Many industry comments on an FCC proposal to change its wireless tower siting rules, partly in response to the 2010 spectrum law, are “problematic,” said a filing by numerous cities and local government organizations (http://bit.ly/1oxdRr3). The wireless industry is seeking changes that would streamline rules, particularly for distributed antenna systems and small cells (CD March 7 p1). “Some commenters would allow local governments to protect against safety hazards recognized in particular ordinances (building codes) yet would mandate that local governments ignore safety hazards addressed elsewhere,” the cities said. “They also would apply Section 6409(a) [of the spectrum law] much more broadly than the statute permits, and call for a Section 6409(a) enforcement scheme that would present serious constitutional problems.” Comments show “near unanimity that Section 6409(a) does not apply to a state or local government acting in a proprietary capacity, and no comment demonstrates a need for the Commission to attempt to define what is and is not proprietary,” the filing said. The local governments also said “adopting the Commission’s proposed rules in their current form would have major adverse consequences for public safety, the environment, historical structures, and local communities -- consequences that Congress could not have intended. Although the industry’s comments seem to recognize that the proposed rules, read literally, would go too far, the industry’s solutions still result in many of the same problems.”

Unlicensed spectrum touches everyone’s life, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said Friday, in remarks to Wi-Fi Forward, a group pressing for greater unlicensed use of the 5 GHz band. Rosenworcel noted estimates that residential Wi-Fi contributes $16-$37 billion to the U.S. economy every year. “It might have been the shiny new tablet or laptop you used to go online with Wi-Fi this morning,” Rosenworcel said. “Or maybe it was the old cordless phone you dusted off to make a quick call. It could have been the baby monitor you used overnight, or the television remote control you took in hand to turn on the news after you woke. Or perhaps it was the remote control you pressed to get out of the garage for your commute to work. It could have been the traffic application you checked on your smartphone before hitting the road. And it could have been the errand you ran at the store along the way, where RFID sensors help keep what you want on shelves and what you need in stock.” “Good spectrum policy” dictates that the U.S. allow for unlicensed and licensed spectrum to flourish, she said. Rosenworcel noted that she had just attended the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. “I was able to speak to representatives of the wireless industry from across the globe,” she said. “I got a good look at the future -- and I saw wireless technologies that amaze. Cars that warn you even before they break down. Wearables that monitor your health down to the microsecond. Systems that monitor crops and predict problems with livestock. These devices do not rely on a single spectrum band to function. Instead, they overcome spectral and physical challenges by moving from frequency to frequency, sometimes on spectrum that is licensed and sometimes on spectrum that is unlicensed.” Rosenworcel said she is supportive of an FCC order, teed up for the March 31 commission meeting, that would allow unlicensed use of the 5.1 GHz band, also known as the Unlicensed-National Information Infrastructure-1 (U-NII-1) band, harmonized with rules in place for other 5 GHz spectrum. “We can take the flexible Wi-Fi rules that have already been the script for an unlicensed success story in the 5.725-5.825 GHz band and expand them to the 5.15-5.25 GHz band,” she said. “If we do, we could effectively double unlicensed bandwidth in the 5 GHz band overnight. That will mean more unlicensed service -- and less congestion on licensed wireless networks."

New rules for level probing radars (LPRs) go into effect April 7. They were published Thursday in the Federal Register. The revised rules cover low-power radars that operate on an unlicensed basis in the 5.925-7.250, 24.05-29.00 and 75-85 GHz bands (http://1.usa.gov/NBTfmi).

Annual mobile app revenue in North America will exceed $27 billion by 2018, Parks Associates said Thursday. That rise in annual revenue will come mainly from in-app purchases and in-app advertising revenue, the research firm said. Mobile apps are also “transforming all aspects of the connected home, and the app in a smart home system will be prime real estate for communicating with subscribers and promoting new services and features,” said Parks President Stuart Sikes. Between 57 percent and 73 percent of likely smart home buyers are interested in purchasing upgrades or additional equipment through their smart home system app, the firm said.

The FCC would prefer that Sprint not propose a buy of T-Mobile, Credit Suisse analysts said in a research note Thursday, based on a “field trip” to meet with agency officials. “Our read is that the commission, or at least the majority, would rather not have to evaluate a potential transaction like Sprint/T-Mobile,” Credit Suisse said. “While the Democrat officers seemed quite satisfied with the current state of wireless competition, they were clear that any deal brought in front of them would get a fair evaluation and would be judged on its merits. The burden would seem to fall on the involved parties to convince the commission that it would be beneficial for consumers.”

