As an alternative to granting TracFone’s petition to pre-empt state laws imposing local taxes on Lifeline, the company said in comments posted Monday in docket 11-42 that the FCC could pass rules prohibiting states from requiring eligible telecom carriers to collect the taxes. “TracFone is mindful of the fact that any attempt to preempt state laws invites challenge and that the Commission may be reluctant to exercise its preemption authority in this situation,” the company said. As in its Oct. 23 emergency petition seeking pre-emption (see 1501120019), TracFone cited a monthly $1.75 per customer 911 tax approved by Alabama and a monthly 50-cent 911 tax approved by Alabama. The Department of Agriculture prohibits local taxation of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program food stamps benefits, TracFone said. Alabama and Indiana officials didn't comment.

The Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget (DTMB) asked the FCC for a waiver of the commission’s rule that entities may only share a radio station if it's on a frequency that would be eligible for a separate authorization. The Michigan Public Safety Communications System (MPSCS) uses frequencies in the 800 MHz public safety band. DTMB is requesting the waiver to also allow the Cherryland Electric Cooperative and the Presque Isle Electric & Gas Co-op to use the bands on a general basis. Neither company is eligible to use public safety frequencies, but both seek use of the bands so they can use the MPSCS to exchange critical information with state agencies, DTMB said in a filing posted Tuesday. The companies would have access to selected emergency and proprietary “talkgroups” on the MPSCS trunking system and would have access to the analog mutual aid channels, DTMB said. “The interoperability provided by this waiver would provide dedicated communication paths between local and regional emergency management offices and public utilities that are today limited to retail grade commercial phone services,” DTMB said. “These services have proven to be challenged during times of local emergency conditions and during regular first responder efforts for structure fires and other mandatory joint response emergencies.” Cherryland and Presque Isle have agreed to share infrastructure on an as-needed basis and believe they will use their equipment on the public safety bands only during daylight working hours. MPSCS constantly monitors the performance of its network and can restrict or shut down the companies’ access "should it become evident that their use of the network is negatively impacting public safety agencies['] access,” DTMB said. “Michigan does not anticipate a network congestion problem but is able to quickly address any issues that could arise.”

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said the FCC should make more spectrum available for Wi-Fi, in a speech Monday at the South by Southwest conference. Rosenworcel started by noting that, defying likely expectations, she wasn’t going to talk about net neutrality. “No matter where you stand, I think we can all agree that this issue does not lack attention,” she said according to prepared remarks. Instead, Rosenworcel focused on Wi-Fi and unlicensed spectrum: “We have to find more places in our airwaves for unlicensed services like Wi-Fi. We are using more Wi-Fi than ever before, and this use is only going to grow.” Rosenworcel said the FCC should pay attention as work continues on LTE-unlicensed. “The standards development process for LTE-U is ongoing, and we need to be mindful of its impact on unlicensed spectrum use,” she said. Congress also should rethink how it values spectrum, Rosenworcel said. The Congressional Budget Office assigns value to spectrum when it's licensed and sold at auction, she said: “So bills that direct the FCC to sell licensed spectrum get high grades, while legislation that creates more spectrum for Wi-Fi gets low marks. This accounting method is outdated. Because it fails to take into account the more than $140 billion in economic activity unlicensed spectrum creates each year. That economic activity can grow -- if we find a new way to put Wi-Fi on the books.” The FCC was also right to make clear that it won't tolerate blocking of Wi-Fi, she said. Marriott International was fined $600,000 by the FCC in October for blocking personal Wi-Fi networks at its Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville (see 1410060066). The hotel chain announced in January it would no longer block guests from using their personal Wi-Fi devices at any of its hotels (see 1501150064). “We got a little noisy on this one in Washington,” Rosenworcel said. “That’s a victory for hotel guests and a gain for Wi-Fi connectivity. I hope it is also a lesson for other premises operators. Because blocking Wi-Fi connections while simultaneously charging high fees to connect is a bad idea.”

The FCC Wireless Bureau granted, in part, Specialized Mobile Relay’s request for authority for new Part 90 private land mobile radio facilities in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area. The Utilities Telecom Council had objected. The application sought authorization to operate on frequency pairs 451/456.0375 MHz, 451/456.0750 MHz, 451/456.1 MHz and 451/456.1125 MHz in Brooklyn, Staten Island and Jamaica (Queens), New York, and Edison, New Jersey. Because those are former power radio service frequencies, SMR’s frequency coordinator asked UTC for concurrence, but UTC refused, the bureau said Monday.The bureau agreed with UTC arguments that “some of SMR’s proposed operations would appear to have an unacceptable effect on critical infrastructure industry operations.” The bureau approved the applications, but only for frequency pairs 451/456.075 MHz and 451/456.1 MHz at four locations and for frequencies 456.075 MHz and 456.1 MHz at one location. The other applications were dismissed.

