The Samsung Galaxy Note8 launches Sept. 15 on the T-Mobile network, the carrier said Wednesday. (See a separate report about the Note8 launch in today's issue of this publication.) But the phone won't come with a chip allowing the use of the 600 MHz spectrum T-Mobile bought in the TV incentive auction, a spokesman said, saying Samsung will have a handset available by year-end that does. "When you put the Note8 on the T-Mobile network, it’s like putting a world-class racecar on a brand new, state-of-the-art racetrack -- it’s straight up incredible,” T-Mobile CEO John Legere said in a news release.

Public interest groups charged Tuesday that a Verizon plan to divide its unlimited offering into three separate plans raises net neutrality concerns. Verizon said it's now offering three different unlimited plans -- Go Unlimited, Beyond Unlimited and Business Unlimited. The groups said the plan shows why the FCC shouldn't roll back open internet rules approved two years ago under former Chairman Tom Wheeler (see 1707180009).

T-Mobile turned on the first part of its 600 MHz LTE network, using spectrum acquired in the TV incentive auction, it said Wednesday in a news release. The initial deployment is in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and uses Nokia equipment, T-Mobile said. “Starting in rural America and other markets where the spectrum is clear of broadcasting today, T-Mobile plans to deploy the new super-spectrum at record-shattering pace -- compressing what would normally be a two-year process from auction to consumer availability into a short six months.” The carrier said it plans to deploy service in the spectrum in Wyoming, northwest Oregon, West Texas, southwest Kansas, the Oklahoma panhandle, western North Dakota, Maine, coastal North Carolina, central Pennsylvania, central Virginia and eastern Washington. It expects to make handsets available for the holiday buying season with 600 MHz chips that can use the new band, a spokesman said. The carrier was the high bidder in the auction, winning 1,525 licenses for $8 billion (see 1704130056).

The FCC needs to allow unauthorized use of the 5.9 GHz band, to support gigabit Wi-Fi, and to keep the designation of 64-71 GHz for unlicensed use while considering other high-frequency unlicensed spectrum designations, NCTA blogged Tuesday. Pointing to licensed and unlicensed spectrum needs to meet mobile broadband demands, NCTA said the agency "is on the right path" with its grant of the first 600 MHz wireless licenses and that it's likely to soon consider "modest changes" to 3.5 GHz rules.

Some opponents of Sinclair buying Tribune argue in petitions to deny posted by the FCC Tuesday that the new company would have unprecedented ability to drag the post-incentive auction repacking to a halt, and would want to do so because of its massive investment in ATSC 3.0. “Sinclair’s ‘all-in’ posture on ATSC 3.0 gives it a strong self-interest in using whatever leverage it has to promote the adoption of this standard,” petitioned T-Mobile. A delay in repacking would give Sinclair more time to lobby the commission to devote more reimbursement funds to paying for stations to buy 3.0 equipment, said the filing in docket 17-179.

T-Mobile executives told FCC officials the company is ready to start deploying service using the licenses it bought in the TV incentive auction this year. T-Mobile met with Matthew Berry, FCC chief of staff, and Jean Kiddoo, chair of the Incentive Auction Task Force, said a filing in docket 12-268. “Representatives from T-Mobile discussed the company’s plans to rapidly deploy 600 MHz spectrum for mobile broadband and to begin providing service to consumers this year, including bringing new competition and choice to rural areas previously unserved by T-Mobile,” the carrier said. “Representatives also discussed broadcaster and vendor progress on the post-auction transition and T-Mobile’s efforts to help broadcasters identify and resolve transition issues.”

The Sinclair/Tribune merger deal should be rejected by the FCC and can’t be made more palatable with merger conditions, said an ‘informal coalition” of Dish Network, Common Cause, the American Cable Association, the Competitive Carriers Association, Computer and Communications Industry Association and One America News Network, in a press call Monday.

Dish Network’s “dream” in a wireless connectivity network buildout “would be to go to the tower one time and build out all our spectrum in 5G,” said CEO Charlie Ergen on a Thursday earnings call. “There’s tremendous cost savings in doing that.”

Among big developments from Q2 calls are AT&T’s announcement that FirstNet spending will start this year and Verizon’s projections of increased spending on its wireless build (see 1707270037), BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk wrote Friday. AT&T is likely to replace more than half the antennas in its network as part of FirstNet, Piecyk said. “Six states have opted in to FirstNet to date and AT&T can begin its work in those areas as soon as that begins. It is likely that AT&T will increase its wireless investments in 2018 based on this project.” Piecyk expects a 60 percent increase in Verizon’s wireless capital expenditures in the second half of the year compared with the first half. “Verizon indicated that the second half investments will be focused on fiber and small cells,” he said. Other noteworthy developments include T-Mobile’s promise to start deploying in the 600 MHz band in August and Crown Castle’s “doubling down on small cell exposure,” he said.

States that opt in to FirstNet will be able to make the national broadband network available to public safety agencies as much as three years faster than expected, board member Kevin McGinnis told the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council Thursday. Meanwhile, FirstNet said a seventh state, West Virginia, opted to join. The network “sped everything up” and that “becomes quite a challenge for FirstNet staff to manage,” McGinnis said.