The FCC would prefer that Sprint not propose a buy of T-Mobile, Credit Suisse analysts said in a research note Thursday, based on a “field trip” to meet with agency officials. “Our read is that the commission, or at least the majority, would rather not have to evaluate a potential transaction like Sprint/T-Mobile,” Credit Suisse said. “While the Democrat officers seemed quite satisfied with the current state of wireless competition, they were clear that any deal brought in front of them would get a fair evaluation and would be judged on its merits. The burden would seem to fall on the involved parties to convince the commission that it would be beneficial for consumers.”

Annual mobile app revenue in North America will exceed $27 billion by 2018, Parks Associates said Thursday. That rise in annual revenue will come mainly from in-app purchases and in-app advertising revenue, the research firm said. Mobile apps are also “transforming all aspects of the connected home, and the app in a smart home system will be prime real estate for communicating with subscribers and promoting new services and features,” said Parks President Stuart Sikes. Between 57 percent and 73 percent of likely smart home buyers are interested in purchasing upgrades or additional equipment through their smart home system app, the firm said.

New rules for level probing radars (LPRs) go into effect April 7. They were published Thursday in the Federal Register. The revised rules cover low-power radars that operate on an unlicensed basis in the 5.925-7.250, 24.05-29.00 and 75-85 GHz bands (http://1.usa.gov/NBTfmi).

AT&T will “probably” be able to close its buyout of Leap Wireless this month, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said Thursday at a Morgan Stanley investor conference. The carriers are awaiting FCC approval of the deal, which industry observers say is likely to occur soon (CD March 4 p2). AT&T plans to bring Leap’s Cricket prepaid service nationwide “overnight” once the deal closes, Stephenson said. “We are going to be fairly aggressive here.” AT&T has said it will fold its existing Aio Wireless prepaid service into Leap’s Cricket service post-buyout. Leap’s AWS spectrum, meanwhile, “will pair very nicely with the Aloha transaction we just announced end of last year,” Stephenson said. “So we've got a very nice footprint at the AWS level.” AT&T said in January they would buy 49 AWS-1 licenses from Aloha Partners (CD Jan 8 p10). AT&T reported in two ex parte filings on additional discussions with FCC staff about the proposed deal. “In particular, we discussed rate plans that AT&T intends to offer upon launch of the New Cricket; AT&T’s spectrum holdings in various [markets]; AT&T’s LTE deployment; and AT&T’s plans to deploy Leap’s AWS and PCS spectrum to enhance AT&T’s LTE network,” said one of the filings (http://bit.ly/1cFOKNe). A second discussion focused on “Leap’s indirect, minority ownership interest in Flat Wireless,” a filing said (http://bit.ly/1gVzOx9).

Immersion doesn’t expect it will be able to grow its annual revenue about 50 percent, like it did in 2013, each year, Immersion CEO Victor Viegas told the JMP Securities Technology Conference webcast from San Francisco late Tuesday. Twenty to 25 percent revenue growth is more likely for the haptics technology company, he said. It was able to grow revenue 48 percent in 2013 due to the favorable conclusion of patent infringement suits with LG, Motorola and Samsung that resulted in Immersion being paid by the companies for not only the use of its software, but also the use of its intellectual property (IP), he said. There are “a number of opportunities” that would enable Immersion to reach the “upper end” of the revenue forecast, or “even exceed” it, “namely continued growth” of PS4 sales and inclusion of its software in devices by more OEMs, he said. Immersion gets paid 10-50 cents per mobile phone, depending on whether the device uses its IP or software, he said. It gets paid anywhere from 50 cents to $2 or $3 per device in the automotive sector, where volume is lower, he said. Under most deals in the game sector, Immersion gets paid 5 percent of the wholesale selling price of a controller, which is typically 25 cents to $2 or $3 for a high-end steering wheel, he said. The PS4 and Xbox One are using Immersion’s haptics IP, but not any of its software solutions, he said. Immersion provided Apple, early on, with a haptics solution for Macintosh computers for third-party game peripherals, but Apple isn’t currently an Immersion licensee, he said. “We have worked hard at providing them demonstrations and concepts and road maps around adding haptics” to current Apple devices, he said. “The success we're having with Samsung and others in the Android community is obviously putting some pressure” on Apple to offer similar technology in its devices, he said. Apple would like to make gaming on its devices more of a “console-like experience” and it’s hard to do that without haptics, he said. “We think there’s a real need there. The dialogue is always open. But they sometimes have a reluctance to license IP or follow with a me-too solution,” he said.

