French carrier Iliad’s bid for a majority stake in T-Mobile US (CD Aug 1 p1) could make a Sprint/T-Mobile deal an even tougher sell for regulators, said Guggenheim Partners analyst Paul Gallant in a Monday research note. Iliad’s bid is “likely to reinforce regulators’ instinct” that the U.S. market can still support four national carriers, Gallant wrote. “It’s one thing for regulators to base a challenge to Sprint/T-Mobile on projections that four players are viable. It’s another for regulators to know that an existing telecom operator is willing to bet its own money on that same belief.” Gallant also said language in an FCC rulemaking notice weighing in against joint bidding arrangements by the national carriers (CD Aug 4 p1) could be another sign of FCC resistance to a Sprint/T-Mobile deal.

The FCC and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration plan a workshop Oct. 14 on ways to cut the number of injuries and fatalities of workers who have to climb communications towers, said a public notice released Monday (http://bit.ly/1v38Z5m). The agencies said there already have been nine tower deaths in 2014. The workshop is to examine “factors contributing to the high rate of tower climber injuries and fatalities” and “best practices” for tower safety, the agencies said. Among the speakers will be FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. The workshop is to start at 9 a.m. at FCC headquarters.

The Canadian Radio-TV and Telecommunications Commission said small carriers there face discrimination from their larger peers in wholesale roaming rates, said the U.S-based Rural Wireless Association Friday (http://bit.ly/1rT0wMF). RWA said U.S. regulators should follow Canada’s lead. “Canada now expressly prohibits discrimination among and between all roaming agreements,” RWA said. “Canada also enacted new legislation that sets all roaming rates (Data, Voice and Texting) at the prevailing retail rate of the carrier that is providing the roaming service.” The FCC’s three-year-old data roaming rule “other than requiring dialog between parties ... has yet to change the actual behavior of the country’s largest wireless carriers,” the group said.

Outdoor facilities deployed by critical infrastructure companies should be given protected status in proposed rules for spectrum sharing in the 3.5 GHz band, said engineering firm Lockard & White in a filing at the FCC. The firm does work on behalf of electric utilities building smart grids, the filing said. The reliability and resilience of utility networks need to be “exceptionally high, so that communications are maintained, especially during emergencies such as power outages,” the firm said in a filing posted Friday in docket 12-354 (http://bit.ly/1rSVKyJ).

The CTIA Spectrum Clearinghouse assisted in the relocation of 17 links in the AWS-1 band in the first half of 2014, said a report the group filed at the FCC. Throughout its lifetime, the clearinghouse has relocated 1,713 links, the report said (http://bit.ly/1rLRGQA). The average cost for those moved this year was $191,708. The report was posted Thursday in docket 00-258.

As of March 31, Sprint estimates its costs directly associated with completing the reconfiguration of all 800 MHz licensees will be $331.3 million or less, said the carrier in filing Wednesday in FCC docket 02-55 (http://bit.ly/1qszEC3). The number is based on forecasts submitted to the 800 MHz Transition Administrator and reflects “the amounts remaining unpaid under executed contracts as well as an estimate based on the TA metrics for the small number of licensees in the U.S.-Mexican border not yet under contract,” Sprint said. The FCC approved an order in 2004 that launched the rebanding with a goal of eliminating interference to public safety systems in the 800 MHz band.

The Utilities Telecom Council urged the FCC to reject an application by Spectrum Networks Group (SNG) for a waiver so subsidiary M2M Spectrum Networks can offer a third-party service providing machine-to-machine communications using 900 MHz Business/Industrial/Land Transportation channels (CD July 30 p6). “UTC submits that SNG has not met its burden for obtaining a waiver under the FCC rules,” the group said (http://bit.ly/1k9KLln) in comments posted by the FCC Thursday in 14-100. Motorola Solutions made a similar argument. “SNG has not met its burden to demonstrate that the underlying intent of the Commission’s policies would be preserved by waiving the rule that limits the initial use of the 900 MHz I/B channels to private internal systems,” the equipment maker said (http://bit.ly/1AEmcSH).

The FCC needs to move forward as quickly as possible to approve rules mandating improved location accuracy for calls to 911, representatives of technology vendor TruePosition said in a meeting with Public Safety Bureau Chief David Simpson. The company was represented in part by Jamie Barnett, former chief of the bureau, now at Venable. “The men and women of the public safety and 911 communities strongly support the FCC’s adoption of its proposed rules to improve the E911 system now,” said an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 07-114 (http://bit.ly/1n6QrHA).

The FCC sought comment on seven petitions for reconsideration of its March 31 order that opens up the 5.1 GHz band for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed use (http://fcc.us/XffL9d). The order also harmonizes rules for this new U-NII-1 band with rules for the U-NII-3 band. Cambium Networks, JAB Wireless and the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association questioned the strict out-of-band emissions limits in the higher-powered 5.8 GHz region of the band (http://bit.ly/WNa5U2). Oppositions to the petitions must be filed by Aug. 14, replies Aug. 25, said an FCC notice Wednesday in the Federal Register (http://1.usa.gov/1lXFcSb).

The FCC Public Safety Bureau approved a request by Chesapeake Operating for a waiver of commission rules allowing the energy company to operate a private land mobile radio system using Automated Maritime Telecommunications System (AMTS) spectrum in southwest Texas. The bureau approved the use of five of six sites where Chesapeake proposed to install transmitters (http://bit.ly/WNnZpe). The company plans to use the spectrum for a communications system to provide advanced Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) technologies for its natural gas exploration and production, the bureau said. Eagle Creek Broadcasting had objected because of a potential interference risk for one of its stations, KVTV in Laredo, Texas. In response, the bureau denied the application for a single transmitter site in Cotulla, Texas, but allowed installation of the network at five other sites. “We remind Chesapeake that AMTS stations are authorized on the condition that no harmful interference will be caused to reception of existing television stations,” the bureau said. “AMTS licensees are expected to help resolve interference complaints, and must cure any impermissible interference to television reception ... or discontinue operation of the station.” The order was approved by the bureau Tuesday and released Wednesday.