The FCC Wireless Bureau said it’s extending from Aug. 11 to Aug. 29 the deadline for reply comments on a T-Mobile petition seeking greater clarity in the commission’s data roaming rules (CD May 28 p9). T-Mobile is asking for a declaratory ruling containing guidance and “predictable” enforcement criteria for determining whether the terms of data roaming agreements meet the “commercially reasonable” standard adopted by the commission in its 2011 data roaming order. Blooston Rural Carriers, NTCA and the Rural Wireless Association had sought an extension until Aug. 25, citing a “significant number of rural mobile wireless carriers that have been affected by the issues addressed in T-Mobile’s petition,” the bureau said Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1jVM8Uz). The bureau said there’s “good cause to grant a short extension of time,” and T-Mobile has agreed to the extension.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau Tuesday imposed a penalty of $10,400 against Washington Gas Light for violating FCC rules requiring lighting on communications antennas. In 2011, the bureau had proposed a $13,000 fine against the gas utility for the violation. The bureau said Washington Gas maintains it notified the Federal Aviation Administration when a lighting outage occurred in 2010 and reminded the FCC it has a history of compliance with agency rules. “While we are not persuaded that Washington Gas notified the FAA of the lighting outage in a timely manner, we find that its history of compliance warrants a forfeiture reduction,” the bureau said (http://bit.ly/1r3IHtJ).

Verizon is focused on the need to “build cash on the balance sheet” to prepare for the FCC’s AWS-3 auction, Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said Tuesday during a call with investors. Shammo said Verizon for obvious reasons would not have much to say about how much it plans to spend in the AWS-3 auction, scheduled to get underway Nov. 13. Shammo also declined to say much at all about the TV incentive auction, saying the rules haven’t been finalized. “It’s hard for us to sit here and make a comment on something that has not been finalized,” he said. Verizon is aggressively managing the debt it carries, Shammo said. “You have seen us be very proactive in the marketplace, taking the opportunity of the low interest rate market, repositioning the debt that we borrowed at the close and repositioning our towers so we are strategically trying to push out the long-term debt longer at a more fixed, lower rate than we had,” he said. Verizon reported second quarter earnings Tuesday (http://vz.to/1nywpLS). The carrier reported $1.01 in earnings per share in Q2 on operating revenue of $31.5 billion.

The FCC released a small entity compliance guide (http://bit.ly/1rEya9D) for the “Operation of Unlicensed Level Probing Radars in the 5.925-7.250 GHz, 24.05-29.00 GHz and 75-85 GHz Bands.” The FCC amended its rules for use of the band in January (http://1.usa.gov/NBTfmi). The radars can be used to “identify water levels in rivers and dams or critical levels of materials such as fuel or sewer-treated waste, reducing overflow and spillage and minimizing exposure of maintenance personnel in the case of high risk substances,” the FCC said Monday. The document provides guidance for small companies, small governments and small non-profits.

CTIA and the Competitive Carriers Association called the release of the FCC’s AWS-3 Coordination Public Notice Friday (CD July 21 p12) an important step forward toward a successful auction. CCA President Steve Berry said he hopes the FCC will soon release a procedures public notice as well. “To determine whether to participate, CCA’s members need sufficient time and adequate information about the coordination process,” Berry said. “Maximizing information for prospective bidders, and maximizing timely access for AWS-3 licenses will be essential to ensuring that these bands are put to their highest use,” said Scott Bergmann, CTIA vice president-regulatory affairs. Verizon Federal Regulatory Affairs Senior Vice President Kathy Grillo called the notice “an important step” toward making necessary information available to bidders and “establishing a clear and predictable post-auction coordination process.”

