The FCC should “make as much funding available for as many experiments as possible” as the agency does a series of rural broadband experiments, Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry said in a meeting with Jonathan Chambers, chief of the Office of Strategic Planning. Berry said many CCA members submitted informal expressions of interest to take part in the experiment, said an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 10-90 (http://bit.ly/1rcAyGG). An order is circulating that would set aside up to $100 million for such experiments (CD June 30 p3) .

The FCC Office of General Counsel said in a filing with a federal court that a credit collection agency violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by autodialing an electric utility’s customer after he failed to pay an electric bill. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asked the FCC for an advisory opinion as it weighs Albert A. Nigro v. Mercantile Adjustment Bureau. National Grid had hired MAB to collect an outstanding balance of $67 allegedly owed by Nigro’s deceased mother-in-law. MAB transmitted an autodialed message to Nigro 72 times over nine months, the FCC said Monday in 2nd Circuit docket 13-1362 (http://bit.ly/1vsEoZT). In December 2010, Nigro filed a complaint against MAB in federal district court, arguing that MAB had violated the TCPA by transmitting autodialed and prerecorded messages to a cellphone without his consent, the FCC said. The lower court sided with MAB and Nigro appealed. The FCC said the appeals court should reverse. “Nigro did not supply his cellular telephone number in the course of ’the transaction that resulted in the debt owed,'” the FCC said. “The mere fact that Nigro provided his number to National Grid did not convey his consent to be called regarding that debt,” the agency said. “Nor is there any other evidence showing that Nigro had consented to the debt collection calls at issue in this case."

The FCC should streamline its environmental and historic review process for distributed antenna systems and small cells by “categorically excluding facilities that meet a technology-neutral, volume-based definition,” PCIA officials said in a meeting with Louis Peraertz, aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. “Because these facilities have, at most, a de minimis effect on the environment, the FCC has authority to propose the exclusion,” PCIA said. PCIA reported on the meeting in a filing in docket 13-238, posted by the FCC Monday (http://bit.ly/1k76c0B).

The FCC should waive its “former defaulter rule” and clarify that post-auction payments will be due in early 2015, not in 2014, as it finalizes rules for the AWS-3 auction, said AT&T Vice President Joan Marsh in a meeting with Deputy Wireless Bureau Chief John Leibovitz, said a filing posted by the FCC Monday in docket 14-78 (http://bit.ly/1iO27Uw). All of Marsh’s comments were in keeping with reply comments AT&T filed on the auction rules (http://bit.ly/1pJxHmt), AT&T said. The former defaulter rule requires companies to make larger upfront payments for licenses if they ever defaulted on a license or were delinquent on a debt owed to a federal agency (CD June 3 p1).

The FCC needs to wrap up revised designated entity rules “as expediently as possible” so DEs can bid in the TV incentive auction, said Minority Media and Telecommunications Council board member Jenell Trigg in a meeting with FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, said an ex parte filing. MMTC released a white paper in February and launched a renewed push for revised DE rules (CD Feb 26 p1). DEs need “adequate time to develop business plans and raise capital” before the auction, said Trigg, a lawyer at Lerman Senter: “DEs need as much lead time as possible to overcome the market entry barriers inherent in this industry.” The filing (http://bit.ly/1voZ05g) was made Friday and posted by the FCC Monday in docket 05-211.

The near field communication (NFC) market is expected to reach $16.25 billion by the end of 2022, a Markets and Markets report said. The major NFC players include U.S. companies Broadcom and Texas Instruments, France-based Inside Secure, and Germany-based Infineon Technologies, Markets and Markets said Monday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1jDg8iz). The uptake in the technology is driven in part by the supply chain, it said. Many companies are intensifying their research and development practices, “to implement advanced technology in smartphones and other wearable devices for fast and secure transactions, and communication between devices,” it said. The Americas is the largest market by geography because the major part of the electronics and semiconductor industry is based in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, it said.

The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment Friday on a waiver request by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) to permit the use of signal boosters allowing better communications between the fronts and rears of trains. Current rules limit Part 90 signal booster power levels to up to five watts effective radiated power, the bureau said. AAR wants to use boosters with power levels of up to 30 watts in frequencies from 452/457.900 to 452/457.96875 MHz, said a public notice (http://bit.ly/1qjPK4M). AAR filed its request for waiver June 13. AAR argues that “safe, efficient movement of trains” depends on effective communications links between the fronts and rears to monitor speed and brake pressure, operate rear-end brakes and, on trains with distributed power, coordinate the front and rear engines, the bureau said. AAR said “the options currently permitted by the Commission’s rules do not provide sufficient coverage to maintain this communications link on long trains in areas of challenging terrain, such as where tracks make sharp turns around mountain passes or encounter quick inclines and declines along hilly terrain, and trackside signal boosters are needed to maintain the link,” the bureau said. Comments are due July 28, replies Aug. 12, in docket 14-98.

Smartphone ownership has risen to 70 percent of consumers in France, Germany, the U.K. and U.S., from 64 percent a year ago, according to a an “infographic” released by Futuresource as part of its “Living With Digital” research series (http://bit.ly/1luXIEY). It defines an infographic as a “snapshot” of the latest round of Living With Digital research, now in its eighth year, based on interviews just completed with 4,000 consumers in those four markets. Other results: (1) About a third (34 percent) now own a connected TV, up from 23 percent in 2013; (2) Forty-five percent now own a tablet, up from 36 percent last year.

Federated Wireless, which is building a proprietary spectrum access system leveraging “advanced cognitive radio techniques,” said Thursday it has raised $5 million in a series A funding round, backed by parent company Allied Minds (http://bit.ly/1iKLwk1). The company hopes to address “a growing deficiency in spectrum, made scarce by an explosion in use of wireless communications and in particular, video content delivery,” it said.

The Edison Electric Institute asked the FCC to clarify that Telephone Consumer Protection Act rules don’t prevent electric utilities from using text messages and prerecorded calls to tell customers about outages, information on programs for low-income programs or other information. EEI made a filing Tuesday in docket 02-278 following a meeting between an association official and staff from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau (http://bit.ly/TmUoQU). Many customers rely on wireless phones as their main point of contact, which could trip TCPA rules, the group said.