FiberTower won a partial victory in a court case challenging a 2012 FCC order canceling 689 wireless spectrum licenses it held in the 24 and 39 GHz bands, for failure to meet the agency’s “substantial service” performance standard during the license term. In a decision Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated the FCC’s order on 42 of the licenses, on which FiberTower had stated on its renewal applications that construction had occurred. FiberTower proposes to use the licenses to offer wireless backhaul. The court also ordered the FCC to again consider its request for an extension of substantial service requirement for the other licenses as well. The company told the court last year (see 1410150093) that it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2012, but as long as it held the licenses it “maintained a pathway for restructuring the company around its industry-leading technology and customer-development efforts in the 24 and 39 GHz bands.” The Wireless Bureau’s “substantial service analysis was predicated on the finding that there was no ‘construction of any facilities whatsoever’ in any of the terminated license areas,” Judge Judith Rogers wrote on behalf of the court panel. In its filings, the FCC “overstates its position in maintaining that it 'had no notice of FiberTower’s specific objections,’” Rogers said. The court vacated the orders denying the requests for renewal “so that the Commission may rule on FiberTower’s requests in light of an accurate understanding of the license renewal record,” Rogers wrote. The burden “for challenging the Commission’s denial of waiver and extension is heavy,” she said, citing precedent. But “the Commission has acknowledged that the proportion of licenses that have been built out may be relevant to its extension analysis.” FiberTower was represented by Akin Gump on the appeal.

The FCC should craft rules for the TV incentive auction that don’t advantage any potential bidders, Mobile Future said in a letter Thursday to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. “It is a matter of record that open and inclusive auction design principles -- like those used in the AWS-3 auction -- are essential to achieving auction outcomes that best serve mobile consumers, the public interest, and innovators alike,” Mobile Future said. “It is also imperative for the Commission to take steps to prevent certain self-interested competitors from ‘gaming the system.’ Mobile Future urges the Commission to recognize the realities of the AWS-3 auction and learn from this experience when crafting rules for the incentive auction.”

Cheryl Leanza, policy advisor to the United Church of Christ, stressed the importance of designated entity rules in spectrum auctions, in a meeting with Maria Kirby and Renee Gregory, aides to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. Leanza tied DE issues to media ownership rules, said an ex parte filing in docket 09-182. Leanza “thanked the office for the Chairman’s previous statements in support of media ownership diversity and urged the Chairman to follow through on all related issues with equal degrees of speed,” the filing said.

The FCC Wireless Bureau released a pleading cycle on a proposed spectrum deal between AT&T and Pine Cellular. Under the proposed swap, AT&T would lease from Pine Cellular spectrum under one lower700 MHz B-block license in parts of Arkansas, the bureau said Thursday. Pine Cellular would in turn lease from AT&T spectrum under one partitioned lower 700 MHz B-block license, three partitioned lower 700 MHz C-block licenses and four partitioned personal communications service licenses in parts of Oklahoma, the bureau said. Petitions to deny are due May 4, oppositions May 14 and replies May 21.

AT&T said NAB complaints about problems with TV white spaces databases raise real concerns for AT&T as well. NAB recently filed an emergency petition at the FCC asking the agency to suspend operation of the TV white spaces (TVWS) database system until “serious flaws” are corrected in the system (see 1503190056). “These issues are important,” AT&T Vice President Joan Marsh said in a blog post Thursday. “Policymakers increasingly view spectrum sharing as policed by a database-driven frequency manager as critical to the future of U.S. spectrum policy.” Marsh said the TV white spaces deployment has been slow, but the FCC is promoting spectrum sharing everywhere from the TV band following the upcoming incentive auction to the 3.5 GHz band. “Even in the best circumstances, real time external monitoring and management of a complex interference environment is a tall order,” Marsh said. “But we now learn that database providers have not been able to effectively maintain information on less than 600 TV white space devices. This raises serious questions about the ability of a database to patrol the complexities involved in robust spectrum sharing, including in the 3.5 GHz band.”

