office of Spectrum Management, starting July 1. He joins after six years at the FCC, where he's field director in the Enforcement Bureau. Cooper will direct the biggest office at NTIA, with 150 or so staffers. NTIA has been without a permanent associate administrator for spectrum since Paige Atkins left last summer. Peter Tenhula has held the job in an acting capacity. The announcement was closely watched, especially since David Redl, a spectrum expert, left as administrator last month (see 1905140063). Acting NTIA Administrator Diane Rinaldo earlier recused herself from spectrum deployment issues because her husband works as a lobbyist for T-Mobile. Cooper will “assist the Commerce Department with development of the National Spectrum Strategy, and coordinate interagency preparation for the pivotal World Radiocommunication Conference this fall that sets rules for global use of the radiofrequency spectrum,” NTIA said. Formerly head of the FCC Los Angeles field office, Cooper took the top slot after a reorganization under then-Chairman Tom Wheeler, which saw many of the offices shuttered (see 1507160036).

Worries 5G will harm NOAA weather forecasting have "little to no factual foundation" and seem based on a problematic Commerce Department propagation analysis, High Tech Forum founder Richard Bennett blogged Wednesday. He said NOAA, doing simulations of radiation produced by 5G at frequencies near where its satellite-based advanced technology microwave sounder would measure water vapor in the air ignores propagation characteristics of 5G. He said industry should devote resources to working with NOAA on creating meaningful interference models. “The huge guard band would normally be more than enough to protect neighboring bands -- after all, we separate most allocations by 2.5-10 MHz,” Bennett said. “There are already thousands of microwave allocations immediately below the NOAA band, with no separation at all. 5G will work in much the same way as today’s microwave data systems, so there’s no obvious reasons why it would interfere when incumbent systems don’t.” Commerce didn't comment Thursday.

Finding a price point for 5G will take time, AT&T CEO-Communications John Donovan said Wednesday at a Credit Suisse conference. “Ultimately, it's going to be a function of the value to the consumers and your competition, so it's hard to say,” he said: In some applications, fifth generation “will be worth a lot and certain applications, it will be worth a little.” The company is “certainly the leader” in 5G in the U.S. and perhaps the world, Donovan said. AT&T is targeting business customers in its initial 19 deployments, which have all been targeted, Donovan stressed. Initial deployments were in a hospital in Chicago and Samsung robotic manufacturing plant in Austin.

The Wireless Bureau, in cooperation with the Office of Economics and Analytics, released rules on the reconfiguration of 39 GHz licenses, for auction starting Dec. 10. The FCC will sell licenses in that band, plus licenses in the upper 37 and 47 GHz bands in the agency’s third and largest high-band auction. The public notice in Thursday's Daily Digest also sets a timeline. “As part of the reconfiguration process, each 39 GHz incumbent will submit its selection of one of three Initial Commitment options,” the PN said. Each incumbent may “accept modified licenses based on the FCC’s proposed reconfigured holdings, … accept modified licenses based on an acceptable alternative reconfiguration submitted by the incumbent that is consistent with Commission requirements” or “relinquish spectrum usage rights under all its 39 GHz licenses in exchange for an incentive payment and eligibility to bid on new licenses.” The filing window for participation is July 9-15. The initial commitment window is Aug. 13-15.

With T-Mobile fighting to win regulatory approval to buy Sprint, T-Mobile CEO John Legere blogged Wednesday that diversity is an important value at his company. “Diversity of our people and support of inclusion across the company are two of our super powers!” Legere wrote. “Diversity brings fresh perspectives. Inclusion enables new and different thinking. Different thinking is what created the Un-carrier! It’s really pretty simple if you embrace it. No two people are alike, and no two people bring the same point of view. That means we can learn so much from EVERY SINGLE PERSON.”

The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment on a waiver request by Radio Physics of Part 101 rules to permit certification, site registration and operation of its stand-off threat detection device across 15 GHz between 71 and 86 GHz. Alternatively, the company asks for waiver of certain Part 90 or Part 95 rules. “Radio Physics asserts that its stand-off threat detection device can detect concealed weapons and threats as far as 150 feet away, using scans completed in less than one second,” the bureau said: “Radio Physics says that its device differs fundamentally from existing security methods and could be used, for example, to enable guards to detect and intercept bombs before they reach crowded checkpoints.” Comments are due July 5, replies July 22, in docket 19-158.

Apple runs an “abusive monopoly” in iOS app and “in-app-product” distribution services “by slamming the door shut on any and all potential competitors,” making life cost-prohibitive for app developers, complained (in Pacer) Donald Cameron and Pure Sweat Basketball Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Oakland. The developers seek class-action status. Apple didn’t comment Wednesday. The iPhone maker “barred the door” of app distribution services to any competition that it's "uniquely qualified to ensure the safety and device-compatibility of apps” sold through the App Store, said the complaint. Leveraging its “market power,” Apple charges developers a “supracompetitive” 30 percent commission on the sale of paid apps and in-app products, the two said. The high commissions are “despite the inevitable accrual of experience and economies of scale,” they alleged. The company collects $99 annually “from all developers who wish (and must) sell their products through the App Store,” they said. Apple also “dictates minimum and greater price points, which prevent developers from offering paid products” at less than 99 cents, said the complaint: This unlawfully cuts into what would have been developers’ earnings. The complaint alleges violations of the federal Sherman Antitrust Act and the California Unfair Competition Law. It seeks unspecified money damages and injunction.

The Association of American Railroads expressed concern about how railroads will be treated in a proposal to reconfigure the 900 MHz band, but the NPRM also got support. Commissioners approved the NPRM in March, before the FCC meeting (see 1903130062). It proposes reconfiguring the 900 MHz band, creating a paired 3/3 MHz broadband segment, and reserving two segments for continued narrowband operations. Comments were filed this week in docket 17-200. AAR said the NPRM mentions railroads in a sentence and footnote. “Based on its reference to site-based operations, the NPRM does not appear to consider relocating AAR’s nationwide 900 MHz band operations into the proposed narrowband segment as a single license,” AAR said. “Since AAR’s member railroads operate approximately 9,500 wayside stations nationwide, the NPRM therefore appears to suggest that AAR’s current nationwide ribbon license could be broken up into possibly thousands of individual site-based licenses.” The Critical Infrastructure Coalition “previously raised serious concerns in response to the Notice of Inquiry … regarding the negative impact a 900 MHz realignment to facilitate the deployment of a new ‘broadband’ system would have on existing CIC operations.” The concerns “not only remain but are heightened by the proposals set forth in the NPRM that suggest that the mandatory relocation of incumbents may be required,” CIC said now. The Enterprise Wireless Alliance, which proposed the revised rules with pdvWireless (see 1708160059), encouraged the FCC to move forward. The changes “will allow its members and other Business/Industrial/Land Transportation entities to drive productive use of the 900 MHz Band to a significantly higher level through a combination of broadband and narrowband systems as determined by the particular requirements of individual licensees,” EWA said. The Utilities Technology Council supports the proposal generally, seeking “rules that would protect against interference to narrowband systems within the 900 MHz band and in the adjacent Narrowband PCS band.”

Parts of the FCC spectrum horizons order, allocating the first bands above 95 GHz for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed use, take effect July 5, said Tuesday's Federal Register. Commissioners approved the order 5-0 March 15 (see 1903150054).