Verizon Communications is on track to close its purchase of Vodafone’s stake in Verizon Wireless by Feb. 21, Verizon Communications said Tuesday after its shareholders approved the telco’s plan to issue up to 1.28 billion new shares of Verizon stock to help pay for the buyout. Verizon said it’s still waiting for the High Court of England and Wales to approve the buyout, but has received FCC clearance.

Spectrum sharing rather than exclusive-use licenses must become “the new normal,” Wharton Professor Kevin Werbach says in a new white paper. “Spectrum policy should make a commitment to users of spectrum rather than merely to spectrum holders,” he said. Werbach said the nation’s orientation to spectrum needs to change (http://bit.ly/1aFmDCI). “Policy makers should acknowledge what engineers already recognize and businesses are already implementing: The future of spectrum is about various forms of sharing. Exclusive rights are still desirable, even essential, in some contexts. However, they will exist within a larger matrix of sharing arrangements to maximize available capacity."

The FCC Wireless Bureau gave Mobile Relay Associates a waiver so it can offer services in the “band edges” between Industrial/Business Pool spectrum and General Mobile Radio Service spectrum. MRA, which provides two-way radio communications, got permission to use frequency pairs 462/467.5375 and 462/467.7375 MHz in the Los Angeles, Denver, Las Vegas and Miami metropolitan areas. “Based on the record before us, we conclude that MRA has presented sufficient facts to meet the standard for grant of the requested waivers,” the bureau said (http://bit.ly/LkUq8i).

The FCC should dedicate more spectrum in the 600 MHz and 5 GHz bands for unlicensed use, Wi-Fi Alliance officials said in a meeting with FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly. In the 600 MHz band, the FCC should make four 6 MHz channels available to take advantage of legacy 20 MHz-wide Wi-Fi standards, alliance representatives said, according to an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1b1JaY3). “The Wi-Fi Alliance noted that there has been little use of the spectrum dedicated for white spaces operation because of the uncertainty regarding the future use of the 600 MHz band."

AT&T confirmed Monday that it “does not intend” to bid for U.K. telco Vodafone in the immediate future. The U.K. Panel on Takeovers and Mergers had asked AT&T to say whether it planned to bid for Vodafone following recent speculation about a possible offer. AT&T can’t make an offer for Vodafone for the next six months because of the statement, unless Vodafone agrees to the bid’s submission, another company makes an offer or the British government decides Vodafone’s circumstances have significantly changed (http://soc.att.com/1fi49ao).

Ericsson said Samsung will pay an initial $650 million, along with future royalty payments, as part of a cross-licensing agreement to end ongoing patent disputes between the companies (http://bit.ly/1btidco). The agreement covers the companies’ patents on the GSM, UMTS and LTE standards both companies use for their devices and networks, which had been the subject of a series of lawsuits beginning in 2012 in U.S. District Court in Tyler, Texas, and complaints at the U.S. International Trade Commission (CD Jan 29/13 p16). Ericsson said it is committed to licensing its standard-essential patents on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms “for the benefit of the industry.” The company “always viewed litigation as a last resort,” said Ericsson Chief Intellectual Property Officer Kasim Alfalahi in a news release. Samsung said it too has “always preferred negotiations over litigation, and will continue adhering to [FRAND] licensing principles to assist in our industry’s advancement” (http://bit.ly/L3KUWv).

A Sprint/T-Mobile US merger would be an effective challenge to the Verizon Wireless-AT&T “duopoly,” T-Mobile CEO John Legere said Monday on Bloomberg TV. “We all need better scale and capability,” he said. “The question starts to be, how do you take the maverick and supercharge it? We either need more spectrum and capability and a lot more investment, or we need consolidation.” Speculation about possible discussions between Sprint majority owner SoftBank and T-Mobile majority owner Deutsche Telekom has continued in recent months, though experts have said a merger between the No. 3 and No. 4 U.S. carriers could encounter trouble with federal regulators (CD Dec 17 p1). Sprint is certainly not T-Mobile’s only consolidation option, and “from a standpoint of companies consolidating to get better scale, I'm open to looking at options,” Legere said. Sprint and T-Mobile did not comment. Sprint separately announced Monday that its 4G LTE network has expanded into 40 additional markets, including Milwaukee and Salt Lake City. The carrier’s 4G LTE network now covers 340 markets (http://bit.ly/1hEC7pk).

The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment on a proposal by American Tower Corp. (ATC) for a complete waiver of a requirement that it inspect the lighting on its towers, including “all automatic or mechanical control devices, indicators, and alarm systems associated with the antenna structure lighting to insure that such apparatus is functioning properly.” ATC previously got a partial waiver and must do the inspections annually rather than on a quarterly basis, the bureau said (http://bit.ly/1jY5WCC). ATC argues that “[a] complete waiver would relieve ATC of its existing obligation to make annual on-site inspections of towers, an obligation that no longer serves any discernable purpose, and would further the public interest by encouraging other tower owners to implement technologically advanced monitoring systems,” the bureau said. Comments are due Feb. 14, replies Feb. 22.

Children aged 2 to 4 spend the most time with educational media, including mobile apps, said a Joan Ganz Cooney Center study released Friday (http://bit.ly/1fbNFAw). But overall, mobile apps are still not the preferred form of educational media, the study found. And, as children age, they become more infrequent users of mobile devices or computers for educational activities. Thirteen percent of children aged 2 to 4 use educational programs on mobile devices or computers, compared to only 6 percent of children aged 8 to 10. Overall, children aged 2 to 10 spend far less time with education apps on mobile devices -- 5 minutes per day on average -- than they do watching educational television -- 42 minutes per day on average. Additionally, “Educational content on mobile devices was ranked lowest in learning by parents in every subject area,” said the report, which surveyed 1,577 parents of children aged 2 to 10. The Cooney Center studies children’s education and is backed by technology companies such as Microsoft and Intel, as well as cable companies like Comcast and government organizations such as the Department of Education.

Sprint began implementing a “workforce reduction plan” Jan. 16 in a bid to cut costs, it said in an 8-K filing Thursday with the SEC. The carrier plans to disclose about $165 million in severance and other costs related to the job cuts as part of its Feb. 11 Q4 earnings report (http://1.usa.gov/1l6Ccrm).