CTIA praised the Rhode Island legislature’s decision to not move ahead with bills that would have required smartphone manufacturers to install a kill switch rendering the devices useless should they be stolen or lost. Referring to the Smartphone Anti-Theft Voluntary Commitment (CD April 17 p10) made by manufacturers to preload or enable downloadable anti-theft software, Jamie Hastings, CTIA vice president-external and state affairs, said in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1jBwL0T) the voluntary pledge, “not legislation,” was the way to handle the issue. A spokesman for Sen. Dominick Ruggerio, sponsor of S-2897 (http://bit.ly/1kNnzmS), said the senator did not plan to ask for committee hearings after the companies made the pledge. Rep. Mary Duffy Messier, sponsor of H-8115 (http://bit.ly/1j44346), withdrew her bill from consideration on Tuesday. Messier was not available for comment on Wednesday.

The FTC updated its online complaint filing form for better compatibility with a mobile device, said a Tuesday news release (http://1.usa.gov/1nlKyJE). Mobile device users wishing to file a complaint will “be presented with a format that is simpler to navigate on a smaller screen and without a keyboard,” the FTC said. Consumers wishing to report an incident of identity theft will still be encouraged to do so through a desktop or laptop “due to the sensitive personal information required to file such a complaint,” the agency said.

T-Mobile needs more low-band spectrum to continue to play the disruptive role the carrier is now playing in the U.S. wireless market, T-Mobile said in a filing at the FCC. T-Mobile executives met with aides to the five commissioners, as well as Wireless Bureau Chief Roger Sherman, the carrier said in an ex parte filing. “Access to low-band spectrum and the economies of scale that greater access would enable represent two of the most pressing needs T-Mobile must satisfy if the company is to continue to play as disruptive a role in the market for the benefit of consumers as it has played over the last two years,” T-Mobile said. “Numerous studies … have demonstrated that low-band spectrum experiences significantly less path loss over wide areas than higher-frequency spectrum and less penetration loss when traveling through building walls, yielding improved consistency and reliability of coverage over wide-areas and indoors.” Meanwhile, T-Mobile Vice President Kathleen Ham responded Tuesday to comments by a second carrier official on why low-band spectrum is not a substitute for a denser network (CD May 6 p3). “On the one hand, they're arguing low-band doesn’t matter, but on the other they say that it does,” Ham told us. “If it doesn’t matter, go at it and bid in the AWS-3 auction. Get as much spectrum there as you want. Go for it.” Ham jabbed at AT&T in particular, which has been in a long-standing conflict with T-Mobile over spectrum aggregation rules. “It’s great for them to speak about how low-band is no big deal when they control so much of it,” she said.

C Spire said it’s modifying shared data plans to include a four-line version with unlimited voice and text and 10 GB of data for $160 per month. AT&T and Verizon Wireless began offering similar four-line plans for $160 per month earlier this year. C Spire also reduced the cost of smaller data allocations, with 1 GB costing $25 and 2 GB costing $40, $20 less in both cases than before. A new 3 GB level costs $60. All plans cost between $15 and $40 per line, depending on how much data are bought and whether the subscriber is paying for the smartphone on an installment plan, C Spire said in a news release Monday. The carrier also recently began offering an unlimited data plan for $65 per month, which is only available to customers not on a contract plan and who either paid in full for their device or are paying for it in installments (http://bit.ly/1fMKIKa).

LG Electronics USA got FCC equipment authorizations for what appears will be a broad lineup of car infotainment products destined soon for U.S. introduction, filings at the FCC website show (http://bit.ly/1fInTax). Little is disclosed in the filings that pinpoints whether the products will debut in the consumer electronics aftermarket or will be supplied on a factory original equipment manufacturer basis to major automakers, or both. LG asked for and got permanent confidentiality on the products’ block diagrams and other technical materials because they “contain trade secrets and proprietary information not customarily released to the public,” LG’s application said. “The public disclosure of these matters might be harmful to the Applicant and provide unjustified benefits to its competitors.” Public disclosure of product photos and user manuals has been barred for 180 days to Sept. 10 to give LG “temporary confidentiality of commercially sensitive information prior to product release,” it said. The authorizations are for a lineup of 44 derivatives of eight basic product models, the LG filings show. Of the 44 derivatives, about half have external “aux” jacks, the rest internal ports, it said. All but 12 have USB functionality, while 13 have built-in CD transports, and 20 sport digital radio tuners, they show. Bluetooth functionality is built into 24 of the derivatives, and nine have connectBlue wireless firmware support, they show. Searching any of the listed model numbers (for example, L41SK2) yields listings of identical models under a “Car Infotainment” heading on the OpenSource Code Distribution page of LG’s global support website (http://bit.ly/1mrWQyH). LG didn’t comment.

