The FCC established a pleading cycle Thursday on AT&T’s proposed buy of two lower 700 MHz C block licenses in the Hubbard, Minnesota, cellular market area from Consolidated Telephone Co. “Our preliminary review indicates that, as a result of the proposed transaction, AT&T would acquire 12 MHz of Lower 700 MHz C Block spectrum in this CMA,” the FCC said. It said that post-transaction, AT&T would hold 135 MHz of spectrum in the CMA, including 55 MHz of spectrum below-1-GHz. Petitions to deny are due Jan. 20; oppositions Jan. 30; replies Feb. 6.

While several recent letters urge the FCC to approve a declaratory ruling sought by T-Mobile on data roaming agreements (see 1405280042), none of the arguments is new, AT&T said in a filing. “The facts in T-Mobile’s Petition actually show that data roaming is widely available at commercially reasonable rates, that those rates have been declining rapidly, and that the Commission’s rules are working,” AT&T said. “The record thus confirms that the Commission’s 2011 Data Roaming Order struck the proper balance between ensuring that data roaming is available and maintaining incentives for build-out and robust facilities-based competition.” The Competitive Carriers Association said in a recent letter to the FCC there's broad support for the T-Mobile petition. “Each entity represented by the T-Mobile Petition Supporters agrees that the data roaming market is broken, and that a grant of the T-Mobile Petition would vastly improve the data roaming market, which in turn would help allow carriers to provide competitive services to consumers,” CCA said. The filings are in docket 5-265. AT&T also weighed in with a Wednesday blog post on the topic. If T-Mobile "has a beef," it should "file a complaint," AT&T said.

Mobile Future released a video Thursday on the wireless year in review, saying worldwide mobile data traffic grew 81 percent in 2014. Another sign of the explosion of wireless is that 19 million connected wearable devices are expected to ship by the end of the year, the group said. Carriers invested a record $33 billion in wireless infrastructure in 2014 and the Brazil vs. Germany World Cup game was the most tweeted sports event in history, Mobile Future said.

The AWS-3 auction has to be seen as a huge success, with $43 billion in provisionally winning bids made so far, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a news conference Thursday after the agency’s meeting. “When the auction was first conceived, the expectation was it would be maybe $12 [billion], maybe $16 billion.” The reserve price was set at only $10.6 billion, he noted: “This auction will certainly raise enough to fully fund FirstNet, pay for the relocation of existing spectrum users and make a significant" contribution towards deficit reduction. It also makes 65 MHz available for wireless broadband, he said.

After a disappointing Samsung Q3 earnings report, which saw mobile division sales plummet 74 percent (see 1410300033), the company announced Wednesday that effective Jan. 1 it's combining Samsung Electronics America and Samsung Telecommunications America into a single U.S. organization comprising consumer electronics, mobile and enterprise business. According to a statement, integrating the two organizations into a single Samsung Electronics America “will give customers and partners the advantage of a single point of contact.” In the new organization, Gregory Lee will continue as president and CEO of Samsung Electronics North America, and Tim Baxter has been named president and chief operating officer of the new, integrated Samsung Electronics America, Samsung said. The new organization will focus on “aggressive growth in new strategic initiatives,” Samsung said, and by bringing together all of the company’s branded consumer and enterprise business operations, it will “better serve” U.S. customers through “strengthened business operations and collaboration across market segments.” A single organization will provide “expanded career development and mobility programs for Samsung’s growing workforce,” the company said. U.S. offices in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey; Richardson, Texas; and San Jose, California, will continue to operate, it said. Questions to Samsung on possible layoffs, areas of focus for the new organization and any changes to Samsung's smartphone business weren’t immediately answered.

NAD said it added Rhapsody to its BluOS platform for Bluesound wireless music systems. Bluesound’s U.S. customers will be offered a two-month trial subscription for Rhapsody Premier, which they can sign up for through the NAD BluOS controller app, the company said Wednesday. Rhapsody boasts a library of 32 million songs. The premier subscription is $9.99 per month for unlimited access to music, personalized radio suggestions, song-skipping capability and the ability to play music on mobile devices, PCs and home audio gear.

The FCC pushed back the comment deadline on an October notice of inquiry on the potential for the provision of mobile radio services in bands above 24 GHz. Comments were due Dec. 16, replies Jan. 15. The new deadlines are Jan. 15 and Feb. 17, said a notice in Tuesday's Federal Register. The FCC approved the NOI at its October meeting (see 1410170048).

An unusual amount of network congestion occurred the last two weeks of September, which seemed to affect measurements for the Measuring Broadband America program, FCC officials told an industry meeting in October, said an agency notice released Wednesday. SamKnows, which is doing measurements for the FCC, had to extend the collection period for results to the first three weeks of October to collect enough data for the 2015 broadband measurement report, the FCC said. “The cause of this unusual network congestion was suspected to be the software release by Apple of iOS 8,” officials said.

The FCC said it will provide more time for comments on key incentive auction NPRMs -- on Part 15 unlicensed operations and wireless mics. The FCC had been under industry pressure to delay the filing deadlines (see 1412080075). Comments were due Jan. 5, replies Jan. 26. The new deadlines are Feb. 4 and Feb. 25. “We believe that extensions of the comment and reply comment deadlines will provide parties with an opportunity to more fully analyze and respond to the complex technical issues raised in the Notices, thus allowing development of a more complete record in these proceedings,” the FCC said Wednesday.

The record breaking AWS-3 auction is a win for public safety, paying for the startup costs of FirstNet, and for the government, because part of the proceeds will go toward deficit reduction, CTIA President Meredith Baker said in a blog post Wednesday. Consumers are also winners, she wrote. The auction also makes a good case for future auctions, Baker said. “This is the first major spectrum auction since 2008, and serves as an important affirmation of the wireless industry’s demand for spectrum,” she wrote. “This auction also reinforces our understanding of the need for licensed paired spectrum, especially when it is substantially cleared and internationally harmonized. While CTIA applauds the FCC’s recent efforts in the area of unlicensed and lightly-licensed spectrum models, this auction shows there is no true substitute for exclusively-licensed spectrum for the wireless industry.”