Americans are making their smartphones more secure, CTIA said Thursday, reporting on the results of a Harris Poll it commissioned. Harris found that 69 percent of U.S. wireless consumers surveyed use PINs/passwords on their smartphones, which is an increase of 13 percent from 2015 and 38 percent from the first survey in 2012. Harris also found that 51 percent have installed remote lock and erase software on their smartphones, up 42 percent from 2015 and 31 percent from 2012. It said 73 percent of respondents say they run software updates “every or almost every time,” 51 percent have installed an anti-virus and 86 percent “are familiar” with cybersecurity. “These results show that our continued education initiatives are working, and we remain committed to increasing consumer adoption,” CTIA said in a news release. Harris used a sample from the Harris Poll Panel of 1,008 U.S. adults, 18 or older, who own and use a smartphone and/or tablet, the firm said. “Because the sample is based on those who were invited to participate in the Harris Poll online research panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated."

The FCC should revisit data roaming in light of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s decision upholding the agency's 2015 net neutrality order, the Competitive Carriers Association said in a filing. “The 2015 Order will affect many Competitive policy issues moving forward, including data roaming obligations, and the FCC should initiate the promised proceeding,” CCA said in a news release. The group “ardently supports ensuring that all carriers have access to just, reasonable and nondiscriminatory data roaming agreements, particularly with the two dominant nationwide carriers, AT&T and Verizon,” CCA said in a filing in FCC docket 05-265. “This is essential to promoting competition and providing consumers with the ubiquitous mobile broadband services that they deserve and demand. For these reasons, the Commission should immediately begin a review of its data roaming policies pursuant to its 2015 Order.”

Fifth-generation radio access network revenue in 2020 could double 2010 revenue for 4G RAN, Dell’Oro Group predicted in a Wednesday news release. The average 5G network in 2020 will likely be smaller than the average 4G network from 2010, but operator participation will be higher, it said. At first blush, the shift to 5G might not appear as significant as 3G to 4G, said Dell’Oro analyst Stefan Pongratz, but “the combination of a high performance network coupled with new successful technologies, applications, and services will together form the basis for a transition that will have a significantly broader effect than previous mobile technology migrations. This will create massive opportunities for both existing and new players."

Smartphones, tablets, LCD TVs, laptops and desktop PCs together will contribute $114 billion, 51 percent, to tech industry's revenue this year, but in 2017, the five leading categories will account for less than half of industry income, said CTA. Smartphones continue to lead the segment, with $55 billion revenue (4 percent higher than 2015) on a projected 183 million unit shipments (up 5 percent), but the lengthening smartphone replacement cycle will make 2017 the first year smartphones decline in unit sales and revenue, said Monday's report. Emerging technology and broader adoption of connected devices will push revenue for the consumer tech industry up 1.3 percent this year. Wearable sales are projected to grow by 39 percent to 48 million units, said CTA, while tablets will continue their decline and virtual reality headset unit sales will jump along with drone sales.

The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions weighed in strongly against requiring wireless carriers to transmit wireless emergency alerts as part of an early warning system for earthquakes and tsunamis. The wireless industry in general argued that WEAs couldn’t be used for warnings when the FCC sought comment (see 1605100054). ATIS reported on a call between members of its Wireless Technologies and Systems Committee and Public Safety and International bureau staff. “It is unaware of any earthquake or tsunami alerts over WEA and ... there are no standards defined to support this approach,” ATIS said in a filing in docket 16-32. “WEA should not be used to transmit earthquake or tsunami alerts.”