AT&T will carry the Samsung Galaxy S 5 mini in its retail stores and online beginning March 20, the carrier said Monday. The Galaxy S 5 mini has a 4.5-inch 720 x 1280 display and an 8-megapixel rear camera. AT&T customers can buy the mini in charcoal black for $0 down on an AT&T Next plan at $14.30 per month for 24 months, $17.88 per month for 18 months or $21.48 per month for 12 months, AT&T said. Users can also buy the phone for $99 with a two-year contract or for $428 with no contract, the carrier said.

The FCC and NTIA plan a two-day workshop on establishing a model spectrum city program April 15-16 at FCC headquarters, the agencies said Monday in a joint notice. They took comments on the proposal for model cities last summer (see 1409020051) and recently met with those who filed comments to seek additional advice. The notion of a model city was first put forth by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in its July 2012 spectrum sharing report. “This workshop will further explore different aspects of the Model City program including the concept, scope, governance, process, technical considerations and funding alternatives,” the agencies said.

CTIA filed at the FCC an opinion by the European Commission’s Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks on potential health effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields, which said there are no health risks from cellphone use. “Overall,” epidemiological studies on radiofrequency and electromagnetic fields exposure from mobile phones “do not show an increased risk of brain tumours,” the report said. “They do not indicate an increased risk for other cancers of the head and neck region.” There is “a lack of evidence” that cellphones affect cognitive functions in humans, said the report, filed March 13 in docket 13-84. “While effects have been found in individual studies, these have typically been observed only in a small number of endpoints, with little consistency between studies.”

FirstNet is asking for comments by April 13 on proposed interpretations of how it should operate under the spectrum law, which created it. The national network for public safety is seeking comment on such issues as what equipment can be used on its network, the nature and application of its required network policies and the presentation of a state plan and “its implications for the rights and duties of other stakeholders, and the rights of States choosing to assume responsibility to build and operate a radio access network in said State,” a notice published in the Federal Register said Friday. In keeping with the Administrative Procedure Act, FirstNet is seeking comment on “foundational legal issues, in addition to technical and economic issues,” the notice said.

The FCC Wireless Bureau granted a waiver request Friday from the PTC-220 group of seven Class I freight railroads, waiving the commission’s Section 90.729(b) power and antenna height limits and Section 90.723(f) coordination limits subject to conditions meant to ensure PTC-220 operations don’t cause harmful interference to other licensees on the 220 MHz band. PTC-220 has been acquiring spectrum on the 220 MHz band and leasing it to the Southern California Regional Rail Authority and other commuter railroads to implement positive train control communications technology. The FCC said it will require PTC-220 to provide a 30-day written notice to licensees about its intent to site a PTC base station that takes advantage of the waived power and antenna height limits, meet a predicted 38 dBu field strength at the license area’s border unless all affected co-channel licensees agree to a higher field strength and meet bright-line frequency and geographic spacing requirements meant to further reduce the risk of interference. The FCC said it is also requiring PTC to provide 30-day written notice to potentially affected Phase II licensees about deployment of a planned waiver-enabled PTC transmitter when the licensee is within 200 kHz and 20 kilometers of the transmitter. The FCC noted opposition to the waiver request from the BEC and DEMCO electric cooperatives, respectively located in South Carolina and Louisiana, but said it disagree with the cooperatives’ “blanket assertion that deployment of waiver-enabled PTC transmitters will harm existing 220 MHz Band stations or limit future expansion by incumbent licensees.”

The Communications Workers of America and NAACP called on the FCC to reject bids made by two designated entities controlled by Dish Network in the AWS-3 auction. The groups sent a letter to commissioners Thursday questioning how Dish, a company with a $34.6 billion market capitalization and $14.6 billion in annual revenue, could qualify for bidding credits designed to help small businesses buy spectrum licenses. The two DEs, Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless, were the winning bidders for $13.3 billion worth of licenses for $10 billion (see 1501300051). “While the AWS-3 auction was an enormous success, DISH's unusual bidding tactics coupled with its abuse of the designated entity rules are creating a cloud over the auction,” the groups said. “We expect that the FCC will reject DISH's attempt to qualify as a small business eligible for $3.25 billion in taxpayer subsidies.” The letter was filed Thursday in docket 12-268. At Dish, "we respectfully disagree with the criticism of the Designated Entity program, and we are confident that we fully complied with the DE rules in the AWS-3 auction, which were unanimously approved by the full Commission," a Dish spokesman emailed us Friday. "The DE program has been successful in providing much smaller entities the ability to access stronger capital structures, which has facilitated their meaningful participation in an auction process from which they would otherwise be precluded. Our approach -- publicly disclosed ahead of the auction -- was based on DE investment structures that have been approved by the FCC in past wireless spectrum auctions, including structures used by AT&T and Verizon."