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.

American Tower will buy two portfolios of towers in Brazil from TIM Celular. The first includes about 5,240 towers, and the second includes about 1,240 towers, American Tower said Friday in a news release. American Tower anticipates the towers will generate more than $170 million in annual run rate revenue, it said.

An agreement between wireless carriers and public safety organizations proposing to help improve 911 location accuracy doesn't "do what it purports to do," an attorney for TruePosition said. Numerous stakeholders, including public safety representatives, and members of the emergency medical community "have all specifically criticized the agreement and supported the FCC adopting its proposed rules," Venable attorney Jamie Barnett said in an ex parte filing posted in docket 07-114. He referred to the consensus plan among AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, the APCO and the National Emergency Number Association filed last week (see 1411190064). It's a misnomer to call it a consensus since groups like the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the National Association of State EMS Officials "had the opportunity to review and sign the agreement but declined to do so," he said. The carriers set benchmarks, not for dispatchable address, but "for the adoption of technologies that they purport, without evidence, will be better than what they use now," he said. The filing was on a meeting with Public Safety Bureau staff.

CTIA, wireless carriers and public safety organizations reviewed proposals in a 911 location accuracy consensus plan with staff from FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly's office. The plan was filed last week by CTIA and drafted by large wireless carriers, including AT&T and T-Mobile, the APCO and the National Emergency Number Association (see 1411190064). The parties highlighted the formation of a test bed, "dispatchable" location commitments, "steps to advance vertical location technologies providing back-up solutions for indoor calls" and other aspects, CTIA said in an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 07-114. The filing pertains to a meeting with Erin McGrath, aide to O'Rielly.

AWS-3 auction prices are a positive for spectrum owners like Globalstar and Sprint, said New Street Research analysts Friday in a research note. The auction demonstrates that the value of marginal spectrum is higher than everyone thought, and that “mid-band [spectrum] no longer trades at a discount to low-band,” they said. Globalstar’s spectrum has a unique utility, making it difficult to extrapolate values for traditional wireless spectrum to its spectrum, they said. But “what their spectrum offers is capacity, and capacity is worth more today than the market realized yesterday,” they said. Auction 97 began last week.

NextNav commends any cooperative effort to investigate new approaches to improving indoor next-generation 911 location accuracy but is concerned that the discussions about a consensus plan released this week lacked inclusiveness and measurable near-term results. NextNav referred to a plan for improved location accuracy technology led by AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and public safety organizations (see 1411190064). "Although the sincerity of the signatories is clear, the likely positive outcome is less so," NextNav said in an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 07-114. The road map ignores the long-standing position of first responders and others "that the availability of vertical location information in multistory urban environments is of critical importance to their constituency," it said. It also fails to address indoor location accuracy performance, it said. The ultimate responsibility for location accuracy for an emergency call would be spread over a "multiplicity of parties" that don't share the carriers' historic license obligations or the public safety sector's requirements for reliability and dependability, NextNav said.