New York University’s NYU Wireless research center said Ericsson became a sponsor for the center’s research and development of 5G and other wireless technologies. Students involved in the center, which is part of NYU’s Polytechnic School of Engineering, “will benefit from working alongside this global innovator and leader in network infrastructure technology and wireless services,” said NYU professor Ted Rappaport in a news release. Each industry partner controls two seats on the center’s industrial affiliates’ board and gets early access to the center’s research (http://bit.ly/1qE2aSb).

The Rural Wireless Association said the FCC should “immediately halt” the phase-down of USF support for high-cost wireless carriers because the Mobility Fund Phase II won’t be “operational” or “implemented” by June 30. “It is highly unlikely for Phase II to be ‘operational’ or ‘implemented’ by June 30, 2014, given the time it has taken the FCC to disburse Phase I funding,” RWA said in a filing at the commission (http://bit.ly/1jIfJNz). “In addition, carriers are now in the second quarter of 2014. There is not enough time between now and June 30, 2014 for the Commission to adopt final Phase II rules, have them published in the Federal Register, hold an auction, authorize payments, and disburse funds before the next scheduled phase-down of legacy support.” RWA said carriers need “predictability to formulate their business decisions, and currently there is no predictability with regard to the continued availability of USF funding ... as of July 1.” U.S. Cellular told the FCC it should be concerned about keeping funding flowing and the FCC should “fully implement Mobility Fund II at the earliest possible date,” in meetings with staff for the FCC commissioners, said an ex parte filing. Both mobility fund auctions to date demonstrated the need for funding, the carrier said (http://bit.ly/1eFA3R7). “In each case, demand for support far exceeded available funding,” it said. “In Mobility Fund II, when the standard will be areas that lack 4G service, many additional areas will be eligible and the resulting demand will be even higher."

More spectrum sharing may be necessary in the future for some bands that can’t be cleared, but steps need to be taken to make sharing work better, Mobile Future said in a paper released Tuesday, written by Rysavy Research (http://bit.ly/1hIGGlT). Among its conclusions is that the government “needs to use realistic and real world interference assumptions,” industry and the government need to agree on “realistic propagation models” and should take advantage of the recently established trusted-agent process.

More than 50 percent of U.S. smartphone and tablet owners want tech support services that would protect against loss, theft or viruses, even though fewer than 10 percent of owners will experience those issues, Parks Associates said Tuesday in a report. It said about 55 percent are interested in virus and identity theft protection, while 50 percent want services that will repair or replace a damaged device. The most common issues device owners encountered were short battery life, lack of wireless Internet connectivity and issues with app functionality, Parks Associates said. About 40 percent of U.S. broadband households said they're likely to buy a smoke or fire detector that can be remotely monitored, while 25 percent said they're interested in connected sensors and thermostats, the firm said (http://bit.ly/RmJdYf).

U.S. Cellular told the FCC it should be concerned about keeping funding flowing and it should “fully implement Mobility Fund II at the earliest possible date,” in meetings with staff for the FCC commissioners, said an ex parte filing. Both mobility fund auctions to date demonstrated the need for funding, the carrier said (http://bit.ly/1eFA3R7). “In each case, demand for support far exceeded available funding,” it said. “In Mobility Fund II, when the standard will be areas that lack 4G service, many additional areas will be eligible and the resulting demand will be even higher.”

Wireless mic maker Shure said expanding Part 74 license eligibility and database registration as part of TV incentive auction rules “will be critical to professional users as the amount of UHF spectrum available to wireless microphone operations is sharply reduced due to implementation of the incentive auctions and spectrum rebanding.” Shure representatives met with various FCC officials on the rules, according to an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1iOJqte). “The Commission should avoid definitions that rely on narrow, inflexible categories such as building dimensions, number of microphones used, etc.,” Shure said. “Given that identical equipment is deployed across diverse user categories, we also suggested that the Commission avoid rule definitions that would identify or exclude productions that would be eligible or not be eligible for a license based on the type of event, such as limitations on non-broadcast, entertainment, religious, corporate, civic and government events.” Venue owners and operators, as well as event producers, responsible engineers, performers and professional sound equipment providers all should be allowed to apply for a license, Shure said.

