The FCC's July tentative agenda has a consumer protection focus, with items dealing with robocalls, rural call completion and "slamming and cramming." Noting it's Consumer Protection Month, Chairman Ajit Pai in a blog post Thursday announcing the July 13 agenda said the agency is "extend[ing] our efforts to address the problems Americans confront in the communications marketplace and to crack down on those who prey upon the vulnerable for their own financial gain." The agenda also has items on rural call completion, Part 2 equipment authorization rules, allocation of spectrum for vehicular radar, wireless mic technical and operational rules and video description.

The FCC approved the first grants of licenses purchased in the TV incentive auction and will let “phase zero” low-power TV stations and translators displaced far ahead of the special LPTV displacement window move to temporary channels or temporarily channel share. Among those 2,317 licenses in the wireless band OK'ed were licenses bought by T-Mobile, Dish Network through ParkerB, Comcast through CC Wireless Investment, and AT&T -- 52 pages of licenses in all -- said a public notice by the Incentive Auction Task Force and Wireless Bureau. Fifty bidders paid $19.3 billion in the auction for a total of 2,776 licenses. The licenses approved cover some of the largest U.S. markets, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. “We have received information from T-Mobile USA, Inc. (T-Mobile), one of the recipients of the licenses granted today in the 600 MHz Band, indicating that it may commence operations or conduct FFA [first field application] testing using some of its 600 MHz Band licenses later this year,” the PN said. The displacement window for LPTV and translators likely won’t open until Q1, which could leave some LPTV and translators in the cold, said filings from the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition, T-Mobile and NAB (see 1706050066). To address a gap, the IATF and Media Bureau will allow low-power broadcasters that are notified by the new owners of 600 MHz spectrum that they have 120 days to cease operations to request a waiver of the current freeze on displacement applications and apply for special temporary authority (STA) to operate on a temporary channel or seek a temporary channel sharing arrangement, another PN said. The temporary channels requested must be in the bands allocated for TV and can’t interfere with existing broadcasters, the PN said. “In considering the STA request, we will assess whether the proposed displacement facility complies with our technical and interference rules.” For temporary channel sharing, “two or more eligible LPTV/translator stations may each request a waiver of the Displacement Freeze and submit a displacement application that proposes to share a channel with the other eligible LPTV/translator,” the PN said. “Relief, if granted, will be temporary.” The Media Bureau meanwhile gave special permission for KCRA (DT) Riverside, California, a winning bidder in the incentive auction, to consummate a transaction before disbursement of incentive auction payments, said another PN. Under incentive auction rules, stations that were winning bidders would have to wait until the auction payments went out, the PN said. KCRA sought to “consummate a pro forma intra-corporate reorganization” before the payments are disbursed, the PN said. The timing is sensitive and “tied to the maturity of certain notes and a new bond offering,” the PN said. Since the deal is pro forma and won’t change the holder of the license, the bank accounts or the FCC registration number involved, the Media Bureau granted the request, the PN said. “Our decision is limited to the specific facts and special circumstances before us.”

T-Mobile officials met with FCC staffers on its plans for the licenses it purchased in the TV incentive auction. It updated "the FCC staff on the current status of 600 MHz wireless technology standards,” said a filing in docket 16-306. Its plan to "rapidly deploy the 600 MHz band spectrum for mobile broadband and commence providing service with that spectrum this year" came up, the carrier said. "Access to this low-band spectrum allows T-Mobile to bring new and enhanced competition to rural areas and to strengthen competition and service in urban and suburban areas.” The provider bought the most licenses in the recently concluded auction for $8 billion (see 1704130056). Staff from the Incentive Auction Task Force, including Chair Jean Kiddoo, the Media Bureau, the Wireless Bureau and the Office of Engineering and Technology attended. T-Mobile is trying to smooth the way to start wireless operations on the incentive auction-acquired spectrum (see 1706050066).

