BlackBerry’s QNX car infotainment platform gives the company “good leverage into the connected car opportunity,” CEO John Chen said on an earnings call. "We’ve built and operate a secure end-to-end system to deliver over-the-air software updates to cars,” Chen said: QNX comes from BlackBerry technology for updating 50 million mobile phones in more than 100 countries, with "very notable industry players,” he said. BlackBerry continues to make “good progress on driving towards profitability” in its smartphone business, which is under the new Mobility Solutions sector, Chen said Thursday. New executive leadership in Mobility Solutions “will focus on a lean and agile development approach” toward the smartphone business, and on “opening up new distribution channels to augment the traditional carrier channels,” he said. The company has signed “new and more favorable agreements with manufacturing partners,” Chen said. BlackBerry was able to deliver its Android 6.0 Marshmallow release “on schedule,” he said: It’s also “the only vendor that has kept pace with Google in delivering timely Android security patches at the start of every month."

AT&T apparently decided to move forward with an all-LTE future for cellular IoT applications, said Jennifer Fritzsche, analyst at Wells Fargo, Friday in an email to investors. “The company previously said it would review other technology options, such as Low-Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) specifications, but ultimately decided to standardize on the LTE stack vs. unlicensed bands.”

The FCC Wireless Bureau approved a limited waiver of cell signal booster rules sought by Kathrein Automotive for the Kathrein compensator. The compensator is a type of signal booster Kathrein plans to offer to vehicle manufacturers, which will install and embed the product in their vehicles, the bureau said in an order Friday. “Kathrein contends that the product falls outside the goals of the consumer labeling rules due to the unique placement of the compensator within vehicles and that application of those rules would not advance the public interest. We agree, and hereby grant the waiver request.” The waiver was approved despite strong protests by AT&T and Verizon, which filed objections when the FCC sought comment last summer (see 1508210028).

Binge On and other T-Mobile “uncarrier” initiatives contributed to the carrier's recent success, said CEO John Legere and other executives in meetings at the FCC, said an ex parte filing. “These consumer-friendly initiatives, backed by industry-leading technology and network performance, have allowed T-Mobile to grow from 33 million customers to nearly 66 million,” the filing said. “The company representatives explained that T-Mobile continues to aggressively expand the scope and improve the quality of our network to better serve our customers.” T-Mobile reported on meetings with Chairman Tom Wheeler, General Counsel Jonathan Sallet, and Commissioners Mike O’Rielly, Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel. Legere earlier tweeted about his visits to the agency, without supplying details (see 1606230065). T-Mobile executives also “expressed support for the FCC moving forward in the Spectrum Frontiers proceeding to identify and allocate spectrum to support licensed 5G services,” the filing said. “High band spectrum will be an important component for meeting the explosive demand for data, which continues to be driven by video, but will expand even further as the Internet of Things more fully develops.” But carriers want certainty so licensed spectrum is important, T-Mobile said. “The representatives also discussed T-Mobile's support for and leadership in Wi-Fi, noting that T-Mobile customers make some 22 million Wi-Fi calls a day and are able to move seamlessly between Wi-Fi and the wide-area network,” said the filing in 14-177 and other dockets.

Danish audiology supplier Oticon introduced what it called the world’s first internet-connected hearing aid. Called the Opn, the device “opens up a world of possibilities for IoT devices,” Oticon said in a Thursday announcement. With Opn’s internet connectivity, “it is now possible to program hearing aids to talk directly with door bells, smoke detectors and baby alarms,” it said.

Low-power wide area (LPWA) networks will play a big role in the IoT, and the mobile industry is standardizing a new class of GSM technologies to support them, the GSM Association said Thursday in a Q&A. LPWA networks “will support devices requiring low mobility, low power consumption, long range, low cost and security,” the GSMA said. They will play a key role connecting the billions of new devices making up the IoT, the group said. “LPWA technologies are expected to serve a diverse range of vertical industries and support a range of applications and deployment scenarios, which existing mobile technologies may not currently be best placed to connect.” Among the necessary attributes, LPWA solutions must use minimal power -- “a battery life in excess of 10 years,” the group said. Some applications must be optimized for brief messages, about the length of a text message, have a very low device unit cost -- a few dollars for many devices, and “have good coverage outdoors and indoors, enabling connectivity in rural and underground locations,” GSMA said.

Millions of UNII-3 (5.725-5.85 GHz) band-enabled devices are in operation, certified with out-of-band emission limits set by the FCC, and with no evidence they're causing harmful interference, a push by automaker groups to tighten OOBE limits loosened earlier this year (see 1605090052) should be rejected, EchoStar said in a filing Thursday in docket 13-49. Initial OOBE limits "were overly restrictive and very costly to meet, without corresponding public benefit," EchoStar said, saying the automaker groups chose not to take part in the debate about adoption of the modified order, "thus their claim [it] was adopted without reasonable opportunity ... to be heard rings hollow." CTA commented that the FCC should "act swiftly" on the petition, though it didn't urge any particular decision. "Certainty is crucial to commercial investment," and delays deciding create "a lack of clarity that stalls the development and deployment of new technologies," the group said. Deadline for replies on the automaker groups' petition for reconsideration is July 5.

The Critical Infrastructure Coalition, in a series of meetings at the FCC, explained members' opposition to the proposal by the Enterprise Wireless Alliance and pdvWireless to realign the 900 MHz band, said a filing in RM-11738. “PDV has not demonstrated that it would be able to relocate incumbent users efficiently, risking a prolonged disruption period,” the coalition said. The company also hasn't released a detailed migration plan, the group said. “Certain markets lack the spectrum to accommodate the proposed migration, and there would be no room for future expansion,” the coalition said. “PDV has not addressed the relocation of large systems, simply stating that a majority of systems will be able to migrate.” Coalition members at the meetings included Alliant Energy, Duke Energy, Edison Electric Institute, Eversource Energy, Harris, Lower Colorado River Authority, NextEra Energy, Peco Energy, Salt River Project, Sempra Energy, Sensus USA, Southern Co., United Water and West View Water Authority. They met with Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and aides to the other commissioners. EWA and PDV asked the FCC launch a rulemaking on whether to realign the 896-901/935-940 MHz band to create a private enterprise broadband allocation (see 1501010002). They said in an earlier filing the proposal addresses an unmet need. Commercial networks “do not offer the reliability, redundancy, hardening, security, priority access, and, in some instances, coverage needed for their mission-critical applications,” they said in a January filing.

BTIG initiated coverage of America Movil Wednesday with a neutral rating. BTIG said the carrier is the fifth largest wireless operator in the world, active in Latin America and in Europe through its Telekom Austria. “We continue to search for a compelling long or short thesis on the company or see a path to a cleaner free cash flow and share repurchase story,” analyst Walter Piecyk wrote. Piecyk said the bankruptcy of Brazilian operator Oi likely marks a turning point for that nation. “Investors have shown little interest in the Brazilian wireless industry in recent years given the economic and political turmoil combined with the inability of the wireless industry to consolidate,” he said. “Large and persistent cuts to mobile termination rates have also presented a stiff headwind to growth. We do not expect telecom investors to come running back to Brazil." Piecyk predicted AT&T is more likely to exit Brazil entirely than expand there.

Correction: Bidding in the initial round of the forward incentive auction will begin no earlier than 15 business days after release of the qualified bidders public notice (see 1606210047).