Samsung bowed its latest Galaxy tablet, a 10-inch model with a Full HD display, 13-hour battery life and microSD support for up to 200 GB storage, and two apps can be opened side by side, said the company.
The Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee, which is nearing the end of its current two-year term, will meet Aug. 1, NTIA said in a notice to be published in Friday's Federal Register. CSMAC is to meet from 1 to 4 p.m. MDT at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder Campus, 325 Broadway St., Boulder, Colorado.
Parents for Safe Technology filed various public comments at the FCC raising concerns about the agency’s proposals to speed deployment of 5G, citing RF safety. “The 5G rollout plan is a dangerous, public health and safety threat,” the group said. “The FCC and industry has IGNORED the thousands of studies that confirm the problems, cancers and deaths of many from wifiradiation cellular/smart meter technology. The 5G rollout is a telecom industry freeforall with NO GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT.” The filing was posted in docket 14-177.
FCC leadership on spectrum is the nation’s “secret weapon” for the U.S. to lead the world on 5G, said Peter Pitsch, Intel associate general counsel, during a Telecommunications Industry Association webinar Thursday. “Getting the spectrum in the marketplace is going to create an investment climate.” What a 5G world will look like remains to be seen, he said. “How many intelligent cars … how many machine-to-machine configurations,” how 5G will look in different industries, “that’s all unclear,” Pitsch said. “What is clear is the potential to profoundly change the world.” The FCC was right not to impose tough performance rules on the licensed spectrum in the bands, Pitsch said. “Coming up with performance requirements for 5G when we’re not entirely sure what it’s going to be, is fraught with the possibility of impeding innovation and imposing unnecessary costs,” he said. The FCC’s spectrum frontiers order approved Thursday (see 1607140052) is “hugely important,” said Rob Kubik, Samsung Electronics America director-public policy, engineering and technology. “So far, when the FCC allocates new spectrum, it has been small chunks,” Kubik said. “This is the first, wide-license chunk that’s going to be available for new systems.” There’s a lot industry can do with wide channels, he said. The order appears to offer a balanced approach with lots of licensed and unlicensed spectrum, Kubik said. The FCC was right to approve multiple bands at the same time, along with flexible rules, said Jeffrey Marks, senior counsel at Nokia. “Just saying that 5G is important, saying that it’s a government initiative, is important in and of itself.” Marks said the agency should impose cybersecurity rules. Companies like Nokia are fighting to stay ahead of threats, he said. “Strict regulations … top down from the government aren’t the best way to be nimble and to keep up with the bad guys,” he said. While Nokia still has to see the text of the order, Marks said he is “cautiously optimistic” that the cybersecurity rules “won’t be too onerous.”
The NFC (near-field communications) Forum cut its membership fee for startups, it said Wednesday. Organizations with less than $5 million revenue, incorporated in the past five years, can qualify for the $2,500 startup membership fee, which provides access to the forum and participation in the certification program, it said.
The FCC released its user guide for the forward part of the TV incentive auction Wednesday. The guide provides basic information, for example, the browsers and operating systems that can be used to access the system. The use of tablets and smartphones isn't permitted, the guide said. It detailed how to log in and explains how the auction will progress when it starts. The FCC is in the process of releasing basic information, including a still-expected qualified bidders public notice, with the forward auction expected to start in weeks (see 1607110052).
Even though the FCC isn't expected to unlock 3.85 GHz of licensed and 7 GHz of unlicensed high-frequency spectrum Thursday, other spectrum will retain its value, New Street Research said in a research note. The FCC is to vote on the spectrum frontiers order reallocating high-band spectrum (see 1606240026). “Despite the large amount of spectrum supply coming to market, our view of traditional ‘mid-band’ spectrum value remains largely unchanged,” New Street said. The physical properties of the “millimeter wave” spectrum makes it more akin to Wi-Fi than sub-3 GHz licensed spectrum, New Street said: “Sub-3GHz spectrum will still have a vital role in the 5G world and operators will continue to compete for the limited supplies.”
Public interest advocates met with FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn to express disappointment that the draft spectrum frontiers order “reportedly allocates” all but 600 MHz of more than 3,000 MHz in the 28, 37 and 39 GHz bands to exclusive licensing over wide geographic areas, said a filing on the meeting. Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America, and Harold Feld, senior vice president at Public Knowledge, met with Clyburn and staff. “Exclusive wide-area licensing by auction is a poor fit with the propagation characteristics of millimeter wave spectrum that is inherently intended for small cell deployments in localized, high-traffic areas in urban cores and busy indoor venues,” they told Clyburn. “If a few large carriers foreclose access to 80 percent or more of these [millimeter wave] frequencies, both outdoors and indoors, the likely outcome will be to leave the spectrum fallow in the vast majority of the country and in tens of millions of homes, businesses and community anchor institutions.” The order should also allocate at least half of the 37 to 37.6 GHz spectrum for shared, general authorized access, "or its equivalent," said the filing in docket 14-177.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation said a new study by researchers at Northeastern University and the University of Southern California shows problems with T-Mobile’s zero-rated Binge On service. The FCC has been investigating whether Binge On violates net neutrality rules (see 1604260054). Researchers “confirmed that Binge On works by throttling video data to 1.5 Mbps without doing any sort of optimization,” EFF said in a Tuesday news release. “But the researchers went even further, showing how Binge On can result in worse-quality video (especially for mobile devices with high-resolution screens), and explaining how it could also result in decreased battery lifetime (due to the longer download times Binge On causes).” Much of the paper is technical, EFF said. “The fundamental point is that T-Mobile is doing deep-packet inspection to support a brittle zero-rating service that discriminates against edge providers who don’t want to make a private deal with T-Mobile,” EFF said. “Binge On throttles -- not optimizes -- video regardless of whether or not it’s zero-rated, sometimes resulting in a poorer video streaming experience for T-Mobile customers.”
The FCC should consider RF health risks before plowing forward on 5G, Maryland Smart Meter Awareness said. “A month ago, the $25 million National Toxicology Program study revealed initial findings clearly establishing that 2G cell phone radiation causes DNA damage and carcinogenic effects,” the group said. “While many other countries are currently moving to lower public exposure, FCC Chair Tom Wheeler intends to do the opposite. Wheeler not only disregards the independent science, but wants to fast track a move to 5G.”