Verizon reported earnings of 89 cents per share in Q3 on $31.6 billion in revenue. The carrier also added 1.5 million retail wireless connections and finished the quarter with 6.5 million FiOS connections, an 8.8 percent increase year-over-year (http://vz.to/1Fy0O40). A big part of the wireless growth was tied to tablets, Verizon said, with the company adding 457,000 postpaid phones and 1.1 million postpaid tablets in Q3. “We see continued, healthy customer demand for wireless and broadband services, and we are encouraged by the growth we are starting to see in the areas of video delivery and machine-to-machine,” said CEO Lowell McAdam. Verizon officials declined to answer any questions from analyst about the upcoming AWS-3 or TV incentive auction during the quarterly financial call. Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo was asked directly about Verizon's plans for the incentive auction. Shammo said the company wouldn’t have anything to say, since it's in the quiet period leading up to next month’s AWS-3 auction.

The Tizen Association said it has added 16 partner companies, bringing membership to more than 100 companies since its launch in November. The association is holding its second Tizen Developer Summit in Shanghai Monday and Tuesday. Tizen encompasses a “wide range of connected devices, generating opportunities for a broad range of partners including application developers, wireless operators and device manufacturers," said Ryoichi Sugimura, a Tizen Association board member from NTT Docomo, Monday. New association members are CloudTrains Systems, Digital Horizons, Dotscreen, Fractal Media, Fresvii, Integral and Open Systems, Jongla, Kitsilano Software, Max Secure Software, Mobile Inform Group, Ngine Networks, Phaymobile, ReyLabs, Salt and Pepper, SaturnMob and Vserv.

The Competitive Carriers Association asked the FCC to deny AT&T’s proposed buy of lower 700 MHz licenses in California from Club 42. Oppositions to the deal were due at the FCC Friday. CCA filed Friday and the petition was posted by the Monday in docket 14-145 (http://bit.ly/1t2scC1). The deal would result in AT&T holding more than one-third of the spectrum below 1 GHz in the California 12-Kings and California 5-San Luis Obispo markets, CCA said. “AT&T has failed to meet the applicable heightened standards for demonstrating that the proposed transaction is in the public interest when balanced with the serious anticompetitive risks posed by the increased concentration of below-1-GHz spectrum.”

CTIA filed an infographic at the FCC showing the competitiveness of the U.S. wireless industry in 2013, relative to 2010 when the FCC imposed the first net neutrality rules. It said smartphones were eight times faster in 2013 than in 2010 and data traffic grew 732 percent during the period. “The facts noted on the infographic are clear: the wireless industry is robustly competitive and innovative, and is working for Americans and America’s economy,” CTIA said in the filing in docket 14-28 (http://bit.ly/1sGLJ9x). CTIA opposes a move by the FCC to impose stronger net neutrality requirements on mobile broadband than were imposed in the 2010 rules (see 1409160019).

Giving industry time to develop a solution is critical if the FCC imposes location accuracy rules for wireless calls made indoors, said Chris Pearson, president of 4G Americas, in a meeting with Commissioner Mike O’Rielly. “Otherwise, the industry will waste resources on mandates for narrowed search radii that may not serve the public’s interest,” Pearson said, according to an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 07-114 (http://bit.ly/1CL9jnS). Small cells may have the most promise for providing readily dispatchable addresses to public safety, but much work remains, 4G Americas said. “Stakeholders must undertake development of the appropriate database methodology to ensure the information is accessible and useable by carriers, as well as develop a means of ensuring such addresses are updated and validated as necessary,” the group said. “And of course, the small cells themselves must be deployed and provisioned by premises owners, potentially in partnership with local government and public safety involvement.” Meanwhile, SouthernLINC Wireless executives told FCC staff “adoption of new location accuracy standards at this time would be premature,” said an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1wrcuRR). The FCC approved an NPRM in February seeking comment on how the agency can ensure that wireless calls to 911 forward accurate location information to dispatchers (see 1402210038).

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.”