The Computer & Communications Industry Association filed in support of a May T-Mobile petition asking for “predictable” enforcement criteria for determining whether the terms of data roaming agreements meet the “commercially reasonable” standard adopted by the FCC in its 2011 data roaming order (CD May 28 p9). “Granting T-Mobile’s Petition will not amend the Data Roaming Order in any way, but instead help the Commission realize the goals initially sought in its adoption,” CCIA said (http://bit.ly/1q10Yc6). By most accounts, “dominant carriers are leveraging their market power to impose prohibitive higher rates at the expense of small carriers,” CCIA said. Reply comments were due Wednesday in docket 05-265.

The FCC set the pleading cycle for T-Mobile’s proposed $50 million buy of lower 700 MHz A-block licenses from CenturyLink subsidiary Actel. The companies contend the deal “would allow T-Mobile to expand its coverage and offer improved services to its customers,” said a Wednesday public notice (http://bit.ly/1qqzg5G). “The Applicants further contend that T-Mobile would become a stronger competitor in the subject markets and nationwide, which would enhance competition and improve the quality of services in the mobile wireless marketplace.” The deal would give T-Mobile 12 MHz of spectrum in 179 counties in all or parts of 50 cellular market areas, the agency said. After the buy, T-Mobile would hold 32-82 MHz of spectrum in each of those CMAs. According to the PN, T-Mobile does not own any spectrum below 1 GHz in those markets. Petitions to deny are due Sept. 3, oppositions Sept. 15 and replies Sept. 22. In April, T-Mobile wrapped up its $3.3 billion acquisition of low-band spectrum from Verizon, giving the carrier for the first time a significant amount of sub-1 GHz spectrum (CD April 24 p10). T-Mobile is widely expected to be a major player in next year’s TV incentive auction of 600 MHz spectrum.

The 3650-3700 MHz band is important to the critical infrastructure industry (CII) and should be excluded from spectrum dedicated to a Citizens Broadband Radio Service, the American Petroleum Institute said in comments posted by the FCC Monday in docket 12-354. “In reliance on the Commission’s current rules many CII companies already have made significant investments in the 3.65 GHz band, which fills a gap in the Commission’s broadband spectrum allocations for CII use,” API said (http://bit.ly/1lfzRey). API represents oil and gas producers.

The FTC approved its final orders and settled charges against movie ticket seller Fandango and credit score monitor Credit Karma, said an agency news release Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/XxUOH2). FTC complaints against Fandango (http://1.usa.gov/O6pZ6M) and Credit Karma (http://1.usa.gov/1f19QtS) alleged their mobile apps made consumer data, such as credit card information, “vulnerable to interception by third parties,” it said. The complaints also alleged the companies disabled their Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate, which would have protected consumer data, it said. In the Credit Karma complaint, the FTC said even after the company addressed the disabled SSL certificate in February, it then released an Android version of its app with the same unvalidated SSL certificate. Both companies have since addressed their SSL deficiencies, said the complaints. The settlement, announced in March, requires the companies to establish “comprehensive security programs” and to “undergo independent security assessments every other year for the next 20 years,” it said (CD March 31 p8).

Sprint is the launch carrier for Sharp’s first Aquos-branded smartphone for the U.S. market, Sprint said in a news release Tuesday. The Aquos Crystal will be available through Sprint and its prepaid brands Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile USA and to SoftBank in Japan as a result of the Sprint/SoftBank merger, Sprint said. Currently, Spark is available in 27 markets offering average wireless speeds of 6-15 Mbps, Sprint said, and the carrier hopes to reach 100 million users with Spark by year-end, it said. Phone availability hasn’t been announced.

The FCC should reject petitions of reconsideration filed by T-Mobile and Sprint (CD Aug 13 p1) asking the agency to change key parts of its May 15 spectrum holdings order, which restricted the ability of AT&T and Verizon Wireless to buy licenses in the TV incentive auction, said Gregory Vogt, visiting fellow at the Free State Foundation, Tuesday in a blog post. Increasing the amount of spectrum set aside for competitive carriers, as proposed by T-Mobile, is “anti-competitive” and could mean lower auction receipts, Vogt wrote (http://bit.ly/1tdB1Ij). Sprint is also wrong in its recommendations that the FCC change how spectrum is treated under its screen, he said: “Although unrelated in a direct sense to the spectrum auction, the request does represent another attempt by competitors to skew competitive analysis in their favor."

