The numbers show broadcasters aren’t going to be able to complete the repacking on the FCC’s 39-month timeline without adjustment, said tower industry and broadcast industry officials in interviews. The rate at which stations are completing repacking moves, number of tower crews available to move them, and the advancing phase schedule add up to many broadcasters in later phases not completing their repacking on time, they said.

T-Mobile CEO John Legere said on an earnings call Tuesday he remains optimistic the company will get regulatory approval to buy Sprint. “We have a lot of respect for the regulatory process, which is not yet finished,” Legere said. “We have completed a number of major milestones and remain optimistic and confident that once the facts are reviewed by regulators they will recognize the significant pro-competitive and pro-consumer benefits.” Legere noted the formal comment period at the FCC closes Wednesday and that more than half the state public commissions reviewing the deal have signed off. “We’re making progress,” he said. “We continue to expect this merger to close in the first half of 2019.” T-Mobile continues to grow more quickly than its competitors, adding a net 774,000 branded postpaid phone customers in Q3 with 1.6 million total net additions. The carrier also had record adjusted earnings of $3.2 billion, 15 percent above the year-ago quarter, and revenue of $8.1 billion, an increase of 8.2 percent. T-Mobile had 2.6 times as many net adds as Verizon. Legere said T-Mobile is offering 21 devices that use 600 MHz spectrum it bought in the TV incentive auction and the equipment being installed on its towers is upgradable to 5G with a software update. The company said 600 MHz is available in more than 1,500 cities and towns in 37 states and Puerto Rico. Wells Fargo’s Jennifer Fritzsche sees a 70 percent chance the deal will be approved, up from 60 percent, she wrote investors. “Our recent DC checks make us more confident that the … merger will be approved,” she said. “While the DoJ is admittedly a walled garden, most contacts we spoke [to] have not heard chatter coming out of the agency which would suggest there exist insurmountable barriers in completing this marriage.” She expects regulators to demand spectrum divestitures. Sprint reports quarterly earnings Wednesday.

The Advancing Innovation and Reinvigorating Widespread Access to Viable Electromagnetic Spectrum (Airwaves) Act could generate up to $2.86 billion in rural wireless broadband investments, the Competitive Carriers Association said Wednesday. The bill aims to identify spectrum for unlicensed use and free up mid-band spectrum for wireless industry purchase via a future FCC auction (see 1802070054). CCA and other telecom groups back HR-4953/S-1682, which have bipartisan support. A CCA-commissioned study, by Telecom Advisory Services, said an estimated short-term infrastructure investment of up to $2.86 billion would happen if it becomes law. Telecom Advisory Services President Raul Katz said he used in calculations the investment and economic impacts resulting from the 2016 600 MHz band incentive auction and other recent auctions, plus other recent spectrum transactions like Verizon's purchase of Straight Path, as benchmarks. “If enacted before other auctions, including the 3.5 GHz and 3.7-4.2 GHz bands, this bill could have an even greater impact,” said CCA President Steve Berry. "This study confirms that passage of the AIRWAVES Act could result in billions of additional dollars for rural broadband buildout and substantially increase GDP across various economic sectors," said Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., one of S-1682's lead sponsors, in a statement. Fellow lead S-1682 sponsor Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., said she will "keep working to move this legislation forward in order to turn the potential positive economic impact of this bill into a reality."

Since the original estimate of the broadcast station 600 MHz repacking price tag was off, there's no reason to think the predicted time frame for completion is any more accurate, said NAB Associate General Counsel Patrick McFadden Wednesday at the Americas Spectrum Management Conference. There was also a clash over the 6 GHz proceeding on October's FCC member-meeting agenda. "This is a big step forward," said 6 GHz Coalition counsel Paul Margie of Harris Wiltshire.

Apple’s annual September product launch lacked the typical surprise and any word of the AirPower wireless charging pad first mentioned last September to charge an iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods simultaneously (see 1709120062). Wednesday's event streamed from the company's Cupertino, California, headquarters focused heavily on camera features in the three new iPhones and on medical capabilities of the Apple Watch Series 4. The largest Apple phone to date, the iPhone Xs Max, has a 6.5-inch display, leading industry analyst Ross Rubin to tweet: “As if there were any doubt left why Apple killed the iPad mini.” The latest iPhones start at $749 for the iPhone XR, due in October, at $999 for the iPhone Xs and $1,099 for the iPhone Xs Max, slated for Sept. 21 shipping. Good news about the new iPhones is they are 600 MHz compatible and will use the spectrum T-Mobile bought in the TV incentive auction, an executive of the carrier said later that day (see 1809120031).

The U.S. will have more than 50 5G cities at this time next year but to get there will require speeding up siting and help from the FCC, CTIA President Meredith Baker said Wednesday at the Mobile World Congress event in Los Angeles. The agency needs to reallocate more spectrum for broadband, she said. Commissioners are set to take up the next big wireless infrastructure order at their Sept. 26 meeting (see 1809050029). It's raising local concerns (see 1809110030).

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said Congress, not states, must tackle privacy and net neutrality laws. State privacy laws are a problem for everyone, including AT&T, Facebook and Google, he told a Goldman Sachs conference Wednesday. “I don’t even know how we operate” under different laws, he said. “It needs to happen at the federal level,” he said. “Congress needs to step up.”

Dutch IoT satellite startup Magnitude Space wants to put up a 24-satellite low earth orbit mobile satellite system constellation. In an FCC International Bureau petition for U.S. market access Monday, Magnitude's Hiber said the first two satellites are scheduled for launch in October and November, with the constellation to reach full size over five years. It said a third satellite is under construction, and beyond that the company is exploring the use of smaller satellites for its buildout. It said the constellation will be part of a low-power global area network, Hiberband, providing global connectivity and IoT devices. It said the constellation -- orbiting at roughly 600 km -- will be tied to earth stations around the globe and to ground stations in Norway and the Netherlands. The company plans to use service links in the 399.9-400.05 MHz band for uplinks 400.15-401 MHz band for downlinks and feeder links in the 2200-2290 MHz band when satellites are directly over the ground stations, and not in or near the U.S. Hiber told the bureau that while Orbcomm is authorized to operate on a primary basis in parts of the 400.15-401 MHz band, sharing shouldn't be a problem because Hiber satellites only transmit to earth stations in short bursts when the satellite is directly overhead. Orbcomm didn't comment Tuesday.

Sennheiser is asking the FCC to start allowing low-power auxiliary stations, including wireless mics, to use more bandwidth in the TV bands and 600 MHz duplex gap when they employ new technology. In a petition posted Friday, Sennheiser said existing wireless mic technology lets engineers use at most 12 such devices in a 6 MHz channel, but it and other manufacturers are developing wireless multichannel audio systems (WMAS) that combine the signals from multiple devices into a 6 MHz channel instead of giving each its own separate frequency segment. It said spreading each connected device across the full channel width, WMAS allows denser use of the channel by ending the problem of multiple receivers picking up adjacent frequencies. The company asked for amendment of a Section 74.861(e)(5) rule on low-power auxiliary stations so it defines WMAS and allows WMAS system use of 6 MHz of bandwidth when providing the same or better spectrum efficiency as conventional single-channel systems.

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology sought comment on the 45-day public trial of the Nominet UK TV white space database system. The trial ended July 26, OET said Wednesday in docket 04-186. “This database system is designed and intended to support the operation of low power unlicensed transmitting devices on unoccupied spectrum within the broadcast television bands, the 600 MHz service band, the 600 MHz duplex gap, and in channel 37.” Comments are due Aug. 16, replies Aug. 23.