Prospective members of the FirstNet board have until May 23 to make their desires known by filing an expression of interest with the Department of Commerce, NTIA said Monday in a notice. Four of 12 appointments to the board expire in August, NTIA said (http://1.usa.gov/1jvoNGD). “The Secretary of Commerce may reappoint individuals to serve on the FirstNet Board provided they have not served two consecutive full three-year terms. NTIA issues this Notice to obtain expressions of interest in the event the Secretary must fill any vacancies arising on the Board.”

AT&T fired back at Competitive Carriers Association arguments that the FCC should tweak its spectrum aggregation rules to accommodate the low-band holdings of CCA members, while restricting bidding by Verizon and AT&T. CCA has proposed that the FCC look at the national positions of a carrier in addition to the spectrum it has in an individual market before imposing bidding limits in the TV incentive auction (CD April 30 p1). “The FCC has now proposed a set of restrictions that basically gives CCA exactly what it has demanded -- it is proposing to restrict a carrier’s participation in the 600 MHz auction based on the amount of low band spectrum it holds in its portfolio,” said AT&T Vice President Joan Marsh (http://bit.ly/1kQ7j7w). “One would think CCA would be cheering from the stands, but they are not. Why? Because the FCC’s proposal has finally forced CCA to acknowledge that there are ‘multiple examples’ ’throughout the country’ of incidences where their members already have a significant portfolio of low band spectrum. Those members would therefore be restricted under the FCC’s current proposal.” CCA wants to tilt the table to suit its purposes, Marsh said. “So, this is the world according to CCA: -- Where their members have significant low band holdings and are subject to auction restrictions, it’s an ‘unintended consequence,'” she wrote. “Where AT&T or Verizon have the same amount of low band holdings and are subject to auction restrictions, it’s because our low band holdings are ‘excessive.'"

Some smaller carriers would also face restrictions in bidding for low-band spectrum in the TV incentive auction under the proposed rules, not just AT&T and Verizon, the Competitive Carriers Association told FCC officials in meetings last week. CCA representatives met with aides to Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel, said an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 12-268. “There is little rationale for putting a small, rural competitor in the same (or worse) position than better capitalized, dominant nationwide providers,” the group said (http://bit.ly/1i0KRIy). “CCA has identified multiple examples of this result for carriers located throughout the country.” CCA proposed that the FCC adopt a national eligibility requirement in addition to a market-by-market test. “This proposal allows rural and regional providers to bid on reserved spectrum in their core markets, but does not change the two largest providers’ capability to bid on reserved spectrum in any market,” CCA said. “For example, under CCA’s proposal, AT&T would still be able to bid on reserved spectrum in Cleveland, Phoenix and Puerto Rico. Verizon would still be able to bid on reserved spectrum in Dallas, Miami, Tampa, and Jacksonville.”

Rules for the TV incentive auction must be clear going in for all parties, CTIA officials said in a meeting with Renee Gregory, aide to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. “While the auction raises novel challenges, it is important that the rules be clear and easy to understand, and that they promote participation by both wireless providers and broadcasters,” said an ex parte filing on the Wednesday meeting posted the next day in docket 12-268 (http://bit.ly/Rbikpz). “CTIA also emphasized that a well-reasoned band plan is essential for the proposed incentive auction to achieve the critical goal of unleashing necessary additional spectrum for mobile broadband, and voiced support for a band plan that focuses on pairing as much spectrum as possible in a technically feasible manner that provides guard bands and a duplex gap no larger than required to protect licensed services from interference in accordance with the law, and that promotes bidder confidence.”

Imposing spectrum aggregation limits in the TV incentive auction would be “perverse and unjust” since they would help “large multinational companies at the expense of their competitors,” Verizon representatives said in meetings with FCC commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly. T-Mobile is owned by Germany’s Deutsche Telekom and Sprint is partly owned by Japan’s SoftBank. “T-Mobile and Sprint are large corporations with established, well-financed corporate parents,” Verizon said in an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1nMcGI4). “They and their parent corporations are more than capable of paying substantial amounts to acquire spectrum in the incentive auction if they choose to do so.” Verizon also warned that imposing limits on selling restricted spectrum licenses would hurt the auction. “Such restrictions would suppress the value of the restricted licenses at auction, further reducing competition and further increasing the risk that broadcasters do not relinquish substantial amounts of spectrum,” Verizon said. “That is because firms are less likely to participate, or to bid aggressively, if they know that they will be unable to subsequently sell their spectrum if their business plans change or do not work out."