CTIA asked the FCC to delay by 60 days the deadline for filing reply comments on a Dec. 13 rulemaking on expanding access to wireless services onboard aircraft. Replies are currently due March 17. “The Notice raises a number of highly technical issues and cited various interference studies involving in-flight wireless connectivity and the use of licensed commercial mobile spectrum,” CTIA said (http://bit.ly/1oo3RjL). “It relies on European studies to tentatively conclude that Airborne Access Systems can provide in-flight wireless connectivity using licensed commercial mobile spectrum across the United States without interference -- but these studies did not analyze U.S. mobile spectrum bands or all of the air interfaces used across the U.S. bands.” CTIA said many substantial comments were filed in the initial comment round (CD Feb 13 p7). “Extending the deadline for reply comments will provide parties with additional time to conduct much needed interference and other technological analyses, consider other existing studies beyond those discussed in the Notice, and follow up on questions and issues sparked by commenters who discussed the inflight systems that have been deployed abroad,” the group said.

The FCC should freeze for six months the grant of new licenses for business communications in the 900 MHz band while industry develops a 900 MHz Private Land Mobile Broadband (PLM BB) plan, said the American Petroleum Institute, Enterprise Wireless Alliance and Utilities Telecom Council in a petition filed at the FCC. The groups proposed that 5x5 MHz of 900 MHz Industrial/Business spectrum be reallocated, with 2x2 MHz dedicated to existing Land-Mobile Radio systems and 3x3 MHz to support private LTE networks. “As the Commission is aware, access to spectrum capable of meeting these members’ internal broadband communications requirements is essential if they are to continue supporting America’s economic growth, expanded employment, public well-being, the delivery of critical goods and services, security, and workforce safety,” the groups said (http://bit.ly/1kVBSb1). The freeze would only affect applicants that don’t already have a license in a particular market, they said. “Under this approach, current 900 MHz licensees would be permitted to expand geographic coverage or channel capacity to serve ongoing business communication requirements while the PLM BB plan is more fully defined. New applicants, however, would be prohibited."

Motorola Solutions wants the FCC to prevent interference with incumbent users by using a proposed database for the agency’s upcoming so-called citizens broadband service in the 3.5 GHz band. Possible uses of the band, both for short-duration applications and longer-term operation, include critical access and commercial/enterprise uses, the company told Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology staff. Existing TV white spaces databases could be modified to better support the needs of the 3550-3650 MHz band, now used for military and satellite operations, said the public safety equipment provider in a Friday ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1eXioxF) and accompanying presentation to bureau and OET staff (http://bit.ly/1eXozlb).

The National Emergency Number Association’s “Friends of 911.org” program got a high-profile boost Sunday when it was featured during the NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Phoenix by way of a logo on the yellow Ford of driver Joey Logano. Logano finished fourth and led 71 laps in Sunday’s race. “9-1-1 professionals help keep Americans safe every day, and I hope folks in the stands and watching at home will be inspired to join me in saying ’thank you’ to these unsung heroes of emergency response,” Logano said in a statement prior to the race.

AT&T will work with QuickPlay Media on developing an in-vehicle video service called Qu, the companies said Monday. The offering will be powered by QuickPlay’s OpenVideo platform and will deliver live linear TV and streaming video-on-demand services to carmakers collaborating in the AT&T Drive Studio, AT&T’s Atlanta-based research center for the connected car. In-vehicle video services will play a major role in the next generation of connected cars, said Chris Penrose, senior vice president-emerging devices, AT&T Mobility. The collaboration enables QuickPlay Media to offers its customers the ability to leverage their pay TV investments by extending QuickPlay’s end-to-end managed services capability to a new multiscreen video infrastructure from which consumers can access TV Everywhere services, said CEO Wayne Purboo. QuickPlay manages more than 400 live channels and 5,000 streaming profiles through its global network operations center in San Diego, it said.

Best Buy allowed customers to trade in an iPhone 4s or 5 for a new 16-GB iPhone 5s for only $1 as part of a limited-time promotion Friday and Saturday only, it said. Customers who traded in an old iPhone were offered a minimum $150 gift card to be used toward the iPhone 5s purchase, it said. But customers had to sign a two-year activation agreement with AT&T, Sprint or Verizon. The deal was available only in-store, not at the Best Buy website, it said. Best Buy was selling the 16-GB iPhone 5s at $149.99, $50 off its usual price there, it said. The iPhone traded in would have to be free of water damage and screen cracks, it also said. Despite the $1 price cited at Best Buy’s website and in an email that the retailer sent to customers, spokeswoman Shandra Tollefson told us customers “won’t be charged the $1.” The iPhone 5s would instead be “free” as part of the deal, she said. “The only out-of-pocket costs for the customer will be any applicable sales tax on the new phone and any applicable carrier activation fees,” she said. The sales tax would be based on the $149.99 price, she said. Therefore, the total cost to consumers would be somewhat more than the $1 anyway. The “free” cost was also cited in an email news blast that Best Buy sent to reporters Friday and in a separate news bulletin posted at its website.

