The FCC Public Safety Bureau Friday extended until April 18 the freeze on the filing of new non-rebanding-related 800 MHz applications in Washington state along the U.S.-Canada border. The move is tied to the ongoing 800 MHz rebanding, the bureau said (http://bit.ly/1rj730Q). “This extension of the freeze on non-rebanding applications is needed to preserve vacant channels for licensees re-tuning their systems according to the reconfigured band plan adopted by the Bureau for licensees operating along the U.S.-Canada border.” The freeze also applies to stations within 70 miles of the state borders.

RadioShack will roll out its initial launch of Apple Pay starting Monday at more than 900 stores in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington, the retailer said (http://bit.ly/1CvMCnP). RadioShack will introduce the digital wallet service in more markets to be announced in 2015, it said in a Thursday news release. To use Apple Pay, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch, owners need only hold their device close to an in-store near field communication contactless reader, it said. Best Buy and Walmart are among the big retailers that have spurned taking part in Apple Pay. Best Buy suggested it was because it has no NFC capability installed in its stores, while Walmart gave no reason (see 1409150051).

CTIA cautioned the FCC against imposing location or roaming requirements for emergency texts to 911, at least at this time, in a filing made in docket 11-153. The FCC should “refrain from mandating the development of capabilities for legacy platforms,” such as SMS, “which soon will be superseded by next generation technologies,” CTIA said (http://bit.ly/1riUHWy). “As the record in this proceeding illustrates, the Commission’s goals would be best served by allowing affected stakeholders to implement the recently adopted new requirements, and providing additional time for standards work before mandating any additional capabilities be enabled.” CTIA was responding to an August NPRM. More work is required on standards before roaming can be mandated, the group said. “The record in this proceeding is replete with evidence that providing enhanced location information has not yet been demonstrated to be universally attainable.” The Telecommunications Industry Association also urged the FCC to proceed with caution on text-to-911 rules (http://bit.ly/1nsotwO). TIA cautioned “against regarding the standards development process as a mechanism through which creation of otherwise nonexistent technology functionality can be mandated.”

The FCC scheduled a forum Nov. 7 on the latest advances in accessible wireless emergency communications, including text-to-911, the agency said Thursday. The forum starts at 9:30 a.m. EST at FCC headquarters (http://bit.ly/1rB07fm). The goal is to “engage technology designers, engineers and policy makers to raise awareness of the needs of people with disabilities prior to developing devices and services that can be used in and during emergencies, with the goal of saving more lives and enabling quicker responses to natural and manmade disasters,” the FCC said.

A recent survey by Global Wireless Solutions found that Londoners still rely on 2G networks for the most part and one in seven voice calls from London commuters fails, CTIA Vice President Jot Carpenter said Thursday in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1od1Z3o). “Why am I sharing this news?” he asks. “It’s not to gloat, but to remind everyone, including those who continue to assert -- in spite of all the evidence to the contrary -- that things are better ‘over there,’ why the mobile user experiences for London and the U.S. are so different … and emphasize again, that America leads the world in wireless.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, relying in part on an advisory opinion from the FCC, said Thursday a lower court erred in granting a credit agency summary relief in a case that looked at whether it violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by repeatedly autodialing the mobile phone of the son-in-law of an electric utility's deceased customer after he failed to pay an electric bill. The court remanded the case, Albert A. Nigro v. Mercantile Adjustment Bureau, for further review (http://bit.ly/1qDKgxx). National Grid hired MAB to collect an outstanding balance of $67 allegedly owed by Nigro's deceased mother-in-law, the court said. MAB transmitted an autodialed message to Nigro 72 times over nine months. “Since Nigro did not consent to the calls, they were prohibited by the TCPA, and the district court erred in granting summary judgment to MAB,” the court said. The court said it specifically was not ruling on what the outcome would be “if a consumer were to open an account with a creditor and initially provide only his home phone number, but later in the course of the relationship provide a wireless number.” In a July advisory opinion, the FCC Office of General Counsel said MAB’s actions violated the TCPA (http://bit.ly/1vsEoZT).

PCIA President Jonathan Adelstein urged improved access to federal lands for companies that build wireless infrastructure, in a speech to a federal lands workshop at the HetNet Expo Thursday. Adelstein said progress has been slow and the workshop is intended to “jumpstart” the process, in prepared remarks. More than 30 percent of America’s landmass is owned, or controlled, by the federal government, he said. “These are some of the hardest lands to site wireless infrastructure,” he said. “Yet they are also some of the most remote, where broadband is especially critical for public safety and economic development. If our industry confronts heavy obstacles to deployment in areas where the business case is already most difficult, the result is that investment goes elsewhere.” The federal government wins if rules for facility deployment are relaxed, he said. More broadband means military families on remote bases have the same Internet access “they would expect off-base so that they can remain connected to their loved ones,” he said. War fighters gain access “to training opportunities on the most advanced technologies,” he said. Public safety agencies also need better access to broadband, he said: “Our executive agencies throughout the federal government, like the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, and the National Park Service, need broadband to more efficiently meet their missions and protect their personnel.”

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai said he knows firsthand the importance of wireless ISPs, since he grew up in a small town in Kansas where a WISP was the only source for high-speed Internet, speaking Wednesday at WISPAPALOOZA, an annual meeting for WISPs. “I believe the FCC should be on the side of entrepreneurs like WISPs, and that means in part being in favor of unlicensed spectrum,” he said. Pai said he was looking closely at concerns raised by WISPA about restrictions the FCC places on out-of-band emissions in the 5725-5850 MHz band (see 1408250034). “I take those concerns seriously,” Pai said (http://bit.ly/11wleKQ). “And I hope the FCC will work with WISPA and develop an engineering solution and implementation schedule that will satisfy everyone’s concerns.” Pai said he's also pushing to open bands for unlicensed use. “Gigabit wireless throughput is at our doorstep,” he said. Pai said his parents still rely on Wave Wireless for service, a WISP with more than 23,000 customers in southeast Kansas. Wave’s story “isn’t unusual,” he said. “At last count, about 2,000 WISPs in the United States serve approximately 2 million consumers.”

Correction: The place Chad Weller died in March, after falling 180 feet off a tower, was Pasadena, Maryland 1410140094.

Labor Secretary Thomas Perez and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler pledged to work together to curb fatalities among communications tower workers, the subject Tuesday of a workshop at the FCC 1410140083. The tower industry may be small, with 10,000-15,000 employees, “but it's quickly proving to be one of the most dangerous,” the two said in a Wednesday blog post (http://fcc.us/1oaTaag). “And if we don't do something now, the number of fatalities will grow as fast as the industry does.” Industry and the government must work together, they said: “We each have a role to play in stopping these senseless tragedies.”