"Critical mass” in the outdoor small cell market will occur slightly later than previously forecast, about “two years out from now,” Infonetics said Thursday. That will in turn affect the small cell backhaul market, which grows parallel to the outdoor small cell market, Infonetics said. “We still believe the outdoor small cell market will happen, but judging by the speed at which things moved -- or didn’t move -- in 2013, it’s just going to take a little longer to get off the runway,” said Richard Webb, Infonetics directing analyst-microwave and carrier Wi-Fi, in a news release. Outdoor small cell deployments will be driven “largely by mobile operators’ need to enhance saturated macrocellular networks in urban, high-traffic areas and improve the mobile broadband experience,” Infonetics said. Outdoor small cell backhaul connections are forecast to reach 656,000 by 2017 (http://bit.ly/1dT8LBc).

Disney countered the Center for Digital Democracy’s filing with the FTC over Disney’s alleged noncompliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Wednesday (CD Dec 19 p15). “Contrary to any suggestion in the press release and complaint filed by the Center for Digital Democracy, we are fully mindful of our obligations under COPPA and have robust processes in place to meet them. CDD never brought their concerns to us and instead issued an inflammatory and inaccurate release,” said Disney in a statement. COPPA, , which was revised a year ago by the FTC, gives parents more control over their children’s online data (CD Dec 20/12 p19).

It’s important to implement Phase II of the Connect America Fund “promptly and thoughtfully,” Frontier, Windstream and USTelecom told an aide to FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Monday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/1jmUunl). The groups, representing the ABC Coalition, told the aide that many challengers of Round 2 of CAF Phase I incremental support “have not borne their burden” of demonstrating the challenged census blocks are “in fact served” by fixed Internet service of at least 3 Mbps down/768 kbps up.

American Public Transportation Association staff told the FCC the group’s members continue to have trouble “acquiring the radio frequency spectrum that is required to implement Positive Train Control (PTC) on publicly funded commuter railroads,” APTA said Wednesday in a filing about a conference call Dec. 12 with FCC staff. APTA members New Jersey Transit, Metro-North Railroad and Trinity Railway Express discussed their specific spectrum challenges, APTA said (http://bit.ly/1i4TXVj).

Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, introduced telecom and broadcasting bills in the last two weeks, both referred to the Senate Commerce Committee. On Wednesday, he introduced the Rural Broadband Investment Act of 2013, S-1858. The bill proposes to end “well-documented flaws in the FCC’s 2011 Universal Service Transformation Order that caused financial burdens to small- and mid-size communications carriers operating in rural areas,” Begich’s office said, slamming the USF’s quantile regression analysis as “questionable statistical analysis.” His Thursday press release included statements of support from Greg Berberich, CEO of the Matanuska Telephone Association, and Alaska Telephone Association Executive Director Jim Rowe. Begich points to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s recent announcement that he may end the quantile regression analysis, but Rowe said the “legislation is important to rural telecommunication companies because it not only addresses the QRA, but also two other important provisions within the transformation order which are the safety net additive and waivers.” According to a summary of the bill provided to media, the legislation creates a timeline for the FCC to develop an order “to ensure USF reforms are achieved in a manner that is both consistent with the nation’s universal service objectives and fosters those objectives.” Under the bill’s proposal, quantile regression analysis would be halted, and on an interim basis, “at a level equal to the combined operating and capital expenses the carrier had for calendar year 2011 adjusted for any revisions resulting from restoration of the Safety Net Additive or FCC action on a waiver petition,” Begich’s office said. The FCC would also have to file qualitative and quantitative analyses for the Senate and House Commerce Committees within 60 days of the bill’s enactment “assessing the amount of USF necessary to meet the nation’s universal service objectives over the next ten years and a specific analysis identifying the unique circumstances and resulting high cost fund support needed to provide and maintain universal service in Alaska and on Tribal Lands,” it said. On Dec. 12, Begich introduced S-1819, which would amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act “to provide eligibility for public broadcasting facilities to receive certain disaster assistance, and for other purposes,” according to its long bill title. Neither bill has cosponsors.

Reports that Sprint is considering a bid for T-Mobile (CD Dec 16 p15) appeared to come from a leak inside Sprint, BTIG said in a research note Thursday. BTIG said this was unusual since the risk is that reports could drive up the price of T-Mobile, working against Sprint’s interest. “Companies leak possible deals if they are interested in how shareholders would react but SoftBank owns 80 percent of Sprint,” BTIG said. “Sprint might be expecting strong Q4 results from T-Mobile and wanted to establish a benchmark for an ‘unaffected stock price’ on T-Mobile before that rise,” the firm said. The leak also could send a message to other possible buyers or even to regulators that a deal could be on the way, BTIG said.

T-Mobile filed at the FCC a list of counties, or parts of counties, it serves in which it can’t use triangulation to locate callers to 911. All made the list “because of insufficient quantity, density, and/or geometry of cell sites in those areas to support network-based triangulation,” T-Mobile said. The nine-page list (http://bit.ly/1beRGhZ) adds 62 counties to the previous list from 2011. The FCC’s 911 location-accuracy rules require carriers to identify callers with a defined level of accuracy on a county-by-county basis, but provide exceptions where dense forestation or the lack of triangulation mean those levels can’t be reached.

T-Mobile representatives met with FCC Wireless acting Bureau Chief Roger Sherman and others from the bureau to press for spectrum aggregation limits in the TV incentive auction. “The participants observed that low-band spectrum has superior in-building penetration and propagation characteristics than other spectrum,” said a filing on the meeting (http://bit.ly/19fjBEg). “Low-band spectrum is necessary to compete in the wireless marketplace and AT&T and Verizon currently control the vast majority of low-band spectrum.” T-Mobile said Verizon Wireless and AT&T hold 86 percent of commercial spectrum below 1 GHz in the top 10 U.S. markets and more than 80 percent in the top 50 markets.

The FCC International Bureau dismissed Gogo’s request for special temporary authority to communicate with the Eutelsat 172A satellite at 172 degrees east in the 14.0-14.5 GHz and 11.7-12.2 GHz bands. That satellite isn’t authorized to operate in the 11.7-12.2 GHz frequency, the bureau’s Satellite Division said in a letter to Gogo (http://bit.ly/1bSYLor).

The FCC Enforcement Bureau adopted a consent decree with KSBJ Educational Foundation for the apparent unauthorized operation of a fixed earth station. Last year, the International Bureau dismissed KSBJ’s request for special temporary authority to operate an earth station because the request was defective, the Enforcement Bureau said in an order (http://bit.ly/1bT6PsE). The International Bureau later granted a second request but because it appeared that KSBJ, based in Humble, Texas, may have operated its earth station after the station license expired, “the International Bureau referred this matter to the Enforcement Bureau for investigation and possible enforcement action,” the order said. KSBJ agreed to make a voluntary contribution of $16,000 to the U.S. Treasury, the order said.