The Competitive Carriers Association warned the FCC its nationwide carrier members may not meet a Dec. 31, 2017, deadline for deployment of real-time text (RTT) technology as a substitute for legacy text telephone (TTY) service. Members are “actively working to ensure functionality, accessibility, and interoperability between networks and with legacy TTY devices,” CCA said. But RTT deployment “is largely dependent on other participants in the wireless ecosystem, including but not limited to original equipment manufacturers,” CCA said in a report to the agency. “CCA, on behalf of its participating members, especially rural and regional carriers, reiterates the challenges its members might face with respect to implementation and deployment of new network features, as well as the availability of RTT-capable devices, on the same time frame as the largest carriers like AT&T and, particularly, the largest carriers with wireline infrastructure, capabilities, and resources.” CCA filed the report of a requirement imposed by the agency after the group got an unusual association-wide waiver of the commission’s current TTY rules, the filing in docket 15-178 noted. The deadline also was part of the waiver order. In April, the FCC approved an NPRM on the TTY-to-RTT transition (see 1604080053).

Broadcom explained its opposition to an Association of Global Automakers/Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers petition for tighter out-of-band emissions from U-NII-3 (5.725-5.85 GHz) band-enabled devices (see 1606240073), in a meeting with Daudeline Meme, an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. Christopher Szymanski, director-product marketing and government affairs, explained Broadcom’s earlier comments on the “potential for unlicensed operations in the U-NII-4 band,” said a filing in docket 13-49. Szymanski “emphasized that details pertaining to Wi-Fi emissions were not based on assumptions, but rather on real world measurements from the hundreds of millions of devices in operation in the United States that have been certified to operate in U-NII-3,” the filing said.

Top officials from the Enterprise Wireless Alliance and pdvWireless met with FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel on the entities' proposed rules for a private enterprise broadband allocation in the 900 MHz band (see 1505130022). The proposal faced limited opposition when the FCC took comment earlier this year (see 1606230017). EWA President Mark Crosby and PDV Vice Chairman Morgan O’Brien “described the history and current utilization of the Part 90 900 MHz band, as well as the substantial additional utility and efficiency that would be produced by adopting the joint EWA/PDV Petition for Rulemaking,” said a filing in RM-11738. “They noted the importance of investigating the optimal use of all spectrum, and urged the FCC to move forward as promptly as possible.”

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology approved a waiver allowing The Alfred Mann Foundation (AMF) for Scientific Research to market the first generation of new medical devices for amputees. The system uses medically implanted sensors to allow amputees to have “more intuitive control of their prosthetic devices,” OET said. But the first generation of the system uses the 94.6-157.4 kHz band “during start-up modes lasting less than one second in order to configure the implanted sensors,” which under FCC rules wasn't permissible without a waiver, OET said in a letter to AMF. “You argue that requiring a redesign of these first-generation systems would delay the FDA approval process for both first- and future- generation IMES systems, because FDA approval of new, next-generation … devices relies heavily upon approval of the first-generation devices,” OET said. “You also confirm that future-generation … systems will be redesigned to operate on a different, non-restricted frequency to comply with the rules.” OET said it found “good cause” to approve the waiver. “This is a compelling situation, in which technology will improve the quality of life for amputees based on speedy approval by the FDA for this first-generation design,” OET said.

Common Sense wants the creator of the popular Pokemon Go mobile game to improve the privacy of kids' data and their physical safety. In a letter to Niantic CEO John Hanke, the group said developers paid "scant attention" to privacy and security when the company asked iOS users who registered through Google for full permission to that account. The company last week acknowledged the mistake, saying that was not the intention and it fixed the issue (see 1607150014). "These issues are so significant that it appears that, during the game's development, the desire to score a big and lucrative hit outweighed considerations of the privacy, security, and physical safety of users, in particular the many users who are children," said the letter, signed by Common Sense CEO James Steyer. He asked Niantic to take several steps, including getting "informed and meaningful consent from parents" that clearly delineates in-app purchases from items that can be purchased with game currency. Steyer also said the company should put in place a "data sunset on storing location data collected from children and teens" and not use location data to target ads or build children's profiles, among other steps. The letter was copied to members of the Senate and House Commerce committees and individual senators including Al Franken, D-Minn., who also had raised privacy concerns (see 1607120072). An email to Niantic seeking a comment was not immediately answered.