FCC officials will meet House Commerce Committee staff Friday to discuss the agency's investigation of wireless carrier location tracking practices, a committee spokesperson emailed Thursday. "We've been doing oversight on this issue on a bipartisan basis." Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., Jan. 11 requested an emergency briefing from FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on the issue. The agency declined, citing the partial government shutdown. An agency spokesperson on Thursday confirmed Friday's meeting, but declined to say whether Pai or commissioners will attend.

Sprint, which argued for its takeover by T-Mobile based on concerns it will falter on its own, reported higher than expected revenue Thursday, but analysts said other numbers raised questions for the company. “We delivered solid financials, increased network investments as we prepare for our mobile 5G launch, and continued the digital transformation of the company,” said Sprint CEO Michel Combes. Sprint is poised to deploy regardless of whether the deal is approved, Combes said, but called the combination “the only path to delivering the breadth and depth of spectrum which will allow us to provide a truly consistent nationwide 5G experience to Americans.” Sprint upgraded thousands of macro sites to add LTE on 800 MHz, 1.9 GHz and 2.5 GHz, Combes said on a call with analysts. Sprint has installed 2.5 GHz on “roughly” 75 percent of macro sites, up from about 50 percent a year ago, he said. It “added 800 MHz to thousands of sites, primarily in the southwest market,” he said. It has 27,000 small cells on air, compared with 3,000 a year ago, he said. Sprint reported a net loss of $141 million on revenue of $8.4 billion. It had 309,000 net wireless adds but lost 26,000 postpaid and 40,000 prepaid phone customers. “Sprint’s strategy of balancing growth and profitability while we work toward regulatory approval of our T-Mobile merger is reflected” in the results, Combes said. Postpaid and prepaid subscriber losses were “a result of the company moving away from more aggressive pricing promotions, such as the company’s previous Cut Your Bill in Half promotion,” said Technology Business Research: The move to more conservative pricing “helps Sprint to improve” average revenue per unit but is “diminishing subscriber growth as Sprint’s reputation as the pricing leader in the U.S. wireless industry is its strongest differentiator against rivals.” While results "showed continued signs of stabilization for the business, we think Sprint will need more time before their standalone business can support the current valuation of the stock,” said New Street analyst Jonathan Chaplin. “To be constructive on the stand-alone business, we would need to see the benefits of their network investment driving better subscriber trends.” Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson continues to predict T-Mobile/Sprint has a 50/50 shot at approval. “DOJ Antitrust [Division] chief Makan Delrahim was presumed to be the ultimate decision-maker for the Sprint/T-Mobile deal,” Moffett wrote investors. “But he and Attorney General nominee William Barr are seen, at best, to be adversaries, and, at worst, open enemies. Barr’s advocacy for AT&T/Time Warner put him at odds with Delrahim. Will Delrahim stay if Barr is confirmed?”

T-Mobile and Sprint said that combined, they would build five U.S. high-tech customer experience centers, starting with Overland Park, Kansas, where Sprint is headquartered. Each center would create an average of 1,000 jobs. The companies would add jobs at T-Mobile’s two existing centers, for a total of 7,500 in 2024. “The new Customer Experience Centers are one part of the New T-Mobile’s commitment to invest billions of dollars in creating new jobs and supporting infrastructure to bring world-class wireless,” they said Wednesday.

As the wireless industry begins transitioning to 5G, it's “doing so with a robust and coordinated ecosystem of carriers, handset OEMs, component suppliers and government support,” said IHS Markit. “A ‘perfect storm’ of 5G capabilities and interested parties are coming together to shape the impending technology transition,” said the report emailed Wednesday, concluding that 5G smartphones are “primed and ready” for a “fast rollout.” Citing Qualcomm’s CES forecast that 30 models are scheduled to debut globally in 2019, IHS said: “With the industry aligned and momentum clearly behind 5G smartphone introductions in 2019, the lead-up to the 5G transition is shaping up to be much more coherent than it was for the LTE transition.” In 2020, the second year of 5G smartphone commercial introductions, IHS forecasts that handset adoption will reach six times the volume of LTE smartphones during the time frame.

