T-Mobile appears to be the “lone winner in a sector-wide price war,” analyst Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson said in a note to investors Tuesday. “In Q4, total wireless industry service revenue growth turned negative for the first time ever,” Moffett said. “Against this grim backdrop,” T-Mobile’s adjusted total revenue grew 16.6 percent in Q4, he said. Service margins expanded by 590 basis points and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization grew by “an extraordinary” 41.3 percent, he said.

A lack of spectrum in rural markets isn't the reason Sprint and T-Mobile aren't offering service in many rural markets, Mobile Future said in a white paper arguing against setting aside spectrum for competitors to AT&T and Verizon in future spectrum auctions. The paper, by American Rural CEO Diane Smith, examines the five most-rural states: the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming and New Mexico. All four national carriers hold spectrum in every county in those states, Smith wrote. “In counties where Sprint and T-Mobile provide no coverage on their networks, the companies hold on average more than 84 MHz and more than 32 MHz of spectrum, respectively.” The real impediment is economic, the paper said. The “revenue potential” for a wireless carrier in a major urban center is $248,000 per square mile of service, which drops to $262 per square mile in the least densely populated areas, Smith said. “The premise that Sprint and T-Mobile will use additional low-band spectrum to enter rural markets and compete with established providers is simply not supported by the facts,” she said. Sprint and T-Mobile had no immediate comment.

Granting Citizens Bank’s petition for the FCC to clarify or issue a declaratory ruling on robocalls would “conflict with both the plain language” of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and previous commission rulings, said the National Association of Consumer Advocates and National Consumer Law Center in comments posted Monday in docket 02-278. Citizens Bank’s Jan. 16 petition asked the commission to clarify that a called party that advertises its cellphone number provides express consent to receive autodialed or prerecorded nontelemarketing informational calls to the number, said a Feb. 12 Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau public notice. Comments were due Monday, replies are due March 31. The “sweeping” petition would “unnecessarily expose consumers to nuisance robocalls whenever they release their telephone number for a limited purpose in an entirely different context,” the groups said. Granting the petition would mean “an out-of-work mother who posts a resume containing her cellular telephone number online … has consented to receiving ‘informational’ robocalls on her cellphone from FOX about American Idol,” the groups said. The petition also would mean the woman consented to receiving debt collection calls on her cellphone, NACA and NCLA said. Citizens Bank said in its March 13 comments it's facing a TCPA class-action lawsuit from a defaulted debtor who was called on a cellphone number she had advertised for her business.

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.”