AT&T asked the FCC to hold in abeyance its rulemaking petition to amend wireless communications service (WCS) rules for an air-to-ground business. AT&T decided this month to forego plans to enter the in-flight connectivity business (see 1411100041). It’s re-evaluating plans for use of its WCS C and D block licenses, it said in an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in RM-11731. Unless AT&T notifies the FCC before Feb. 12 that it wishes to further pursue the petition, the FCC “should consider this a request for dismissal of its petition and the related waiver requests as of that date,” it said.

AT&T said it isn’t limiting its fiber-to-the-premises deployment to 2 million homes. It plans to complete an initiative to expand its GigaPower fiber network in 25 major metropolitan areas nationwide, it wrote the FCC. The letter responded to the commission’s request for more information on AT&T’s fiber deployment plans (see 1411140058). The premise of the FCC’s Nov. 14 letter is incorrect, AT&T said. The telco can’t evaluate additional investment “beyond its existing commitments until the regulatory treatment of broadband service is clarified,” it said. The carrier provided responses including the total number of customer locations to which it plans to deploy fiber to the premises based on pre-transaction economics. AT&T said there are no documents relating to a request for data on limiting fiber deployment to 2 million homes.

The J block of AWS-3 spectrum remains the most coveted after Day Nine of FCC auction bidding ended Tuesday, UBS analysts wrote investors Wednesday. The J block reached an average valuation of $2.65/MHz POP, they said in a research note. In the top 25 markets, the Chicago G and J blocks have the highest valuations at $6.28 and $6 respectively, they said. “Due to prior bid withdrawals, 20 bids do not have a provisional winning bid.” New York was the most active market, with bids rising 14 percent day over day, followed by 9 percent growth in San Juan, and 8 percent in Los Angeles, they said.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau granted waivers to wireless companies for the period of time between April 7, 2012, and the date that the petitioners were able to provide wireless emergency alert (WEA) messages. The petitions were jointly filed by Northeast Communications, Thumb Cellular and other wireless entities, the bureau said in an order. Commercial mobile service providers were to have had the capability to receive and transmit WEA alerts to their subscribers consistent with their elections by that date, it said. Petitioners’ failure to meet the deadline “resulted largely from circumstances beyond their control,” the bureau said. Some parties experienced delays with their third-party providers, and in receiving an executed memorandum of agreement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, it said.

Higher valuations for spectrum in the AWS-3 auction 97 suggest that the broadcast incentive auction could be even more expensive, UBS analysts said. AT&T and Verizon could each spend $10 billion to $15 billion in Auction 97, the analysts said in a research note Tuesday. The valuations could encourage more broadcasters to participate by increasing available proceeds, they said. "This would also fully fund construction of the FirstNet public safety network, which would be good for towers." Following day eight bids Monday, the top 25 markets, including Chicago, New York and Washington, commanded an average price of $3.85/MHz POP for paired spectrum, UBS analysts said.

T-Mobile's request for declaratory ruling on data roaming would be unlikely to survive appellate review if granted, AT&T said. For 2014, the average rate paid by AT&T through August is higher than T-Mobile's projected average rate for 2014, AT&T said in an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 05-265. The rates AT&T offered to T-Mobile for LTE roaming "compare favorably with T-Mobile's projected average 2014 rates," it said. "These facts indicate that AT&T has offered data roaming to T-Mobile on commercially reasonable terms." Adopting T-Mobile's request that the commercial reasonableness of roaming rates be determined by measuring them against "benchmarks" drawn from rates applicable to other services "would amount to common carrier rate regulation, which is prohibited by the Communications Act," it said. The filing recounts a meeting with staff from the FCC Office of General Counsel.

T-Mobile agreed with the FCC Monday to disclose more accurate information to consumers who check their mobile broadband speeds on the carrier’s network after they’ve reached their monthly data cap. Some applications that measure mobile broadband speeds currently tell T-Mobile subscribers the full network’s speed instead of the speed of their personal mobile broadband connection after subscribers hit their data caps and begin to experience throttling. T-Mobile agreed to begin automatically sending text messages to subscribers who reach their data caps linking to an application that will provide accurate speed measurements. The carrier also agreed to modify its existing text messages to subscribers who hit their data caps to clarify the accuracy of speed tests under throttling conditions and provide a button on customers’ smartphones linking to speed tests that will provide accurate information on throttled speed measurements. T-Mobile also agreed to modify its website disclosures to clarify its policies on speed test applications. “The additional disclosures we’re providing to consumers on this issue will be sure to prevent any confusion and are another solid Un-carrier move,” said Andy Levin, T-Mobile senior vice president-government affairs, in a statement. T-Mobile subscribers “need this information to fully understand what they are getting with their broadband service,” said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in a news release. The FCC has been investigating the top four U.S. wireless carriers’ throttling policies (see 1408120057). Public Knowledge is “encouraged that the FCC and T-Mobile were able to come to an agreement that increases transparency for T-Mobile’s customers,” said Vice President Michael Weinberg in a statement. “However, we remain concerned that T-Mobile continues to prevent its subscribers from using the speed test application of their choice. … If T-Mobile is truly confident that they are managing their network responsibly, Public Knowledge hopes that they will free their subscribers to test their network connection with an application that they trust, not one that was pre-approved by T-Mobile.”

T-Mobile told the FCC that prospective guidance and predictable enforcement criteria on the “commercially reasonable” standard in the data roaming order “would be invaluable to carriers in negotiating and reaching agreements,” in an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 12-268. The carrier also said that in the 600 MHz auction, a four-block maximum reserve would promote competition and expand opportunity “by preventing the dominant players, which already control more than 70 percent of the nation’s low-band spectrum resources, from choking off competitors’ access to the spectrum resources needed to offer wireless services indoors and in rural areas.”

T-Mobile is adding 14 streaming services to its Music Freedom program, including Google Play Music, SoundCloud and Xbox Music, the carrier said Monday. Other services will serve specific music genres, including Bollywood, Caribbean and jazz, it said. The carrier already supported 13 streaming services through the Music Freedom program, including Pandora and Rhapsody. T-Mobile subscribers can stream music through the Music Freedom program without incurring data charges, the carrier said. The number of T-Mobile customers who are streaming music has risen almost 300 percent since the Music Freedom program began over the summer, the carrier said.

Samsung Ventures, which manages investments for Samsung’s various mobile and CE subsidiaries, bought an undisclosed stake in DocuSign, which bills itself as the "global standard for digital transaction management." Samsung’s investment, terms of which weren't released, "opens the opportunity to bring DocuSign closer to mobile users" for securely transacting "anything, anytime, anywhere, on any device," the companies said in an announcement last week. They called the investment "a precursor to the development of a broader strategic relationship" between the companies.