“Ongoing discussions” about Foxconn plans for new manufacturing capacity in Wisconsin (see 1806280053) reflect the company's “continued commitment to the state," said Mark Hogan, CEO of Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. (WEDC). "Foxconn will not qualify for tax credits until, at the earliest, 2020, and then only if the company meets its annual job creation and capital investment requirements.” WEDC's contract specified the company would earn maximum cash incentives only if it hired 13,000 employees averaging more than $53,000 in annual salary. Executives say high costs of manufacturing U.S. advanced large screens could force it to scale back any $10 billion plant there or abandon it. The company didn't comment. Landing the factory was the brainchild of then-Gov. Scott Walker (R), who lost his bid for a third term in November. President Donald Trump at a July 2017 ceremony said the project, under his watch, would mean the return of electronics manufacturing jobs. Display Supply Chain Consultants “heard from equipment companies over the past couple of months to remove this project from our fab schedules,” emailed CEO Ross Young Tuesday of the curtailment.

The Blackfeet Tribe, Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, Fort Belknap Indian Community, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and United South and Eastern Tribes asked for separate time during oral argument in the tribal challenge to the FCC’s March wireless infrastructure order, in United Keetoowah Band v. FCC, No. 18-1129. “Blackfeet Petitioners request a modest, separate allocation for oral argument on similar grounds upon which they requested and received their separate briefing allocation, which they have used to advance unique arguments to the Court,” the tribes said in a Tuesday filing (in Pacer). The FCC said in a Wednesday filing (in Pacer) it takes no position on the request.

More Super Bowl tech ads were teased this week, reported AdAge, with T-Mobile CEO John Legere tweeting Monday the carrier is “back in the Super Bowl.” A two-second clip shows four football emojis pop up on screen. For Pringles, the star is a generic smart speaker with an Alexa-esque voice, indicating how quickly the chatty devices have become culturally ingrained. A character stacks different flavors of Pringles and his friend wonders aloud how many Pringles taste combinations exist. “Alexa” answers "318,000" and says: “Sadly, I’ll never know the joy of tasting any, for I have no hands to stack with, no mouth to taste with, no soul to feel with. I am at the mercy of a cruel and uncaring,” says the speaker before the taster instructs the device to switch gears and play "Funkytown."

Samsung Electronics North America CEO Tim Baxter will retire June 1, the company confirmed Tuesday. In a statement, a Samsung spokesperson emailed that YH Eom, "who co-led alongside Tim for the past two years, will be taking full leadership of the organization." The company has a "strong management team in place through the region and we will continue to grow our business," the spokesperson said. "Tim is an exceptional business leader who has helped define Samsung as an innovator in the consumer electronics industry. We wish him all the best and thank him for his many contributions to Samsung." Baxter was promoted to CEO in July 2017 (see 1707110023).

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr touted the FCC's ongoing work to speed deployment of 5G technology, at the State of the Net conference Tuesday. The FCC's first 5G auction recently concluded, but President Donald Trump's administration has faced criticism for its approach to 5G (see 1901250043). Carr cited a need to ensure online values the U.S. prioritizes, including “free speech,” “the rule of law” and “IP protections.” He said he's concerned about China's bid to influence 5G development, noting the DOJ's 13-count indictment against Huawei and Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou on bank fraud, obstruction of justice and other allegations (see 1901280052).

Huawei Technologies fired back at the Telecommunications Industry Association for arguing the National Defense Authorization Act means the FCC can bar use of USF money to buy from companies that “pose a national security threat” to U.S. communications networks or its supply chain (see 1812100045). TIA’s views are “far afield of the actual provisions of law relevant to the Commission’s proceeding,” Huawei said in docket 18-89. TIA “repeatedly conflates distinct provisions of the NDAA; for example, by arguing that ‘Section 889 applies to the USF programs’ without distinguishing between different paragraphs within that section that contain different terms,” Huawei said: It “transparently tries to reframe the issue by characterizing any reading of the statute with which it disagrees as ‘creating a USF exception.’” TIA "stands by our comments and reply comments," a spokesperson said.