If Sprint and T-Mobile get the FCC to change spectrum aggregation rules for the TV incentive auction “it could drive up prices for what little spectrum is still available in the secondary market,” BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk said Thursday in a research note. Both major carriers this week filed petitions for reconsideration seeking changes to the May 15 spectrum holdings order (CD Aug 13 p1). If the two are successful Dish Network could be the winner, with its extensive spectrum holdings, Piecyk wrote. “If not successful, Sprint and T-Mobile will be further disadvantaged to cost-effectively build network coverage, a clear positive for their dominant competitors, AT&T and Verizon."
Guess Watches will team with smart watch developer Martian Watches to develop “interactive, voice-command wrist accessories,” the companies said Wednesday. The companies envision marketing “smart wearables” combining fashion and technology that will be Guess-branded and bearing the label “powered by Martian,” they said. They expect to announce specific products by early 2015, they said. A Martian Watches engineering executive predicted in the spring that “killer apps” ultimately will determine whether smart watches succeed or fail, but conceded then that “there’s no such candidate right now” (CD March 7 p15).
T-Mobile sought reconsideration of the FCC’s May 15 spectrum holdings order. The request said it’s seeking to keep Verizon and AT&T from dominating the TV incentive auction (CD Aug 13 p1), T-Mobile Vice President Kathleen Ham said in a Tuesday blog post (http://t-mo.co/1q8R4Ci). “Without a reasonable limit on the two dominant carriers’ market power, the two dominant carriers would likely push competitors out of the auction and consumers would face an uncertain future of less innovative, more costly, and lower quality wireless broadband services,” Ham wrote.
The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council told Commissioner Mike O'Rielly and other FCC officials in a series of meetings at the agency that flexibility is key as the agency revises its designated entity rules in time for the TV incentive auction. There are many different types of DEs, each with unique financial arrangements, strategies and objectives, MMTC officials said, according to an ex parte filing in docket 05-211 posted by the agency Wednesday. “To have an effective DE program, the rules must be written to maximize flexibility -- the ability for DEs to adapt to market conditions and new technology -- and be designed to increase access to capital,” MMTC said (http://bit.ly/VkqFcr). “For example, a DE might want to work with an established retail outlet to help them establish a telecommunications arm.”
LTE-Advanced network deployments have been increasing this year, ABI Research said Tuesday in a report, saying about 60 LTE-Advanced deployments, commitments or trials were underway during Q1. Twenty-two commitments were in Western Europe, 16 were in the Asia-Pacific region and five in North America, ABI said. Carriers are finding LTE-Advanced attractive because it includes the carrier aggregation (CA) feature, which allows carriers to “utilize all spectrum resources to increase data rates,” said ABI research analyst Marina Lu in a news release. “In France, Bouygues Telecom first utilized CA to launch LTE-Advanced in six cities in mid-June, 2014, while Orange France and SFR also announced they will commercially deploy LTE-Advanced.” Voice over LTE is also increasing its market traction this year, ABI said. The ABI report also said about 75 percent of the upcoming 4G spectrum auctions will be in Africa, the Asia-Pacific region or Latin America (http://bit.ly/1vE50N7).
Spectrum Networks Group (SNG) fired back at critics of its proposed plan to use the 896-901/935-940 MHz band to offer machine-to-machine communications to businesses through its subsidiary M2M Spectrum Networks. The Enterprise Wireless Alliance (EWA), Motorola Solutions and the Utilities Telecom Council all raised concerns in the initial comment round. “The record provides clear evidence that M2M is able and ready to deploy its network with dispatch,” SNG said (http://bit.ly/1rmCZDk). “M2M’s plans would serve the public interest; SNG should either be considered eligible to hold the requested 900 MHz I/B licenses or be granted a waiver of any applicable eligibility requirements; and the conditions to which SNG and M2M are prepared to submit will dispel any concern that is even remotely plausible.” The filing was posted Tuesday in docket 14-100. EWA said the company has never answered its questions nor those raised by other commenters (http://bit.ly/1rmE79P). “A fundamental deficiency in the Waiver is the failure to even allege, much less substantiate, that the system SNG says it intends to deploy cannot be accommodated on spectrum that would not require a waiver of the FCC rules,” EWA said. The band is dedicated to mobile communications, but comments filed by potential M2M customers indicate the primary focus of the network “would be for fixed, not mobile, services,” EWA said.
Proposed technical specifications by oneM2M were released (http://bit.ly/1uLrisb). The oneM2M group is a global partnership to develop standards for machine-to-machine communications and the Internet of Things. “This Candidate Release of Technical Specifications is the first step towards internationally recognized M2M standards, and will help further oneM2M’s goal of creating an M2M Service Layer that will enable scalable global deployment of M2M IoT implementation while allowing interoperability within existing standards,” the Telecommunications Industry Association said in a news release Tuesday.
The Informal Working Groups of the World Radiocommunication 2015 Advisory Committee will meet this month. The terrestrial services and space services groups will meet Aug. 18, and the regulatory issues group will meet Aug. 20, the FCC said Monday in a public notice (http://bit.ly/1nIURF5). The teleconference meetings are open to the public, it said.
The FCC Wireless Bureau approved an application by the Association of American Railroads to be a frequency coordinator Business/Industrial/Land Transportation (B/ILT) Pool frequencies in the 806-816/851-861 and 896-901/935-940 MHz bands, said a notice in docket 14-75 released Monday by the agency (http://bit.ly/1B9pZaI). The bureau said it sought comment on the application and there was general support. “We remind AAR, however, that frequency coordination services must be provided on a non-discriminatory basis and applications must be processed in order of receipt,” the bureau said.
A Boingo Wireless subsidiary won a contract with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to design, install and operate distributed antenna system and Wi-Fi networks in parts of the World Trade Center in Manhattan. The contract went to New York Telecom Partner, a Boingo subsidiary, said a Monday news release (http://on.wsj.com/VgddpG). The DAS system will cover more than 1.6 million square feet of the World Trade Center, the company said. “Boingo will also install high density Wi-Fi networks, providing complimentary Wi-Fi access to visitors throughout the public areas of the Transportation Hub, retail spaces and other core locations.” The networks are to launch next year with the opening of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub, Boingo said.