AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, Dish Network, Starry, U.S. Cellular and Windstream qualified to buy spectrum licenses in the 24 GHz auction, which starts March 14, the FCC said Wednesday. Cox's application was deemed not qualified. A public notice said 38 applicants qualified to participate and 22 didn't. Forty bidders were cleared for the 28 GHz auction, which ended Jan. 24. Seven OK'd applicants claimed eligibility for a rural service provider or small business bidding credit. Dish isn’t listed but appears to be behind Crestone, records show. Columbia Capital has ties to qualified bidder High Band. The FCC recently completed the 28 GHz auction, and the 24 GHz auction is about to start, Chairman Ajit Pai told Mobile World Congress Wednesday (see 1902270039). In the second half of the year, the FCC will auction together the 37 GHz, 39 GHz and 47 GHz bands, he noted: “We had to get creative to resolve some of the incumbent interests in the 39 GHz band, and we will hold an incentive auction to resolve these encumbrances.”

Mobile service providers (MSPs) should concentrate on developing platforms in technology, restructuring, ecosystem and partnership, go-to-market, and mergers and acquisitions to be competitive in the markets of tomorrow, ABI Research reported Tuesday. “While many MSPs have started developing the right initiatives to move past their legacy telco structures and services, none of them have yet fully transformed themselves, nor do they have a comprehensive strategy to become a digital enabled player to compete with web-scale giants (such as Amazon and Google), and to seize new vertical opportunities,” ABI said. “There is no blueprint for what the MSP of the future looks like, but there are lessons to be learned all around the market as various MSPs are leading the way and providing examples to follow in different areas.”

Some 64 percent of U.S. consumers are aware of 5G connectivity, up from 44 percent in June, and a third are interested in buying 5G phones when available, NPD reported Tuesday. Premium prices and larger sizes than consumers are used to could temper that enthusiasm, said analyst Brad Akyuz. Half of millennials indicated interest in upgrading, and 43 percent of consumers on unlimited data plans are “eager” to do so. The survey of 3,600 adult U.S. cellphone users was completed this month.

The administration’s push to persuade Europe to avoid Huawei equipment (see 1902260016) is falling flat “with unknown future consequences,” American Enterprise Institute Resident Scholar Claude Barfield blogged Monday. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited European capitals last week raising concerns but “received a mixed reception at best,” Barfield said. “Whatever the overall lack of credibility of the Trump administration on a myriad of domestic and foreign policy issues ... 5G technology, and the stunning new technological world it will underpin, does present cybersecurity challenges far beyond those of 2G, 3G, and 4G,” he said: "Obama administration officials agree with the Trump administration” on Huawei. It has about a third of the EU telecom market, Barfield said. “There is as yet no European-wide policy for 5G telecoms equipment, so each nation (and each company) has gone its own way,” Barfield said. “European telecoms operators … have a strong interest in competitive pricing. They have certainly benefited from having a technological giant such as Huawei facing off against the local European companies.” European carriers view Huawei 5G as “more sophisticated and often cheaper than comparable kits from Ericsson and Nokia” (see 1902250016), Barfield said. Lack of evidence Huawei is doing anything wrong “has been highlighted by other governments,” AEI Visiting Fellow Shane Tews blogged Tuesday: “Some European governments have suggested the US has ulterior motives in what the Europeans consider to be a trade dispute.” Equipment used for 5G must be reliable and resilient, Tews said. “A manufacturer with questionable trustworthiness that may play a role in state-sponsored espionage doesn’t fit these characteristics.”

APCO encouraged the FCC to ask questions about whether to require carriers be able to report floor levels of emergency calls to 911, in a draft Further NPRM set for a commissioner vote March 15 (see 1902220062). The draft proposes carriers be required to identify a vertical location accuracy metric, also known as the z-axis, of plus or minus 3 meters for 80 percent of indoor wireless calls to 911. “Identifying the floor level is qualitatively different from achieving floor level accuracy, and would better ensure that z-axis information is actionable,” the group said. Actionable means 911 call takers can quickly use the information “to assist the caller and direct responders to the scene,” APCO said in docket 07-114. Also Tuesday, CTIA said the wireless industry’s location technologies test bed is inviting technology vendors to participate in vertical positioning accuracy testing. CTIA is looking at existing and emerging technologies, said Test Bed Vice President Tom Sawanobori. The next stage “will help us evaluate new technologies that could be critical to helping 9-1-1 professionals and first responders save lives,” he said.

