Widespread 5G will mean many more Americans will have another choice of broadband provider, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr told the Americas Spectrum Management Conference Wednesday. Carr said the FCC needs to continue its push to get the rules right for broadband deployment. But Carr didn’t discuss next steps or comment on regulatory changes sought by CTIA and the Wireless Infrastructure Association, which the FCC put out for comment (see 1909130062).
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Even if the C-Band Alliance releases a plan to provide as much as 300 MHz of spectrum for 5G, there’s no guarantee the FCC won’t opt for an alternative, America's Communications Association Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Ross Lieberman told the Competitive Carriers Association conference Wednesday. ACA, along with CCA and Charter Communications, have their own plan (see 1908150042). CCA officials promoted that here (see 1909170023).
A C-band auction could gross at least $50 billion, New Street Research's Vivek Stalam wrote investors Monday. He said $12 billion would likely go toward clearing costs and the Treasury, meaning $38 billion for C-Band Alliance members, with the CBA band-clearing plan seeming most likely to get FCC OK. He said an order on C-band clearing is likely within the next six months and perhaps this fall. The analyst said CBA rival's plans such as those from T-Mobile or America's Communications Association/Charter Communications/Competitive Carriers Association seem unlikely to move forward because they have had little traction among C-band users or major carrier bidders. He said with major earth station interest opposed to clearing more than 200 MHz of C band, it's questionable whether 300 MHz will be made available. CBA says it's investigating ways to clear more than 200 MHz (see 1909130051).
USTelecom and its partners are hoping the results of the four-month location fabric broadband mapping pilot project it recently concluded in two states will be promising enough to convince the FCC to move forward with and pay for similar efforts nationwide, executives said during a webinar Tuesday on its findings. The nationwide initiative could take 12-15 months to complete and cost upward of $8.5 million to $11 million depending on the types of datasets used, said Jim Stegeman, CEO of CostQuest Associates, during Q&A after the presentation. He recommended the maps be updated once or twice a year thereafter to take into account new construction or structures that are torn down. USTelecom estimates annual costs of $3 million to $4 million for updates.
Huawei tablet shipments grew 4 percent in Q2 from the 2018 quarter, despite Commerce Department placing Huawei on the entity list in May (see 1907050003), said a Strategy Analytics tablet report Friday. But an intensifying trade war could foreshadow a shift in Android demand “from a bruised Huawei brand to its fiercest competitors, Samsung and Lenovo,” said analyst Eric Smith. Samsung and Lenovo shipments were ahead of the industry but showed declines of minus-1 percent and minus-6 percent in a category down 7 percent year on year, said Smith. In a widening trade war, “Lenovo could be among a group of Chinese companies that are targeted by the Trump administration,” he said. Apple iPad shipments dropped 7 percent year on year in Q2 to 10.7 million units, to 29 percent market share. New iPad Air and iPad mini tablets pushed average selling prices higher alongside continued strong demand for iPad Pro; ASPs grew year on year from $410 to $469, SA said. Bucking the trend, Amazon had 38 percent higher tablet shipments in Q2 to 2 million units, behind Apple (10.7 million), Samsung (4.9 million) and Huawei (3.9 million), it said. Trailing Apple’s 29 percent market share were Samsung (13 percent), Huawei (10 percent), Amazon (5.4 percent) and Lenovo (5 percent).
Hearings that begin Monday on the proposed List 4 Section 301 tariffs on $300 billion in Chinese imports not previously dutied will span seven full days through June 25 and include roughly 320 witnesses organized into 54 panels, said the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Friday. Unless there comes a change in the terms of USTR’s May 17 notice announcing the List 4 tariffs, post-hearing rebuttal comments would be due July 2, seven days after the hearings end, marking the last deadline in the List 4 proceeding before President Donald Trump decides whether to put the duties into effect. USTR ordered List 3 into effect Sept. 24, less than three weeks after post-hearing rebuttals in that proceeding came due Sept. 6. CTA is scheduled to testify the afternoon of June 24 on the same panel as Christie Digital Systems, Jasco Products and JLab Audio. CTA had asked for that arrangement in its June 10 request to appear. Other notables on the witness list: (1) Element Electronics, Best Buy, Roku, iRobot and TCL North America all testifying together Monday on Panel 4; (2) HP testifying Tuesday on Panel 11; (3) the Retail Industry Leaders Association, National Retail Federation and Information Technology Industry Council appearing together Friday on Panel 38; (4) Fitbit appearing June 25 on Panel 50; (5) Sony Interactive Entertainment and Vizio testifying together June 25 on Panel 53.
FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau appoints Diane Burstein, ex-NCTA (see this section, Jan. 6), as deputy bureau chief ... NTIA names Rachel Wolbers, ex-Engine, internet policy specialist, international affairs ... Vedder Price taps Daniel Shulman, ex-Reynolds Group, as shareholder-intellectual property ... Towerstream Chief Financial Officer Jack Macdonald resigning, effective June 7.
AT&T's artificial intelligence "guiding principles" are human oversight; open source "communities whenever appropriate"; and "ethics, safety, and values" including "our privacy principles and security safeguards." The ISP/MVPD uses "varied, validated datasets and diverse human input," it said Wednesday. "We use a transparent approach to algorithms that includes safeguards." The company monitors "outcomes to ensure accuracy and help minimize biases." When "outcomes are owned by people, no one should be able to claim, 'The machine did it,'" blogged Chief Privacy Officer Tom Moore. "No organization will be perfect, but that’s what humans must try to anticipate, catch and repair." Even as many organizations have advanced their own AI and privacy principles, some widely endorsed ones exist, noted Electronic Privacy Information Center President Marc Rotenberg. The "benchmark for AI policy" are the EPIC-established Public Voice coalition's universal guidelines for artificial intelligence, or UGAI, he said in an interview. Possibly later this month, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development may announce its 38 member countries endorsed OECD guidelines, "which reflect many of the principles contained in the UGAI," said Rotenberg, who has worked on the issue. The U.S. would be among the signers. The White House didn't comment. All OECD members and Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Costa Rica "are due to formally endorse a new set of AI Principles designed by the OECD, next Wednesday" at the group’s annual ministerial meeting, a spokesperson emailed. AT&T meanwhile actively participates "in discussions with industry organizations, such as Linux Foundation, IEEE and Future of Privacy Forum, on a variety of AI topics," a company spokesperson emailed. That includes "AI and ethics, responsible development and deployment of AI" and machine learning, he added.
The iPhone XS, XS Max and XR models launched last fall accounted for 59 percent of U.S. iPhone sales in the March quarter, reported Consumer Intelligence Research Partners Wednesday, with the lower priced XR at 38 percent. The researcher estimated the newest models had similar sales rates as last year’s newest models, at about 60 percent of total sales, at an average selling price of about $800, down from the December quarter. As Apple begins to emphasize services over hardware, “results are highly uneven,” said analyst Mike Levin. CIRP estimated 48 percent of U.S. users paid for iCloud storage in the quarter, 3 percent bought AppleCare support, 21 percent used Apple Music and 13 percent used the legacy iTunes music service. ICloud, which integrates easily with Apple devices and “solves a common storage problem at a modest cost,” had the highest penetration, CIRP said. AppleCare warranties “sell poorly,” against “intense competition” from mobile phone carriers, retailers and other warranty providers, said Levin. Apple faces similar competition in music from Spotify, Amazon, Pandora and others, he noted. Findings were based on a survey of 500 U.S. Apple customers who purchased an iPhone, iPad, Mac computer, or Apple Watch January-March.
Magid Research's finding for Pearl TV that consumers in the Phoenix model market would be willing to pay up to $300 more for an ATSC 3.0-capable TV (see 1812060027) must be tempered with “this research was not a pricing study,” Magid analyst Nicole Meighan told the NAB Show this week in Las Vegas. “We would have to do more research on that, but this just shows that there is excitement and interest in paying.” Magid canvassed 95 consumers in 12 group “labs” in October on impressions of 3.0 features they were shown, said Meighan. After the labs, Magid picked 38 participants for six focus groups to “share what they actually thought in depth,” Meighan said. Enhanced 3.0 video with audio “drove the most interest across all the groups,” she said. "We would have to do more research in order to understand if enhanced video or enhanced audio alone is enough." The Phoenix research found 4K video was a 3.0 killer app for some, not all, with early Ultra HD adopters less swayed, said Meighan. The Pearl team was “a little bit surprised how high audio ranked” for dialogue enhancement and immersive 3D audio, a Pearl technology consultant said at the show (see 1904070001). Thursday, the FCC posted filings showing the extent to which broadcasters lobbied commissioners at the conference (see 1904110033).