NAB and T-Mobile added their voices to low-power TV concerns about “phase zero” stations that will get bumped from their spectrum long before they can move to displacement channels, and LPTV industry officials told us FCC action on the matter is now more likely. The post-repacking displacement window for LPTV and translators isn’t likely to open until 2018, NAB said. “In the meantime, if a new 600 MHz licensee provides its 120-day notice and displaces LPTV or translator stations, those stations will have no opportunity to remain on the air using an alternate channel,” said the letter in docket 16-306. “This outcome effectively defeats the stated purpose of the displacement window.” In a May 30 meeting with the Incentive Auction Task Force and Media Bureau staff, T-Mobile said the FCC should “develop effective and flexible procedures for accommodating the needs of broadcasters impacted by the deployment of 600 MHz broadband services,”

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Analysts at a Wireless Infrastructure Association conference last week saw general optimism among tower companies about the future of the infrastructure industry as a result of the TV incentive auction, FirstNet, 5G and the IoT. Executives generally agreed.

The solution to increasingly congested Wi-Fi networks in dense urban areas lies primarily in middle-band spectrum, particularly in the 5.9 GHz band and potentially the 6 GHz band, said Wi-Fi Alliance CEO Ed Figueroa Wednesday. Having 80 MHz and 160 MHz channels is paramount, but that kind of channelization is tough to find in low bands, while high-frequency bands carry propagation limitations, he said at a Microsoft/New America’s Wireless Future Project panel.

The FCC needs to provide relief for low-power TV stations in danger of getting bumped from their spectrum long before the post-incentive auction displacement window intended to find them a new home takes place, said the LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition in a letter Tuesday to the Incentive Auction Task Force and Media Bureau staff. Without some sort of action, “whole communities could go dark,” said coalition Executive Director Mike Gravino in an interview. Unless the FCC provides some accommodation for what Gravino calls “phase zero” stations, a court battle that would slow the repacking effort is likely, he said.

ORLANDO -- The FCC may have to consider tinkering with the 39-month time frame for broadcasters to clear the 600 MHz band so carriers can start to use the spectrum they bought in the TV incentive auction, Commissioner Mike O’Rielly told the Wireless Infrastructure Association. O’Rielly said the outlook is improving for a new, lighter-handed regulation, but change comes hard in Washington.

American Tower faces both challenges and opportunities, a Macquarie Capital analyst wrote investors Monday after meeting with Chief Financial Officer Tom Bartlett. "Though its expansive international presence is clearly a standout, the domestic tailwinds are now just as great,” Amy Yong emailed. “Areas of upside include FirstNet, 600 MHz spectrum deployment, and an expanding wireless industry that could include” Dish Network-Amazon, cable and IoT, Macquarie said. A Sprint/T-Mobile could prove positive long-term for the tower company, Macquarie said: "Management noted that previous mergers have actually resulted in 20-25 percent greater activity” from the new company. On FirstNet, AT&T’s infrastructure investments likely will come mostly next year, but could start later this year, after AT&T won the contract to build the network, the firm wrote.

The FCC approved for filing the long-form applications of a first round of 600 MHz licenses bought by companies in the TV incentive auction. The notice moves licensees another step closer to being able to begin operations in the band, as the post-incentive auction transition gets underway. The FCC said other applications will be addressed in later notices. The licenses include many purchased by T-Mobile, Dish Network through ParkerB.com, Comcast through CC Wireless Investment, and AT&T. Other parties can file petitions to deny the grant of the licenses, but must do so by May 30, the public notice said. The Incentive Auction Task Force and the Wireless Bureau released the notice. Meanwhile, stations that will be changing channels during repacking but aren’t eligible for reimbursement will need to file progress reports the same as stations that can be reimbursed, said the FCC Media Bureau and IATF in a PN. Nonreimbursable stations include band changing stations, stations that “accept a waiver of the Commission’s service rules to allow them to make flexible use of their reassigned spectrum to provide services other than broadcast television services in lieu of receiving reimbursement” and a small number of Class A's, the PN said. Requiring all broadcasters changing channels to file will give the FCC and the wireless and broadcast industries a more complete picture of the progress of the post-incentive auction transition, it said. The filing “will permit the Commission, broadcasters, and other interested parties to get a snapshot of progress at regular intervals and critical periods within each transition phase,” the PN said. IATF released a user guide for the commission registration system (Cores) incentive auction financial module. Full-power stations, Class A broadcasters and MVPDs that “anticipate receiving incentive and/or reimbursement payment(s) following the incentive auction” must “use the Financial Module to submit bank account information electronically,” the PN said. The user guide is available on the auction website.