Federated Wireless joined the Telecom Infra Project (TIP), aimed at finding new approaches to deploying telecom networks in developing countries and the remote parts of developed countries, the company said Tuesday. Federated said it joined Facebook, Intel, Nokia and almost 200 other companies in the initiative. Federated is a provider of spectrum sharing technologies. “TIP is addressing some of the most pressing technology industry needs to rapidly connect the unconnected and underserved populations,” said TIP Executive Director Andrew Kurtzman in a news release. “Federated Wireless will join a dynamic membership that is working towards augmenting the development of powerful new technologies and approaches that will pave the way for better connectivity and richer services.”

AT&T chose Harman’s Telematics Control Unit for its mobile broadband accelerator program, said a Harman news release Tuesday. Harman’s integrated telematics and infotainment unit connects automotive systems to the cloud, providing secure, high-speed connectivity via GSM, GPS, Wi-Fi hot spots and LTE, said the company. “Connectivity is the backbone” for future autonomous vehicles, said Phil Eyler, president of Harman’s Connected Car division. “They may run without fuel, but they will not run without connectivity.” The goal of AT&T’s accelerator program is to expedite equipment makers’ ability to deliver advanced connected car experiences, said Cameron Coursey, vice president-product development of AT&T’s Internet of Things Solutions.

DTS CEO Jon Kirchner noted “migration of higher quality content distribution” from the living room to portable devices, saying on a Q2 call Monday the content universe in the living room is “widely spread" across formats. The use case is “inherently there” for higher quality audio on handsets, he said. Chief Financial Officer Mel Flanigan said DTS mobile category sales rose 37 percent to $6.4 million from the year-ago quarter, and automotive rose "substantially" to $17.5 million largely on HD Radio receipts. Total revenue was $48.7 million, up from $34.4 million, said an earnings release that raised full-year forecasts on mobile and automotive market growth. DTS Shares closed up 13 percent Tuesday to $33.02.

The FCC was right to finalize a revised national programmatic agreement streamlining (see 1608080061) the approval process for small cells and distributed antenna systems (DAS), TechFreedom said Tuesday. Carriers face “a staggering backlog in getting permission from local governments for building and upgrading 4G towers,” said Tom Struble, TechFreedom policy counsel, in a statement. “That process has to be simplified for Americans to enjoy faster 5G service.” The approval process makes “some sense for major projects, like siting a traditional cell tower,” he said. “Small cells and DAS, by contrast, typically just attach a small antenna atop existing infrastructure, and thus are unlikely to pose any significant impact on historic sites.” The FCC has more to do to further streamline the process, he said. “The FCC has been so busy trying to seize new regulatory powers, it’s not paid nearly enough attention to problems like this one,” Struble said. “But better late than never.”

Representatives of the Rural Wireless Association urged the FCC to approve a second phase of the USF Mobility Fund at $500 million per year. RWA met with aides to Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel. “RWA discussed its continued support for the creation of a Mobility Fund Phase II mechanism that will provide specific, predictable, and sufficient support to sustain and advance the availability of mobile services in high-cost areas,” said a filing by the group in docket 05-265. A proposal to reduce the program to a $400 million annual amount “was predicated on estimated disbursement figures that were frozen and ratcheted down to 60 percent of the 2011 baseline,” RWA said, adding that “$400 million was not reflective of carriers’ costs then, and certainly isn’t reflective of carriers’ costs now.” Clyburn told an RWA meeting last year that the FCC should wrap up an order creating a dedicated USF mobility fund (see 1509100059).

The Social Security Administration is now requiring that people have a cellphone number to use the “my Social Security” website. “We’ve added an extra layer of security for our customers when they interact with us online,” the SSA said in a blog post. “This extra layer of security is called ‘multifactor authentication’ and complies with an executive order requiring federal agencies to provide more secure authentication for their online services. Any agency that provides online access to a customer’s personal information must now use multifactor authentication.”

The value of contactless point-of-sale (POS) terminal transactions conducted in stores via cards, mobile devices and wearables will approach $500 billion worldwide by 2017, up from $321 billion this year, said a Juniper Research study Monday. The surge will be tied to retailer obligations to card companies in many markets to ensure all terminals will be “contactless”-ready by 2020, it said. Contactless will represent half of payment cards issued by 2020, while smartphone and tablet-based POS terminals will handle 20 percent of all retail POS transaction value by 2021, it said.

The Competitive Carriers Association brought Brian Gelfand, general manager of Blue Wireless, to the FCC to discuss problems small carriers face in getting reasonably priced backhaul service. CCA officials and Gelfand met with an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel on the association’s proposal for overhauling the business data services (BDS) market, said a Friday filing in 16-143. “Market power abuses by incumbent BDS providers impact Blue Wireless’s bottom line expenses, and ... anticompetitive backhaul rates and contract terms may frustrate Blue Wireless’s ability to make a business case for deploying 5G networks.”

AT&T officials offered the FCC advice on repacking after the TV incentive auction, said a filing in docket 12-268. The AT&T officials met with Gary Epstein, chairman of the Incentive Auction Task Force, and other officials. “The purpose of the meeting was to ... recommend that the Commission take a regional approach to a nationwide repack that takes advantage of lessons learned in previous spectrum relocations and provides visibility to the spectrum purchasers to facilitate the new deployment process,” said a filing on the meeting.

CTIA urged the FCC to grant the relief it seeks in a petition for reconsideration of the FCC Lifeline order and reconsider its decision to set long-term minimum capacity standards for mobile broadband at 70 percent of the average mobile data usage per household (see 1606240077). Most commenters supported CTIA’s complaint about the order, the group said in reply comments. “Only two filers opposed the Petition, and they failed to rebut CTIA’s legal and policy objections to the rule,” the wireless association said. “The record clearly supports the Petition’s grant.” Most commenters “generally” agreed “the long-term minimum standard for mobile broadband could present affordability challenges and should consequently be reconsidered,” CTIA said. Only the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates and a coalition led by the Greenlining Institute opposed the petition, CTIA said. NASUCA, meanwhile, noted in its comments the need for the FCC to address “affordability” of service, CTIA said. FCC “failure to address affordability … was one of the major factors in CTIA’s Petition,” the wireless association said. Greenlining “expresses general opposition to any reduction in minimum service standards, but fails to address the challenge to affordability in the current long-term standard formula,” CTIA said. Comments were filed Monday in docket 11-42.