The FCC should approve larger geographic license sizes for the priority access licenses it sells as part of the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band (CBRS), CTIA said in docket 17-258. Under current rules, the licenses would be sold as census tracts. “A new report by Analysys Mason shows that the current licensing scheme … with 74,000 separate license areas … and an average population of 4,400 per area, is significantly smaller than the license areas used for comparable spectrum in the rest of the world,” CTIA said. “The Commission should move expeditiously to make mid-band spectrum available for flexible use, and it should release the spectrum with rules that will support next-generation networks. Nations around the world are adopting larger license sizes as a way to promote prompt and efficient buildout of 5G networks.”

Mothers Against Drunk Driving defended use of the 5.9 GHz band for dedicated short-range communications technology designed to curb crashes. The FCC is examining possible changes to its allocation in the band with an eye to sharing with Wi-Fi (see 1805240058). “These systems, often called vehicle-to-vehicle or vehicle-to infrastructure, can have a significant impact on reducing drunk driving crashes,” the group said in docket 13-49. “Overall traffic deaths in the United States have increased over the past two years.”

The U.S. wireless industry is starting the transition from 4G to 5G, “with significant growth in cell sites and data-only devices,” CTIA said Tuesday in its annual survey. “Mobile data continues to skyrocket.” The association reported Americans used a record 15.7 trillion megabytes of mobile data in 2017 -- nearly quadrupling since 2014. The IoT is starting to surge, the group said. Data-only devices in the U.S., including connected cars, IoT devices and wearables, increased 20 percent in 2017 to 126.4 million. CTIA found industry deployed a record 323,448 cellsites at the end of 2017. “Analysts project that wireless carriers will need to deploy roughly 800,000 modern wireless antennas -- small cells -- in the next few years,” CTIA said.

AT&T sued American Tower last week in a Delaware Chancery Court asserting that the tower company isn't complying with amendments to their tower leasing agreements. The lawsuit cites a 2010 agreement both companies signed to simplify their relationship and address differences among past pacts. “There are no punitive damages being sought by AT&T but rather, AT&T is asking the court to interpret the language of the contract,” Wells Fargo’s Jennifer Fritzsche told investors Tuesday. “Our sense is this has been a point of discussion between the two [companies] for an extended period of time.” This "is a small number of leases and this issue will not have a revenue impact through Q2,” she said. American Tower didn't comment. The dispute concerns how to calculate the rent AT&T pays for space on 9,550 cellsites and whether leases on 550 of those, known as “prepayment sites,” remain. If so, AT&T would be on the hook to pay an estimated $270 million less in rent between now and 2028. AT&T and American Tower tried to resolve the issue through mediation and in further negotiations but were unable to do so. “We’ve tried unsuccessfully to resolve this business dispute with American Tower, and at this point felt we needed to take this action to protect our interests,” an AT&T spokesperson said.

NTIA petitioned the FCC to launch an NPRM to update the rules for the wireless priority service, designed to give priority to calls by public officials over other callers during times of network overload. “Although WPS has evolved considerably since its creation … in 2000, the rules governing the service have not changed since,” NTIA said in docket 96-86, on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Emergency Communications. Under WPS, officials get a card with a number they put into their phones. Questions have long been raised about effectiveness (see 1109060064). Many of the changes sought are “administrative in nature -- for example, to reflect shifts in the identity and/or responsibilities of the Federal agencies that oversee NS/EP [national security/emergency preparedness] communications, to address the need of more NS/EP-related entities and personnel for access to priority communications, and to recognize that priority today applies not only to network access but also to a communication’s path from end-to-end,” NTIA said. Other changes are more substantive, among them “allowing a limited set of NS/EP communications to preempt non-911 communications, and affording NS/EP users multiple ways to invoke priority treatment,” NTIA said. It also asked the FCC “take steps, as it did in 2000,” to remove or mitigate legal uncertainties that may inhibit carriers’ willingness to fully participate.

Electric utility groups said the FCC should expand eligibility for the 4.9 GHz band to include utilities and other critical infrastructure industries. The FCC last week took comments in docket 07-100 on the future of the public-safety band (see 1807060019). “Utilities across the country urgently need access to the 4.9 GHz band to support increased bandwidth requirements for applications such as remote monitoring and control of transmission and distribution substations as well as distribution automation and synchrophasor technologies which provide power quality monitoring,” said the Utilities Technology Council, Edison Electric Institute, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and GridWise Alliance.

CTIA sought eight more days to file briefs at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on the impact of the recent Supreme Court opinion in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra on CTIA’s challenge of an RF disclosure ordinance in Berkeley, California (see 1807060008). CTIA wants until July 26, which would make Berkeley’s brief due Aug. 16, the wireless association said Friday. CTIA wants more time because it has “significant briefing commitments” in several courts and attorneys have prescheduled vacations and medical appointments, the group said (in Pacer). Berkeley consented.

T-Mobile and CBS Television Stations said Monday they reached a deal for early repack of WLNY-TV, clearing the 600 MHz spectrum in Long Island, New York, and the surrounding area a year ahead of next year’s deadline. WLNY moved to its new frequency earlier this month, they said. “Partnering with WLNY allows us to clear spectrum and bring 600 MHz LTE to customers in New York City as quickly as possible,” said Neville Ray, T-Mobile chief technology officer. “The T-Mobile team is deploying 600 MHz LTE across the country at record pace, and we’re laying the foundation for 5G in NYC by deploying 600 MHz with 5G-ready gear.” T-Mobile bought the license in the TV incentive auction.

The FCC should adopt rules to ensure interoperability on the nationwide public safety broadband network (NPSBN), said the Colorado Public Safety Broadband Governing Body in a Friday request in docket 16-269. “The Commission has clear authority to require that FirstNet implement the NPSBN in a manner that ensures interoperability with other networks serving public safety, as such a requirement is clearly in the public interest.” The state body has interoperability concerns because AT&T will have competition from other national and regional carriers in the public safety market, it said. “Recent statements by AT&T and FirstNet indicate that there is presently no intention to establish standards or agreements with other commercial carriers to ensure prioritized interoperability for critical public safety applications and access. We fear that without standards or agreements to ensure prioritized interoperability, first responders will continue to experience issues related to interoperability that will effectively leave the status quo unresolved.” For example, if network-level push-to-talk services are available only to those that use only the FirstNet/AT&T network, users of other commercial carriers networks may be “unable to communicate with users of AT&T’s network and the NPSBN in a secured, prioritized manner,” it said.

The 9th U.S. Court of Appeals sought supplemental briefs from CTIA and Berkeley, California, on the impact of the recent Supreme Court opinion in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra on CTIA’s challenge of Berkeley’s RF disclosure ordinance. CTIA should file by July 18 and Berkeley 21 days later, no later than Aug. 8, the appeals court said in a Thursday order (in Pacer). Last month, the Supreme Court sent CTIA v. Berkeley back to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reflect on the high court's 2018 ruling that 2015 California state law requiring crisis pregnancy centers to disclose all available medical options to pregnant women violated free speech claims (see 1806280064). CTIA praised remand to the 9th Circuit, but Berkeley said the NIFLA ruling has no effect on the wireless case (see 1806290035).