T-Mobile and Sprint executives met William Davenport, chief of staff to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, to make the case for their proposed combination. “Low income and rural consumers will be some of the greatest beneficiaries,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-197. “New T-Mobile’s network will deliver fiber-like speeds that will enable the merged company to provide an attractive competitive choice to today’s limited wired in-home broadband options.” Despite some reports a decision by DOJ is imminent, one is likely “weeks, if not months, away,” New Street wrote investors. “There could be an interim recommendation that suggests a number of conditions that would enable the deal to be approved, before an actual negotiation on conditions. Depending on the conditions, such a recommendation could be either very good or very bad for the deal.” The data regulators use in assessing the impact of a combination is key, New Street said. If government relies on porting data “that is bad for the deal and if it relies on T-Mobile’s preferred data, it is good,” New Street said.

Replies are due Tuesday on a waiver request by the 5G Automotive Association to deploy cellular vehicle-to-everything technology (C-V2X) in a 20 MHz channel of the 5.9 GHz band. 5GAA told the FCC it provided incorrect information in a report in support of the waiver, in a filing posted Monday in docket 18-357. “5GAA’s petition for waiver, indicates that [dedicated short range communications] devices used in 5GAA’s testing had employed receive antenna diversity,” the group said: “In fact,” the devices “did not utilize receive antenna diversity. As a result, 5GAA is expanding its testing to collect DSRC data that reflects the use of receive antenna diversity, and plans to file such expanded data in this docket in near term.” The group said “notably, this does not change the C-V2X test results” and “we are confident that this does not change the report’s ultimate conclusion, which is that C-V2X technology substantially outperforms DSRC technology.” The waiver got mixed reviews in initial comments (see 1902110007). Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel said Feb. 14 they support instead a broad NPRM (see 1902140057). In a comment posted Monday, the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association said the FCC should reject the waiver. “To avoid disrupting the DSRC deployments that are based on the exclusive use of the 5.9 GHz band, FCC must conduct rigorous testing, including real-world testing, to validate that C-V2X signals will not interfere with DSRC messages,” the group said.

Consumer and rural broadband advocates are seeking “two significant improvements to ensure that Wi-Fi and other unlicensed technologies can keep pace with consumer demand and make wireless connectivity robust and affordable for every home, business, school and library” as the FCC addresses the 6 GHz band, Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America, told Julius Knapp, chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology. Public interest groups are urging the commission to “authorize low power, indoor-only unlicensed use across the U-NII-5 and U-NII-7 band segments without the cost and complexity of AFC [automated frequency control] coordination,” Calabrese said in a docket 18-122 filing posted Friday. “The failure to set a power level at which Wi-Fi can operate indoors across the entire 6 GHz band, using off-the-shelf routers and low-cost devices, would sacrifice what is likely to be the greatest benefit of this rulemaking.” Public interest groups also want the FCC to adopt rules for outdoor, AFC-controlled fixed wireless deployments “harmonized with Part 15 rules allowing higher gain antennas in the 5 GHz bands currently in use for rural broadband, enabling higher [effective isotropic radiated power] operations that cover larger areas more affordably,” he said.

NTCA generally supports proposals to hold an incentive auction for 2.5 GHz spectrum, it told FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel aide Umair Javed. “NTCA discussed potential ways to help ensure that tribal entities and providers with a proven record of serving rural communities and educational institutions have an opportunity to obtain the spectrum,” said a filing Thursday in docket 18-20. “To the extent the Commission moves forward with priority licensing windows, NTCA suggested that controls should be in place to ensure that the rules are not used by the largest providers to obtain discounted prices for spectrum.” NTCA reiterated its opposition to T-Mobile buying Sprint and also expressed C-band concerns: “NTCA members currently use the spectrum for satellite downlinks and any changes to the spectrum licensing rules must fully protect incumbent users and consumers from harmful interference and service loss and disruptions.”

CTIA told the FCC Friday it should reject a state and local government petition for reconsideration (see 1811150050) of its September wireless deployment declaratory ruling and order. The petition fails to establish the FCC misapplied or misinterpreted sections 253 and 332 of the Communications Act, CTIA said. “The Commission’s interpretations and approach were amply supported by a record that documented numerous examples of local regulations and practices that were impeding the deployment of service,” the group said in docket 17-79. “Similarly, the Commission’s adoption of new shot clocks for small wireless facilities, based on its determination of a reasonable period of time to act on small wireless facilities applications, was a lawful interpretation of the Act and fully supported by the record, which included evidence of state laws that require action on siting applications within similar periods of time.”