A New York City project to offer free Wi-Fi hotspots at converted payphone sites shows the dangers of “virtual redlining,” Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld told FCC officials, said a filing in docket 14-28. “The decision by commercial providers to limit prioritized service to wealthier communities and to avoid communities of color because of racial stereotypes, is a very real concern,” Feld said. The Wi-Fi hotspots are supported by advertisers, and “advertisers prefer wealthier eyes,” he said. “As a result, all of the 2,500-plus locations in Manhattan are high speed, giving the borough with 20 percent of the city’s population fully 65 percent of all the fast kiosks. Meanwhile, the Bronx will get speedy Wi-Fi at 361 kiosks -- just 6 percent of the fast Wi-Fi stations in the city.” Feld said the New York example points to the dangers of paid prioritization. “If carriers decide to offer commercial businesses the opportunity to reduce cost by limiting prioritization to specific markets on the basis of zip code, census block, or other geographic demarcation, we can anticipate that -- as with the NY City public wifi experience -- businesses will avail themselves of this opportunity,” he said. The New York City Franchise and Concession Review Committee recently held a hearing on the CityBridge consortium’s plan to install a Wi-Fi hot spot system in place at up to 10,000 obsolete payphone booth sites across the city (see 1412040056).

NTIA released an update Thursday to its Manual of Regulations and Procedures for Federal Radio Frequency Management, which took effect immediately, said a notice in Thursday's Federal Register. “The NTIA Manual is the compilation of policies and procedures that govern the use of the radio frequency spectrum by the U.S. Government,” the agency said. “Federal government agencies are required to follow these policies and procedures in their use of spectrum.”

The FCC announced a pleading cycle on a spectrum swap between AT&T and U.S. Cellular. Under the deal, AT&T would receive 10 to 20 MHz of broadband PCS spectrum in 104 counties in 32 cellular market areas, the FCC said. U.S. Cellular would get 10 to 15 MHz of broadband PCS spectrum in 18 counties in seven CMAs. “As a result of the proposed inter-market exchanges, AT&T would hold 76 to 185 MHz of spectrum in total, and U.S. Cellular would hold 34 to 91 MHz of spectrum in total, post-transaction, in the counties implicated by the proposed transaction,” the FCC said. Petitions to deny are due Jan. 5, oppositions Jan. 15 and replies Jan. 23.

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).