CTIA asked the FCC to delay by 30 days the June 11 deadline for reply comments on proposed changes to the commission’s wireless location accuracy rules. Under rules proposed in February (CD Feb 21 p1) carriers for the first time would have to meet standards for wireless calls made indoors. In initial comments, carriers asked the FCC to wait for voluntary agreements rather than impose new rules (CD May 14 p10). CTIA noted that more than 300 commenters filed in the initial round. “More than 40 of these comments were substantive in nature and many raised complex issues regarding the technical feasibility of the rules and discussed various location technologies,” CTIA said in a filing posted by the FCC Friday in docket 07-114 (http://bit.ly/1kdE8MH). Providing additional time would give everyone a chance to “evaluate the record regarding various technologies and the proposed rules and to prepare submissions enabling the Commission to make a decision based on a fully developed record,” CTIA said.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe asked FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to consider setting aside TV spectrum in Indian Country for tribes to use. Rules for the incentive TV auction are “great for small carriers,” but the FCC could do even more good by designating some of the 600 MHz spectrum for the use of the tribes, wrote Dave Archambault, chairman of the Fort Yates, North Dakota-based tribe (http://bit.ly/1jBoMNn). “Best evidence” suggests that broadband deployment in tribal areas is under 20 percent, he said, and the 600 MHz spectrum is ideal for “comprehensive wireless service.”

At least one “brave” wireless carrier is on its own volition deactivating cellphones found in a prison, CellAntenna attorney Marjorie Conner said in a call with an official from the FCC Wireless Bureau, said an ex parte filing posted Friday. Conner said other carriers are unwilling to take that step. The meeting was in part to update the FCC on CellAntenna meetings with carriers, and much of the information in the filing was redacted (http://bit.ly/1kdLrUo). Conner did not reveal the identity of the carrier that’s deactivating phones. “Each carrier has responded differently to CellAntenna’s entreaties to cooperate,” said the filing in docket 13-111. CellAntenna’s product line includes devices designed to help prison officials detect contraband cellphones (http://bit.ly/1hjH3Eo). Last year, the FCC released an NPRM asking a battery of questions about combating contraband cellphones in correctional facilities (CD May 1/13 p1).

Samsung’s quality assurance lab asked the FCC Wednesday for 180 days of confidentiality through Nov. 24 on an equipment authorization grant for a mobile device with the model designation SM-T2558, filings at the commission’s Office of Engineering and Technology show (http://bit.ly/1tTOPXu). The few details available for public view at the OET site depict the SM-T2558 as a mobile phone. Chinese authorities in April certified the SM-T2558 for sale in China through China Mobile (http://bit.ly/1mv8mJe), and reports there described the SM-T2558 as a tablet sporting a seven-inch high-resolution screen. Documents filed at the FCC described the SM-T2558 as both a “portable handset” and “portable tablet” with WCDMA, WLAN, Bluetooth and RFID functionality as well as “ANT+” interoperability support. Samsung declined comment on specs or U.S. marketing plans for the SM-T2558.

Roughly half of U.S. and British Internet users know smart devices can collect information about personal activities, according to two studies released Thursday. Web-privacy certifier TRUSTe commissioned Ipsos MORI to do the study, which surveyed 2,005 British and 2,000 U.S. Internet-using adults, said two news releases (http://prn.to/1oz0fjB; http://on.mktw.net/1pBDwAY). While 59 percent of U.S. Internet users surveyed said they were aware of smart device’s capability to collect information about personal activities, only 47 percent of British respondents were aware, TRUSTe said.

A text message spammer was ordered by the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles to pay $148,309 and found in violation of a 2011 FTC consent decree, said a Thursday FTC release (http://1.usa.gov/1powfXO). It said Phil Flora sent over 29 million text messages promising “free” $1,000 gift cards to Walmart and Best Buy. The original FTC settlement alleged consumers were paying unwanted fees for receiving Flora’s text messages and that he was selling information collected through responses to the text messages. In March 2013, the FTC cited Flora as a defendant in a new enforcement action, it said. The U.S. District Court in L.A. eventually reached a decision against Flora (http://1.usa.gov/1nHsZVy) and held him in civil contempt for violating the FTC settlement (http://1.usa.gov/1jxAloy), the agency said. Neither Flora nor his representatives could not be reached for comment.