CTIA and PCIA jointly filed in the 4th U.S. Court of Appeals as interveners on behalf of the FCC in the lawsuit the commission faces from Montgomery County, Md., against the FCC’s October wireless facilities deployment order. Montgomery County’s lawsuit and an identical lawsuit from Los Angeles and other municipalities in the D.C. Circuit say the order’s wireless tower siting rules are unconstitutional and misinterpret the 2012 Spectrum Act (see 1503100034). CTIA and PCIA were major parties in the FCC order’s creation, having pledged to work with local jurisdictions to streamline the wireless tower siting process (see 1410170048 and 1503050056). “By intervening in this case, CTIA seeks to uphold the FCC Order that created an effective framework for local governments whose support is crucial for allowing mobile providers to improve capacity and expand coverage in their communities and across America,” said CTIA Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Scott Bergmann in a statement Thursday. “PCIA strongly believes that the FCC’s October 2014 Infrastructure Order will help streamline and accelerate the deployment of wireless infrastructure across the country,” said PCIA Vice President-Government Affairs Zac Champ in a statement. “Lawsuits such as the one filed by Montgomery County could jeopardize that deployment and, with it, economic growth and job creation. PCIA and CTIA’s joint petition urges the courts to allow the FCC to carry out Congress’s clearly stated desire to streamline wireless infrastructure deployment.”

The FCC Public Safety Bureau will host a workshop May 8 on the use of apps on smartphones and other mobile devices to contact 911, the FCC said Wednesday. “Topics addressed in the workshop will include: how existing apps are assisting in the provision of 911 service, how 911 network architecture affects requirements for app design and delivery, and future steps needed to encourage further development and integration of 911 apps into the broader 911 ecosystem,” the FCC said. The workshop will be at FCC headquarters and more details will be revealed closer to the event, a public notice said.

The FCC should clarify that those who have made their cellphone numbers publicly available for business calls should be deemed as having given prior consent to receiving nontelemarketing calls under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, said the Coalition of Higher Education Assistance Organizations in reply comments posted Wednesday in docket 02-278. The group was backing Citizens Bank’s petition for declaratory ruling seeking the clarification. Some consumer groups oppose the petition (see 1503170026). COHEAO is a partnership of colleges, universities and organizations that promotes campus-based loan and tuition payment programs, according to its website.

The National Regional Planning Council (NRPC) asked the FCC for more time for regional planning committees to modify their existing 700 MHz regional plans. The notice requiring the changes was published in the Federal Register Dec. 2, establishing a due date of June 2, NRPC said. But NRPC and the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council only recently completed work identifying new general use channels for use in a nationwide 700 MHz deployable system, the group said. “The modification of 700 MHz plans can only now begin to be initiated by 700 MHz regional planning committees as prior to these channels being identified there was insufficient information available to modify regional plans properly,” NRPC said. The filing was in docket 13-87.

The FCC Wireless Bureau denied a request for a waiver of the build-out requirements for 14 Multiple Address System (MAS) licenses held by Great River Energy. As a result, the licenses were canceled as of Oct. 12, 2010, the bureau said in an order released Wednesday. Great River told the FCC it and its 28 member cooperatives planned to use the licenses to deploy smart grid technology across Minnesota and Wisconsin. But, Great River asserted, the National Institute of Standards and Technology hasn't issued standards for system and equipment manufacturers. So Great River said it should receive a waiver until Oct. 12, 2015, the bureau said. “We conclude that Great River has failed to justify an extension of time to meet the first construction requirement because Great River’s failure to meet the buildout deadline was attributable to factors wholly within its control,” the bureau said. “Great River made the business decision to develop a Smart Grid system based on equipment manufactured to meet the Smart Grid standard developed by NIST, even though NIST had not yet developed the standard.” The bureau also denied waiver requests for seven MAS licenses held by Alligator Communications and said as a result those licenses were also canceled as of Oct. 12, 2010. Alligator had argued that granting the extensions would allow continued development and implementation of Shared Use Repeater Stations “which would be a ‘more efficient use of ... MAS spectrum ... than to have to employ stop gap implementation,’” the bureau said in a second order. “Alligator’s failure to meet its construction requirement was attributable to factors within its control,” the bureau said. “Any waiver or extension of the construction requirement would not be in the public interest.” The MAS licenses were sold in a 2005 auction. The licenses, in the 900 MHz band, allow terrestrial point-to-point and point-to-multipoint fixed and limited mobile operations.