T-Mobile slammed claims by the FindMe911 Coalition of poor performance by carriers on wireless 911 in Washington, D.C. In July, Verizon made similar arguments against the coalition (http://bit.ly/1uT5gqd), which is funded, at least in part, by TruePosition, a company that offers alternative technology for locating wireless 911 calls. The coalition acknowledges initial funding by the vendor on its website (http://bit.ly/1pHjVRV). “FindMe911 continues to push sensationalist headlines rather than facts as it tries to manufacture a crisis that simply does not exist,” T-Mobile said in a Monday FCC filing (http://bit.ly/1yVqPUM). “The information the coalition presents says very little about the availability of accurate E911 location estimates during an emergency call, and far more about FindMe911’s desire to drum up controversy where there is none to promote the business interests of TruePosition.” Data obtained by the coalition indicate nine out of 10 wireless 911 calls made in D.C. in the first half of 2013 “were delivered without the accurate location information needed to find callers who are lost, confused, unconscious or otherwise unable to share their location,” the FindMe911 group said in a July news release (http://bit.ly/VE42Qy). A coalition spokesman said 911 call center officials themselves believe wireless 911 location accuracy is a critical issue. “How many lives must be lost before carriers acknowledge there is even a problem?” the spokesman said in response to T-Mobile. “Data from across the country has proven that 911 call takers are not getting the life-saving location data they need to find wireless callers, yet carriers continue to cast blame, quibble and complain."

San Diego followed the law in denying permits to American Tower, said the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a decision handed down Thursday. U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez had ruled the city violated the state’s permit law when it didn’t act on the conditional-use permit (CUP) applications within 60 days, but otherwise had acted correctly. Nonetheless, because of the violation, Benitez granted American Tower summary judgment. There was no violation of the Telecom Act or state law, said the 9th Circuit decision written by Judge Jay Bybee, which reversed the lower court’s finding in favor of the tower company. The appeals court otherwise upheld the lower court. “The City’s decision to deny the permit applications was supported by substantial evidence, and the City did not misapply its Land Development Code,” the court held (http://1.usa.gov/1qdhOl5). “The permit denial did not constitute unreasonable discrimination among functionally equivalent service providers because the plaintiff and the City were not functionally equivalent providers."

Smartphone market share for Android and iOS expanded to 96.4 percent in Q2, “leaving little space for competitors,” said a report from IDC Thursday. Android was the dominant growth driver, with 255.3 million smartphones shipping in Q2, up 33 percent year-over-year, while iOS share shrank on growth of 12.7 percent, IDC said (http://bit.ly/1phRbyI). Windows Phone was down 10 percent and BlackBerry-based smartphones 78 percent, it said. The worldwide smartphone market topped 300 million unit shipments for the first time in the quarter, reaching 301.3 million units, a 25 percent jump from the 240.5 million smartphones shipped in Q1 2013, IDC said. “Android has been reaping huge gains within emerging markets,” said Ramon Llamas, research manager, saying 58 percent of worldwide Android smartphones shipped cost less than $200 off contract. Among operating systems, Windows Phone has been around since 2010 but has yet to break the 5 percent share mark, said Melissa Chau, senior research manager. Despite Samsung’s leadership position in smartphones, it hasn’t been able to push the Tizen operating system into the spotlight, she said. Stumbling blocks preventing other operating systems from gaining traction are phone makers and app developers, with the latter primarily “smaller outfits looking to minimize development efforts by sticking to the two big ecosystems,” she said. Within the Android sphere, Samsung led with 29 percent of Android-driven shipments, but its share fell from 40 percent over the past two years, while Coolpad, Huawei, Lenovo, LG, Xiaomi and ZTE all grew, IDC said. Based on Apple’s history, IDC expects it to receive a late-Q3 boost from next-generation iPhone sales. “Whether or not this happens again this year remains to be seen, especially with the anticipated arrival of large-screen iPhones,” IDC said.

Rules for the TV incentive auction, adopted by the commission in May (http://bit.ly/1pi25V6), formally take effect Oct. 14, after they were published in the Federal Register Friday (http://1.usa.gov/1mRDv9u). The exception is new or modified information collection requirements that are not effective until approved by the Office of Management and Budget. The FCC has indicated the auction is likely in mid-2015.