Deutsche Telekom agreed to a SoftBank plan to buy a majority of T-Mobile US, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported Thursday. Spokesmen for both companies declined to comment. A SoftBank/T-Mobile deal is expected to face an uphill climb, with both FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and the Department of Justice signaling concerns about it (CD Feb 6 p1), though last week FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel indicated she was open minded (CD May 23 p1). The Kyodo report cited unnamed industry sources.

Worldwide smartphone shipments will reach 1.2 billion units this year, up 23 percent from last year, and reach 1.8 billion units by 2018, said IDC. The industry research firm, in a report (http://bit.ly/1ko36sY), forecast a compound annual growth rate from 2013-2018 of 12.3 percent, driven by a doubling of shipments in emerging markets including India, Indonesia and Russia. China will account for nearly a third of all smartphone shipments in 2018, IDC said. A key to reaching the growth opportunity is “balancing affordability with expectations,” said Ramon Llamas, research manager-IDC mobile phone team. IDC projects the average selling price (ASP) of smartphones to be $314 this year, down 6.3 percent from 2013, and ASP is expected to drop to $267 by 2018. Consumers will expect premium features regardless of falling prices, Llamas said. “Until recently, low cost has equaled poor quality in the smartphone space,” said Ryan Reith, program director-IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. In the competitive high-end segment, vendors including Motorola Mobility “are trying to skate to where the puck is going by offering extremely affordable devices like the Moto E, which offer a ‘good enough’ experience that will suit the needs of many,” Reith said. Components used in high-end smartphone designs from two to three years earlier “are still sufficient in many aspects,” Reith said, allowing vendors to offer lower-cost solutions. Among operating systems, Android will remain dominant, with market share of 80.2 percent this year, IDC said. Over the forecast period, Android will lose minimal share to Windows Phone, it said.

The proposed air-to-ground (ATG) mobile broadband service in the 14 GHz band will give in-flight passengers the same level of broadband connectivity they have on the ground, Qualcomm said. Allowing some base stations to operate with 6 dB more power to compensate for adverse atmospheric conditions won’t cause interference to fixed satellite services operations “because the aggregate interference will at no time exceed the maximum allowable level of -48.7 dBW/Hz,” it said in a letter posted Wednesday to docket 13-114 (http://bit.ly/1gBpSgW). The Satellite Industry Association “misreads the proposed rules,” Qualcomm said. Those rules “do not contemplate having multiple licenses operate on the same swath of spectrum,” it said in response to SIA’s recent ex parte filing (CD May 23 p16). If harmful interference to geosynchronous FSS operations occurs, “there will be a single secondary licensee for the primary satellite operator to contact for remediation purposes,” said the company.

T-Mobile Tuesday asked the FCC to “expeditiously” issue a declaratory ruling offering guidance and “predictable” enforcement criteria for determining whether the terms of data roaming agreements meet the “commercially reasonable” standard adopted by the commission in its 2011 data roaming order. “Carriers need this modest guidance to provide necessary clarity in individualized negotiations and to help parties better evaluate the commercial reasonableness of offered terms and to reach agreements,” T-Mobile said in a petition filed in docket 05-265 (http://bit.ly/Ry0kWn). “The Commission adopted the data roaming rule because it found that providers require access to data roaming in order to be able to compete, and that an extensive record showed that many were having difficulty obtaining such access on reasonable terms,” T-Mobile said. “Despite adoption of the rule, however, real-world industry experience shows that providers continue to be stymied in their efforts to negotiate data roaming agreements on commercially reasonable terms.” A sharply divided FCC approved the order three years ago (CD April 8/11 p1). “As data usage increases exponentially with the explosion [in the number of] of broadband wireless devices, obtaining data roaming on commercially reasonable terms and conditions is important in helping to promote a competitive wireless industry,” said T-Mobile Vice President Kathleen Ham. “The ruling T-Mobile requests will provide much needed guidance for the wireless industry and further the FCC’s goals of enhancing competition, facilitating innovation and investment, and promoting nationwide broadband connectivity."