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.

Rules for the TV incentive auction must account for the growing role of unlicensed spectrum, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said Tuesday. Rosenworcel is expected to make unlicensed one of her top priorities as debate of the rules gets underway on the eighth floor at the FCC (CD May 5 p1). House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-California, told the same WiFiForward conference unlicensed should be a top regulatory priority.

Growing and competing demands for spectrum will “require a mix of spectrum repurposing and increased sharing,” said the U.K. Office of Communications in a spectrum management strategy released Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1fsjMPO). Ofcom said it expects in coming years a continuing emphasis on repurposing some bands as a way of addressing changing spectrum needs, as well as more spectrum sharing among different uses. Its 10-year strategy will be to: (1) Proactively explore new forms of spectrum sharing. (2) Maintain its focus on coexistence challenges associated with changes in spectrum use. (3) Promote improvements in radio frequency performance standards to reduce coexistence issues. (4) Boost the quantity and quality of information available on spectrum use. (5) Take a leading role in key international spectrum forums. Ofcom will address future mobile data demands and put in place its strategy for the 700 MHz band. It will support the government’s release of spectrum to private parties and address challenges arising from future wireless mic spectrum uses. The regulator also said it will enable growth and innovation in machine-to-machine/Internet of Things (IoT) applications, and help the government address the future wireless communication needs of emergency services. Ofcom outlined its plans for spectrum sharing in a separate document (http://bit.ly/1fsjMPO). To encourage wider use of spectrum sharing, Ofcom said it will: (1) Carry out further studies into the risk that future extension of the 5 GHz band for license-exempt Wi-Fi could cause new coexistence issues with incumbents. (2) Continue to monitor spectrum usage by Wi-Fi devices to provide an early warning of possible congestion. (3) Investigate the feasibility of making new shared spectrum bands available for mobile broadband. (4) Look into the possibility of making more narrowband shared spectrum available below 1 GHz to help meet emerging IoT spectrum demands. (5) Seek to extend the application of the geolocation database approach beyond TV white spaces and consider a tiered spectrum approach. (6) Pilot measures for pre-agreeing arrangements for research and development access for bands of special interest for innovation.

Proposed spectrum aggregation rules for the TV incentive auction could mean as much as 50 percent of the spectrum offered for sale in some markets would be set aside for competitors to Verizon and AT&T and off limits to any carrier that already has a dominant sub-1 GHz spectrum position in that market, FCC and industry officials tell us.

Sprint’s exclusive on HTC’s high-resolution audio-compatible HTC One (M8) Harmon Kardon smartphone brings the carrier into CE specialty chains for the first time, broadening its reach to Crutchfield and World Wide Stereo, with other potential distribution deals on the horizon, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse told us Tuesday after a news conference in New York.

Broadcom warned that carrier offload, extended range hot spots and other broadband applications will be precluded unless the FCC provides unlicensed channels of at least 6 MHz with 40 mW maximum power. The “Super Wi-Fi” standard continues to be important to delivering wireless broadband services in the 600 MHz band, and the FCC should preserve white space channels wherever possible, Broadcom said in an ex parte filing in docket 12-1268(http://bit.ly/RFFlBQ). Broadcom also highlighted the standard-setting effort to establish 802.11ac, the standard that expands operations in the 5 GHz band, it said. Establishing an inadequate duplex gap and guard band “would both unnecessarily increase the risk of harmful interference to licensed services and preclude unlicensed broadband services in these frequencies,” it said. The filing recounts meetings with FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn, Jessica Rosenworcel, Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly, and with staff from Chairman Tom Wheeler’s office.

Sprint Chairman Masayoshi Son went directly to the public, bypassing federal regulators Tuesday to make his case that the No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier needs to get bigger to compete with AT&T and Verizon Wireless. Sprint majority owner SoftBank has the technology to increase U.S. wireless broadband speeds but needs additional spectrum and infrastructure to do it, Son said in a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. SoftBank has run into early opposition from U.S. regulators to Sprint’s rumored interest in a Sprint/T-Mobile US merger. Son, who also leads SoftBank, did not specifically mention T-Mobile during his speech Tuesday. However, in an appearance on PBS’s Charlie Rose Monday night, he said explicitly he would still like to buy T-Mobile. Industry observers told us in interviews Tuesday they are skeptical that Son’s recent comments, meant to shift its argument for a T-Mobile deal, will sway regulators’ concerns.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is expected to tee up an order on the TV incentive auction for the commission’s May 15 meeting, agency and industry officials told us, as what is expected to be a busy couple of months at the FCC on wireless issues seems to be developing.

Comcast, Google, Microsoft, Time Warner Cable, the Consumer Electronics Association and other industry stakeholders said they formed WifiForward, a coalition to urge the FCC and Congress to increase the amount of unlicensed spectrum so it’s available for Wi-Fi use. Wi-Fi use is growing 68 percent a year, meaning policymakers will need to open up additional spectrum for unlicensed use in order to avoid a crunch greater than the current congestion being caused “by a deluge of data from more devices, applications and services,” the coalition said Thursday. Analysts said the coalition is likely to have some effect on the policymaking debate around unlicensed spectrum, but immediate change is unlikely.

New questions are starting to percolate about the conventional wisdom that, given expanding demands for data bandwidth, the AWS 3 and TV incentive auctions will each be a huge success, raising billions of dollars for the U.S. Treasury. The two are the first major auctions since the 700 MHz auction, which was under way at this time six years ago.