Members of the Safety and Security in the Air Coalition held a series of meetings at the FCC to warn against allowing more use of cellphones on commercial flights, said various filings in docket 13-301. In the latest meeting Wednesday with FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, members of the group said a cellphone could be used to help a terrorist communicate “in real time” with accomplices on the ground, on other parts of a plane or on other planes (http://bit.ly/1u8sJEn). Cellphones can also be used to act as switches on improvised explosive devices, the group said. The coalition represents the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, the Transport Workers Union of America, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, and other groups opposed to liberalizing rules for cellphone use in-flight.

Mobile broadband should be subject to, at the most, transparency and “very limited” blocking provisions, CTIA said in its net neutrality comments, posted by the FCC Monday in docket 14-28. Any rules should mirror the 2010 prohibitions, the group said. “Mobile broadband customers fully expect access to all lawful content and applications, and providers have strong incentives to meet these expectations by optimizing the delivery of all content or applications that will not harm the network or undercut the experience of other users,” CTIA said (http://bit.ly/1o1iwFh). CTIA’s message was consistent with what the wireless industry as a whole has filed at the FCC (CD July 17 p1). Blocking provisions should cover only lawful websites and services “that compete with a particular broadband provider’s voice or video telephony offerings, subject to reasonable network management,” CTIA said. Transparency rules should be the same as those imposed in the 2010 net neutrality order, the group said. “Mobile wireless providers already disclose information regarding speeds (with appropriate disclaimers to account for the inherent variability of mobile service), prices, data caps (where applicable), and network management practices.”

The FCC Wireless and Wireline bureaus approved the $650,000 winning bid of Triangle Communications for Tribal Mobility Fund Phase I support in Fort Belknap, Montana, the site of the Fort Belknap Indian Community. The Friday notice directed the Universal Service Administrative Company to pay the company. The initial payment is equal to one-third of the total winning bid amount, the notice said (http://bit.ly/1moE2yg). It said winners “will be subject to a performance default payment if it fails or is unable to meet its coverage requirement, other service requirements, or fails to fulfill any other term or condition of Tribal Mobility Fund Phase I support.” The co-op provides telecom services in 39 exchanges located in 16 Montana counties (http://bit.ly/1jYHdlX).

Apple and Samsung have implemented “positive security measures” to secure fingerprint data collected from smartphones, but more work remains, said a Friday release from Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn. Franken asked both companies -- Apple last fall, Samsung in May -- for information about the security measures for Apple’s Touch ID and Samsung Galaxy S5’s fingerprint scanner (CD May 15 p15). “What I got was mostly good news,” Franken said of the responses from Apple (http://1.usa.gov/1u0uLq0) and Samsung (http://1.usa.gov/UfY9rR), both released Friday. “Both companies encrypt and isolate fingerprint data on their devices and have designed their systems so that fingerprint data cannot be removed from those devices, either in person or over the Internet.” Franken highlighted areas he believes need improvement. “Both companies have not taken any further steps to prevent criminals from bypassing fingerprint readers with a spoofed print,” he said. “That problem needs to be fixed, since fingerprint readers are becoming a gateway to a range of powerfully sensitive information.” Apple and Samsung had no immediate comment.

The FCC shouldn’t adopt new tower siting rules that “would restrict opportunities for government and industry to collaborate on creative, innovative solutions to difficult siting challenges,” city government leaders from two Colorado cities -- Arvada and Thornton -- told FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and her senior legal adviser, David Goldman, during a meeting Tuesday, Kissinger Fellman lawyer Kenneth Fellman said in an ex parte posted Friday. Fellman, Arvada City Council member Bob Fifer and Colorado Communications and Utility Alliance President Todd Barnes, communications director for Thornton’s city government, told Rosenworcel and Goldman that there are multiple examples of “creative wireless facilities siting” in Colorado and Washington, the ex parte said. A “one-size-fits-all rule” is inappropriate for defining a “substantial change in physical dimensions” of a tower or base station, Barnes and Fifer said. The officials also urged the FCC to allow local courts to handle any violations of the new tower siting rules because many jurisdictions don’t have the financial resources to retain counsel in Washington or to travel there to “defend local decisions” (http://bit.ly/1tfhztg).