The FCC set a comment cycle Wednesday on a complicated deal in which AT&T and T-Mobile propose to swap PCS and AWS-1 licenses in parts of 10 states (http://bit.ly/WNlwLl). Petitions to deny are due Aug. 20, oppositions Sept. 2 and replies Sept. 9. The FCC said the swaps involve spectrum in 76 counties covering “all or parts” of 25 cellular market areas (http://bit.ly/1oLWCWR). The trade satisfies in part a commitment by AT&T to divest spectrum as part of its acquisition of Leap Wireless, AT&T said. “The Applicants assert that the instant transaction would allow them to operate more efficiently due to holding larger blocks of contiguous spectrum and/or aligning spectrum blocks with those already held in adjacent market,” the FCC said. The commission asked interested parties to raise issues in their initial filings, not in replies.

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.

ZigBee Alliance board member Philips gave a thumbs down on plans to offer a Bluetooth Smart Mesh version of its Hue LED lighting system patterned after technology championed by U.K. chip maker CSR as a competitor to ZigBee (CD July 10 p13 ). CSR executives have said they were in talks with ZigBee supporters like Philips in hopes of converting them to the Bluetooth Smart Mesh system. Philips “will continue to innovate to help our customers realize all the possibilities the digitalization and personalization of light presents,” the company emailed us. “It is not our policy to comment on other products or products we have in the pipeline, but in this case we want to draw your attention to a number of benefits we provide over Bluetooth enabled bulbs. We believe that these capabilities deliver more meaning to our customers.” For one thing, Hue enables control from anywhere in the house and “out-of-home,” and is not a “short-ranged room-based technology,” Philips said. The Hue “ecosystem” also is expandable to include a “full range” of switches and sensors to control lights “in new and innovative ways,” instead of just a smartphone, as the CSR technology entails, it said. “Hue uses open standard connectivity technology enabled by ZigBee LightLink. This means that interoperability between devices from different brands is possible. Bluetooth is only about connectivity and does not enable interoperability on complete products."

Installing a kill switch in mobile phones could save consumers up to $3.4 billion annually, concludes research from Creighton University professor William Duckworth released Tuesday. The kill switch would also kill a growing market for stolen smartphones, the report said. “Over the last few months, it has become very clear that Americans want the Kill Switch on their phones,” Duckworth said in a news release (http://bit.ly/1xvHxcw). “I believe an industry-wide implementation of the technology could significantly improve public safety and save consumers billions of dollars a year.” A bill by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., S-2032, the Smartphone Theft Prevention Act, would require the installation of a kill switch on mobile phones (CD Feb 26 p11). Jamie Hastings, CTIA vice president-external and state affairs, said CTIA cannot comment on the veracity of the study. “The wireless industry has already provided numerous anti-theft solutions, many for free, to consumers and they will continue to do so,” she said. “This is being done because the wireless industry is committed to providing tools to law enforcement to safeguard its consumers, their devices and their personal information.” CTIA noted that the wireless industry has created a stolen phone database, though only the FBI, New York City and Las Vegas have signed up for it to date.

Representatives of business groups met with FCC Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau staff to push for a ruling on a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) decision sought by United Healthcare Services. United Healthcare had asked the FCC to find that a company is not liable for violating the TCPA for autodialed and prerecorded calls made after a wireless subscriber’s phone number has changed (http://bit.ly/1i6pAfm). Among those represented at the meeting were the American Bankers Association, the American Financial Services Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 02-278. “The record in this proceeding reflects strong support from both organizations and consumers for granting the Petition, which will ensure that wireless consumers can continue to benefit from the important non-telemarketing, informational calls that they have consented to receive,” the groups said (http://bit.ly/1rNfFm2).