Battelle is asking the FCC to adopt rules that support the cost-effective delivery of data streams using relatively high power levels in spectrum above 100 GHz. Battelle, a nonprofit research and development organization, specifically sought service rules for the 102-109.5 GHz band, already allocated on a primary basis for fixed and mobile communications. Philip Schofield, manager-sensors and communication systems, told us Friday that Battelle met with FCC officials to discuss the petition before it was filed and has received general support from industry so far. Big New York City area hospitals, which have lots of data they need to transfer, see the connections as a backup when other connections fail, he said. “They want to ensure they have network diversity so that under any circumstances they can move their information around,” he said. “You have the same sort of input coming from folks who operate cloud storage facilities, collocation centers around densely populated markets. ... They're just looking for another tool.” Schofield said the high-band connections could see wide use in the developing world where wireline connections often cannot be installed, though the spectrum faces challenges, with transmissions compromised by rain and other atmospheric conditions. A high-frequency link can transmit data 10 miles or so in good weather at power levels in the 300 milliwatts range, Schofield said. Battelle is proposing that for the 102-109.5 GHz band the FCC allow power levels of 3 or 4 watts, he said. “You can send data a lot further with a lot higher availability with much more output power,” he said. Battelle, “after a decade of research, has developed technology for commercial use that can wirelessly deliver 10-gigabit/second Ethernet (lOGE) data streams, with less latency than fiber optic cable,” Battelle said in its petition at the commission (http://bit.ly/1cg3M1C). “The technology provides low-cost, high-capacity, moveable data links that are ideal for applications like medical centers needing to transport and store data intensive patient records, for financial institutions that need to move data from one location to another, and for reducing the response and recovery times for communications networks after natural disasters,” Battelle said Friday in a news release. “The technology would be useful for any business or institution that needs to move large amounts of data quickly from one location to another at low-cost.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Friday rejected arguments they heard from three small carriers claiming they were treated unfairly by the FCC when the agency rejected their requests for a waiver of the agency’s hearing-aid compatibility rules. The decision came in Blanca Telephone Co. v FCC. The dispute stems from 2003 rules requiring digital wireless service providers to offer telephone handsets that are compatible with hearing aids. In 2006, Colorado-based Blanca and two other carriers, CTC Telecom of Idaho and Farmers Cellular of Alabama, joined some 100 other small providers in seeking a waiver, arguing that compliant handsets were not readily available. “The Commission granted waivers ... to many of the companies that had sought relief -- but not to the three petitioners,” said the decision written by Chief Judge Merrick Garland for a three-judge panel (http://1.usa.gov/NDxUIL). “Following reconsideration in 2012, the Commission again denied waivers for the petitioners. Seeking review of that denial, the petitioners argue that the differential treatment was arbitrary and capricious. They also raise several challenges to the procedural regularity of the Commission’s adjudication of their waiver petitions. We reject all of the petitioners’ challenges and deny the petition for review.” Garland said the FCC’s denial of the waivers did not appear to be arbitrary and capricious nor to treat the three carriers differently from their peers. “Because the three petitioners did not comply until after January 1, 2007, and because they reported to the Commission that they had done nothing to seek out compliant telephones beyond contacting their existing suppliers, the petitioners failed to satisfy either of the FCC’s reasonable criteria for waiver,” he wrote. “Accordingly, the FCC’s decision to deny the waiver petitions would appear to be reasonable.”

The results of the H-block auction, which ended Thursday, indicate the FCC should be able to raise all of the $7 billion needed to pay for FirstNet before the TV incentive auction begins, T-Mobile said in a filing at the FCC (http://bit.ly/1hqKp5B). “By auctioning just 10 MHz of spectrum in Auction 96, the Commission, as T-Mobile predicted, raised more than one-fifth of the roughly $7 billion required to fully fund FirstNet,” T-Mobile said. “With 55 MHz of spectrum yet to be auctioned before the incentive auction begins, FirstNet is well on its way to being fully funded prior to the commencement of the incentive auction. Any arguments that the Commission’s design for the incentive auction may somehow jeopardize FirstNet funding should be recognized for what they are: disingenuous distractions.” Meanwhile, T-Mobile Vice President Kathleen Ham said in a blog post the H-block auction and Canadian 700 MHz auction make the case for “reasonable” spectrum aggregation limits in the TV incentive auction. The Canadian auction raised $2.09 per MHz/POP, or about 60 percent more per MHz/POP than the U.S. 700 MHz auction, Ham said (http://bit.ly/1khkxvQ). “Just as in the United States, the debate prior to the Canadian auction was fraught with false assumptions and speculation about the supposedly deleterious effects of applying spectrum limits on auction participation and revenues,” she said. “Now that the auction is over, we can see the hype for what it was -- scare tactics by the dominant incumbents aimed at convincing regulators not to take reasonable steps to correct a serious low-band spectrum imbalance.”

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai told first responders at an APCO conference Thursday that since FirstNet funding is tied to broadcasters’ willingness to sell their licenses in the TV incentive auction, getting the rules right for the auction should also be critical to them. “In order to have a successful incentive auction that raises the funds FirstNet needs, both broadcasters and wireless carriers must participate,” Pai said in prepared remarks (http://fcc.us/1lnTUpg). “It may take only two to tango, but this is more like Cirque du Soleil. To get broadcasters to the table, we need to turn the abstract concept of an incentive into the concrete reality of cash. That means letting broadcasters in the United States know -- sooner rather than later -- just how much they could receive for participating in the incentive auction. That also means letting the auction process, not government fiat, determine the prices paid to broadcasters for their spectrum.” The IP transition also has big implications for public safety and the development of a next-generation 911 network, Pai said. “Few people realize just how tied the legacy 911 system is to copper wires, landline phones and 1970s technology,” he said. “In short, the legacy architecture of the system means that all too many 911 calls are delayed, dropped, or lost altogether. I am hopeful that NG911’s IP-based architecture will change all that.” Pai spoke at APCO’s Emerging Technology Forum in Orlando.