AT&T will “probably” be able to close its buyout of Leap Wireless this month, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said Thursday at a Morgan Stanley investor conference. The carriers are awaiting FCC approval of the deal, which industry observers say is likely to occur soon (CD March 4 p2). AT&T plans to bring Leap’s Cricket prepaid service nationwide “overnight” once the deal closes, Stephenson said. “We are going to be fairly aggressive here.” AT&T has said it will fold its existing Aio Wireless prepaid service into Leap’s Cricket service post-buyout. Leap’s AWS spectrum, meanwhile, “will pair very nicely with the Aloha transaction we just announced end of last year,” Stephenson said. “So we've got a very nice footprint at the AWS level.” AT&T said in January they would buy 49 AWS-1 licenses from Aloha Partners (CD Jan 8 p10). AT&T reported in two ex parte filings on additional discussions with FCC staff about the proposed deal. “In particular, we discussed rate plans that AT&T intends to offer upon launch of the New Cricket; AT&T’s spectrum holdings in various [markets]; AT&T’s LTE deployment; and AT&T’s plans to deploy Leap’s AWS and PCS spectrum to enhance AT&T’s LTE network,” said one of the filings (http://bit.ly/1cFOKNe). A second discussion focused on “Leap’s indirect, minority ownership interest in Flat Wireless,” a filing said (http://bit.ly/1gVzOx9).

Sprint is partnering with Recipero in an effort to prevent the trade and sale of stolen smartphones, Sprint said Wednesday. Recipero maintains the CheckMEND database, a listing of lost and stolen mobile devices. “All Sprint retail buyback portals now employ Recipero’s CheckMEND online analytics tool, in addition to checking other internal and external databases, to help identify mobile devices that have been reported lost and stolen,” Sprint said. “The agreement will also provide consumers and law enforcement greater access to Sprint data on lost and stolen phones."

SureCall, formerly Cellphone-Mate, said Wednesday its Flex2Go cellular booster kit for vehicles was certified by the FCC under the commission’s new cell booster standards. Flex2Go is the company’s first product to receive this FCC certification, SureCall said (http://bit.ly/1eWOyxW).

The FCC set a comment deadline of April 4 on a rulemaking notice asking how the agency can ensure that wireless calls to 911 provide accurate location information to dispatchers. Replies are due May 5. The FCC approved the NPRM at its February meeting (CD Feb 21 p1). The comment deadline was set in a notice published in the Federal Register Wednesday (http://1.usa.gov/1q6BF8S). The FCC “seeks comment on a proposed timeframe and several aspects of implementation of text-to-911 service, particularly relating to the technical ability of interconnected text providers to comply with a text-to-911 mandate,” the notice said. “Specifically, the Commission seeks comment on a proposal that text-to-911 capability should be made available by all text providers no later than December 31, 2014, and should be provided within a reasonable time after a [public safety answering point] has made a valid request for service, not to exceed six months.” The commission also asks for comments “on several issues that we anticipate will be part of the long-term evolution of text-to-911, though it does not propose to require their implementation by a date certain,” the notice said. Written comments on the Paperwork Reduction Act proposed information collection requirements are due at the Office of Management and Budget May 5, the FCC said.

Designated entity Grain asked the FCC for clarity on whether the attributable material relationship rule applies to spectrum deals in the secondary market. Grain was part of a multiparty spectrum deal involving AT&T and Verizon Wireless last year. AT&T agreed to lease three 700 MHz B-block licenses in North Carolina that Verizon Wireless sold to Grain for $189 million. Meanwhile, AT&T sold Grain a single AWS license, with expectations it would be leased by Verizon (CD Jan 13/13 p9). Grain asked the commission to clarify how the rule applies in such secondary market deals. “The attributable material relationship rule, as it is currently drafted, is overly broad and has the potential to deny entities whom Congress would have intended to receive DE benefits from receiving such benefits,” Grain said (http://bit.ly/1oqUWhy). “For example, this rule could potentially disqualify an otherwise qualified DE by virtue of the entity’s mere participation in a leasing transaction with a non-DE that: (1) does not involve licenses acquired through DE benefits and, instead, involves only licenses acquired on the secondary market; and (2) carries no risk of a non-DE unduly influencing the DE’s activities or decision-making.” Applying the rule for such secondary market transactions would be “irrational, and contrary to the intent of Congress and the public interest,” Grain said. “A leasing transaction involving licenses that were acquired without the use of any DE benefits does not pose any danger of unjustly enriching non-DE entities.” A leasing relationship also “does not pose a danger of undue influence unless the leasing transaction involves some sort of future business relationship between the parties -- such as a joint venture, governance relationship, or agreement related to future rights in spectrum capacity -- that would confer undue influence over the DE’s activities or decision-making,” Grain said. Also, “the Commission has expressly recognized the importance of promoting secondary market spectrum transactions and the potential role for such transactions in enabling meaningful participation by minority-owned and small businesses in the wireless sector."