The U.S. took on telecom deregulation starting in the 1970s based on a single recognition: “We think this market can be competitive and the country would benefit from it,” said former T-Mobile Senior Vice President Tom Sugrue in an interview. “We were basically as a country the first one to do it. It’s not like we could point to a lot of examples around the world. It was a combination of antitrust policy and regulatory policy.” Sugrue, former FCC Wireless Bureau chief and deputy administrator at NTIA, retired Friday after 11 years as head of the carrier’s Washington office. He looked back at his decades in Washington in an interview last week. “Deregulating things that can be deregulated and promoting the conditions for competition have been the consistent theme since I first got involved in the late 1970s,” he said. Former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt used to say the FCC should promote “too much competition” with “lots and lots of providers,” Sugrue said. He noted that when he joined T-Mobile there were six national wireless carriers. There has also been the expectation that “things would shake out” but it was better to start with “too many rather than too few,” he said. For wireless, Sugrue said, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 was really more important than the Telecom Act, which followed three years later. “The ‘93 act gave the commission auction authority, it directed the commission to make more spectrum available,” he said. Sugrue said if Congress takes on comprehensive telecom legislation it should learn from the mistakes of the past. “Everyone was trying to get a lot of detail into the [Telecom Act] to advantage them,” he said. “The bill got laden down with a lot of, I thought, unnecessary specificity.” The most important and longest lasting part of the bill ran about a sentence and said “no one can be prevented from offering any telecom service in the United States,” he said. “Back before that act, we had all sorts of prohibitions. Cable companies couldn’t offer telephone service, telephone companies couldn’t offer cable service, Bell companies couldn’t offer long distance. … The market was sort of balkanized like that.” Sugrue said when he came to Washington, the communications bar was not well regarded. “A lot of work was just grinding out” license renewal filings, he said. “That has changed.” Sugrue said he first got hired at the FCC following the breakup of AT&T when the Baby Bells were putting together their D.C. offices. “There was a huge brain drain out of the FCC at the senior level,” he said.

T-Mobile CEO John Legere said his company will drop all overage charges for customers. Legere urged Verizon, AT&T and Sprint to do the same. “Charging overage fees is a greedy, predatory practice that needs to go,” Legere said in a Monday news release (http://t-mo.co/1n6Yeu5). “Starting in May for bills arriving in June -- regardless of whether you're on Simple Choice, Simple Starter or an older plan, we're abolishing overages for good.” Some carrier wireless plans are “purpose-built to drive customers over that invisible line into massive overage charges,” he said. “The result has been a culture of fear, worry and surprise every time the wireless bill arrives.” T-Mobile posted an anti-overage charge petition addressed to “wireless carriers,” which had more than 4,500 signatures recorded at our deadline (http://chn.ge/1qX0sd0).

T-Mobile wants a “regulatory guarantee that it can acquire several licenses at the Incentive Auction without any need to bid against Verizon or AT&T,” Verizon said in a filing at the FCC. Verizon took on a recent T-Mobile paper by University of Maryland economist Peter Cramton, which said spectrum aggregation limits in Canada’s recent 700 MHz auction meant a more competitive auction (http://bit.ly/1gVIerq). “T-Mobile is an established nationwide incumbent with a large, multinational parent and a demonstrated ability to acquire the spectrum it needs,” Verizon said (http://bit.ly/P0T3wV). “For example, T-Mobile recently entered into an agreement with Verizon to acquire what it describes as a ‘huge swath’ of low-frequency spectrum covering 70 percent of its customers. And the last time T-Mobile chose to participate in an auction, it dominated the bidding -- spending $4.2 billion and acquiring more spectrum than Verizon and AT&T combined. Dr. Cramton fails to support his assertion that T-Mobile needs special preferences.” T-Mobile fired back. “T-Mobile has consistently supported a one-third limit on the amount of below 1 GHz spectrum any single bidder can obtain in any individual market at auction,” said T-Mobile Federal Regulatory Vice President Kathleen Ham. “Reasonable spectrum-aggregation limits prevent foreclosure, increase auction participation, enhance auction revenues and encourage competition in the marketplace."

The FCC Wireless Bureau is seeking comment on Grain’s request for clarification or waiver of the commission’s attributable material relationship rule, said a notice scheduled to appear in the Federal Register Monday (http://bit.ly/1ncr0qf). Comments are due April 25, replies May 9. Last month, designated entity Grain asked the FCC for clarity on whether the attributable material relationship rule applies to spectrum transactions in the secondary market (CD March 6 p14). Grain was part of a multiparty spectrum deal involving AT&T and Verizon last year (CD Jan 13/13 p9).