Sprint is partnering with Recipero in an effort to prevent the trade and sale of stolen smartphones, Sprint said Wednesday. Recipero maintains the CheckMEND database, a listing of lost and stolen mobile devices. “All Sprint retail buyback portals now employ Recipero’s CheckMEND online analytics tool, in addition to checking other internal and external databases, to help identify mobile devices that have been reported lost and stolen,” Sprint said. “The agreement will also provide consumers and law enforcement greater access to Sprint data on lost and stolen phones."

Designated entity Grain asked the FCC for clarity on whether the attributable material relationship rule applies to spectrum deals in the secondary market. Grain was part of a multiparty spectrum deal involving AT&T and Verizon Wireless last year. AT&T agreed to lease three 700 MHz B-block licenses in North Carolina that Verizon Wireless sold to Grain for $189 million. Meanwhile, AT&T sold Grain a single AWS license, with expectations it would be leased by Verizon (CD Jan 13/13 p9). Grain asked the commission to clarify how the rule applies in such secondary market deals. “The attributable material relationship rule, as it is currently drafted, is overly broad and has the potential to deny entities whom Congress would have intended to receive DE benefits from receiving such benefits,” Grain said (http://bit.ly/1oqUWhy). “For example, this rule could potentially disqualify an otherwise qualified DE by virtue of the entity’s mere participation in a leasing transaction with a non-DE that: (1) does not involve licenses acquired through DE benefits and, instead, involves only licenses acquired on the secondary market; and (2) carries no risk of a non-DE unduly influencing the DE’s activities or decision-making.” Applying the rule for such secondary market transactions would be “irrational, and contrary to the intent of Congress and the public interest,” Grain said. “A leasing transaction involving licenses that were acquired without the use of any DE benefits does not pose any danger of unjustly enriching non-DE entities.” A leasing relationship also “does not pose a danger of undue influence unless the leasing transaction involves some sort of future business relationship between the parties -- such as a joint venture, governance relationship, or agreement related to future rights in spectrum capacity -- that would confer undue influence over the DE’s activities or decision-making,” Grain said. Also, “the Commission has expressly recognized the importance of promoting secondary market spectrum transactions and the potential role for such transactions in enabling meaningful participation by minority-owned and small businesses in the wireless sector."

The FCC set a comment deadline of April 4 on a rulemaking notice asking how the agency can ensure that wireless calls to 911 provide accurate location information to dispatchers. Replies are due May 5. The FCC approved the NPRM at its February meeting (CD Feb 21 p1). The comment deadline was set in a notice published in the Federal Register Wednesday (http://1.usa.gov/1q6BF8S). The FCC “seeks comment on a proposed timeframe and several aspects of implementation of text-to-911 service, particularly relating to the technical ability of interconnected text providers to comply with a text-to-911 mandate,” the notice said. “Specifically, the Commission seeks comment on a proposal that text-to-911 capability should be made available by all text providers no later than December 31, 2014, and should be provided within a reasonable time after a [public safety answering point] has made a valid request for service, not to exceed six months.” The commission also asks for comments “on several issues that we anticipate will be part of the long-term evolution of text-to-911, though it does not propose to require their implementation by a date certain,” the notice said. Written comments on the Paperwork Reduction Act proposed information collection requirements are due at the Office of Management and Budget May 5, the FCC said.

SureCall, formerly Cellphone-Mate, said Wednesday its Flex2Go cellular booster kit for vehicles was certified by the FCC under the commission’s new cell booster standards. Flex2Go is the company’s first product to receive this FCC certification, SureCall said (http://bit.ly/1eWOyxW).

The FCC should move forward on real-party-in-interest disclosure requirements for all rulemaking proceedings as part of broader process reform, T-Mobile representatives said in meetings at the agency. “Requiring participants in rulemaking proceedings to disclose all real parties-in-interest will increase transparency, enhance accountability, and improve decision-making in proceedings before the Commission,” T-Mobile said in an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1f8SerJ). Representatives of the carrier met with David Goldman, aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel; Erin McGrath, aide to Commissioner Mike O'Rielly; and Diane Cornell, special counsel to Chairman Tom Wheeler.