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology sought comment on a 45-day public trial of a new system of registration procedures for Google’s TV bands database system. The test was completed on July 17, OET said Tuesday. The trial let the public “access and participate in the testing of Google’s new registration system to ensure that the system properly registers facilities entitled to protection and that Google’s database system as modified to incorporate its new registration system provides protection to such facilities as specified in the Commission’s rules,” OET said (http://bit.ly/1qh6khK). Comments are due Aug. 13, replies Aug. 19, in docket 04-186.

More than three in every four U.S. vehicle owners with at least one connected car feature say such connectivity services will influence their next vehicle purchase, and more than half rate connected services as “very important” in guiding their next vehicle purchase, Parks Associates said in a report Tuesday (http://bit.ly/XaFeAM). More than 80 percent of U.S. broadband homes with a mobile phone service have a smartphone, “which is a gateway device for connected cars,” Parks said. “Smartphones have raised expectations of what connected devices can do, and Google and Apple are among the companies trying to build on those expectations in the connected car space.” The most common connected car feature is the ability to make phone calls using the car’s built-in Bluetooth connectivity, but the most desired feature is the ability to view maps or get directions, the report said. “Apple and Google are vying to be the consumer touch point for connected applications and services, and that competition has naturally extended to the automotive space.” Both iOS and Android “bring their mobile operating systems to the car through a ‘mirroring’ approach that lets the user control certain smartphone functions and apps through the car’s display, physical buttons, or voice control,” it said. Smartphone users are much more likely than non-smartphone owners to find connected car services appealing, it said. For example, 37 percent of current vehicle owners in U.S. broadband households are very interested in the ability to view maps or receive directions, it said. Among smartphone owners, the percentage of those interested increases to 48 percent, it said.

The Enterprise Wireless Alliance raised concerns about an application by Spectrum Networks Group (SNG) for an FCC 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. EWA said SNG offers only “bald assertions” on plans for the spectrum, but no “product development details, information regarding FCC certification for this 900 MHz data product, business plans, funding status to support a ‘nationwide network,’ or other relevant documentation that might provide credence in support of waiver relief.” The filing was posted by the FCC Tuesday in docket 14-100 (http://bit.ly/1labmKf). SNG filed a recent ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1rYkuYd) saying it plans to offer “the first, dedicated, national, licensed, machine-to-machine communications network in the United States.” “M2M feels confident in its applications,” said Christopher Bjornson of Steptoe & Johnson, which represents the company. “It looks forward to addressing the issues raised by EWA.”

The FCC March 15 spectrum aggregation order, while helping to bring some closure to the issue of spectrum holdings, may raise more questions for companies seeking to combine, said wireless industry lawyer Angela Giancarlo of Mayer Brown, in a report published by Bloomberg BNA (http://bit.ly/1s25V4Z). Giancarlo pointed to the commission’s suggestion that, under the new policies, certain entities proposing to merge may face restrictions in the forward part of the TV incentive auction of 600 MHz spectrum. By adding 101 megahertz of 2.5 GHz spectrum to the screen, the commission raises the specter of significant and potentially unsolvable issues in the event it receives a transaction application involving this band, she wrote.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau denied a request by Del Norte County, California, for a permanent waiver of the commission’s rule requiring the narrowbanding of all private land mobile radio licensees operating in the 150-174 MHz and 450-512 MHz bands. The county told the FCC it had completed the narrowbanding but as a result experienced a 40 percent loss of coverage in its operational area, the bureau said. Del Norte County told the commission it would have to build three to five towers to supplement its current two-tower system to restore its network to its previous capacity but doesn’t have the funding to do that. The county didn’t offer “sufficient facts” to justify a permanent waiver, the bureau said (http://bit.ly/1qHvon8). “We recognize the financial constraints Del Norte faces to construct additional towers, but this circumstance is not unusual or unique among licensees that have been subject to the narrowbanding requirement,” the bureau said. “While Del Norte’s financial constraints could weigh in favor of a temporary waiver to afford the County additional time to upgrade its system, they do not justify a permanent waiver.” The FCC has required licensees to use narrower channels to remedy congestion in the VHF and UHF bands.