Health tech company MC10 partnered with PCH, a custom products company, to commercialize MC10’s Wearable Interactive Stamp Platform (WiSP) that lives on a tattoo-like wearable the size of a postage stamp. When paired with a smartphone, the WiSP platform enables consumer applications including cashless payments, hotel room access, event registration and interactive experiences at amusement parks, sports and music events, said the companies. The smart stamp was first commercialized with beauty company L’Oréal as the first “stretchable electronic” measuring an individual’s exposure to ultraviolet rays. The stamp uses near-field communication technology to enable interactions between the wearer and a brand, said the companies. By combining cloud analytics with the WiSP platform, brands can “deepen their understanding of consumer behavior,” the companies said. As a security measure to protect user data, the breathable, waterproof stamp is “unreadable upon removal,” they said.

FirstNet is developing a strategy for a scenario where state governors opt out of the national public safety network, FirstNet officials said in an interview for the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) blog. A state deciding to deploy its own radio access network (RAN) “will affect the overall economics of the entire network,” said FirstNet Director of State Plans Richard Reed. “There are significant challenges with the economics of this network for a long time if and when states choose the path of opt-out. Because when a state takes on that responsibility, it changes the cost basis for FirstNet, as well as the revenue basis for the entire network, the deployment, and adoption of users for the entire network. It really confuses the economic picture.” Reed said FirstNet is preparing for different scenarios. “We’ve got some strategies in place, but we do have challenges associated with states from taking on that [RAN] responsibility in terms of the revenue sharing, the economics of an opt-out state, and the ultimate reinvestment into the overall nationwide network. They are very complicated, and so we’re going to have to develop strategies with our partner to accommodate them.” Reed advised any state thinking about opting out to “consider all of the technical, operational, and fiscal risks associated with taking on the responsibility of building a network. … An opt-out state must be functionally, operationally, from a security standpoint and from a technical standpoint, able to connect to our core for deployment of our services.”

The International Trade Commission seeks comment by April 20 on a request for a Tariff Act Section 337 ban on imports of cellphones that allegedly infringe patents held by Creative Technology and Creative Labs, said an ITC notice slated for Tuesday's Federal Register. In the March 24 complaint, Creative said cellphones imported by BlackBerry, HTC, Lenovo, LG, Motorola Mobility, Samsung, Sony Mobile and ZTE copy its patented technology for organizing songs by artist and album. The technology is also used on Apple phones, but Apple licensed the patent, said Creative. The complaint asks for a limited exclusion order and cease and desist order banning import and sale of infringing products by those companies. Those companies didn't comment Monday.

Ericsson got FCC approval to expand its 5G testing, in cooperation with Verizon, at its main campus in Plano, Texas. Ericsson, which started 5G tests in 2014 under an experimental license, asked the FCC to expand the license to include the 27.5-28.5 GHz band and allow the repositioning of base stations. “The purpose of modifying our test environment is to develop and validate outdoor and indoor 5G use cases for industries and consumers,” Ericsson said in its application seeking the modification. “We will develop test cases for multiple industries and understand/validate how 5G can improve the use cases as compared to the current … systems.”

5G Americas members have a commercial interest in ensuring the security of their services and products as 5G services are deployed, said Chris Pearson, president of 5G Americas, in meetings with FCC officials. “5G standards are in the very early stages of development,” the group said in a filing in docket 14-177. “5G Americas agreed with the Commission that support for security must be a fundamental component in the design of any new network architecture and protocols developed for mobile wireless services in all generations of mobile broadband technologies including when using millimeter wave spectrum for 5G.” The group said security has been a design component in third and fourth generations of mobile broadband technologies. “5G Americas appreciates the Commission’s concern that as new wireless applications are used by vertical sectors such as smart grids, telemedicine, industrial control, public safety, and automotive, those sectors will have strict security requirements that are mission critical,” the group said. 5G Americas noted that because of these requirements, a number of standards development organizations and industry bodies are developing security features specific to each sector. Representatives of AT&T, Cisco, Intel, Qualcomm, Sprint and T-Mobile USA also participated in the meetings, the filing said. They met with staff from the Public Safety and Wireless bureaus and the Office of Engineering and Technology.

AT&T has been focused on the IoT since 2008, though what the IoT is exactly is still not widely understood, said Chris Penrose, AT&T senior vice president-IoT, in a blog post. “When I tell people I head up our Internet of Things division, they often look at me with a little bit of confusion. Isn’t the Internet full of things?” Penrose said that if people don’t know what the IoT is, they soon will. “The future of IoT will enable more things to take care of themselves,” he said. “One example is a machine that can let a foreman know that it needs a new part, or a car alerting a driver that the battery is low on juice. This capability frees up our time to focus on the big picture and where we’re going next.” Also last week, Verizon said that the IoT is now mainstream (see 1604050030).

Crown Castle acquired Tower Development Corp, for $461 million cash Friday, Crown said in a news release. TDC, part of Berkshire Partners, owns and operates 336 towers in the U.S. and Puerto Rico with an average of two tenants per tower. Crown Castle said it expects the deal to add between $25 million and $27 million to site rental gross margin in the first full year of the acquisition. Crown funded the acquisition with available cash, including cash on hand, cash from borrowings under its revolving credit facility and cash from the sale of about 3.5 million net shares of common stock at an average price of $85.52 per share.

T-Mobile unveiled a new offer Thursday -- two lines with 6 GB of LTE data each for $80 a month. “Unlike the carriers who advertise large data buckets while they hide costly monthly data access fees in their fine print, we won’t charge you extra to use the data you’ve already paid for,” T-Mobile said in a news release. “Families who want fewer lines deserve a better option and we’re giving them one,” T-Mobile CEO John Legere said.

Sprint’s announcement Wednesday that it will raise $2.2 billion through use of a Network LeaseCo (see 1604060070) means the carrier likely will have the cash it needs to operate its business and redeem $4.6 billion in debt maturing over the next 18 months, UBS said in a Thursday note to investors. The deal is really just an “over-collateralized” loan, UBS said. Sprint will repay the money during fiscal 2017 “and has the option to repurchase the equipment for $1 at the end of the arrangement,” UBS said. “Similar to future handset LeaseCo arrangements, this tranche will be treated as debt, while the assets remain on the balance sheet, and depreciated over time.” Wells Fargo said in a note the loan means that the carrier will be able to pay $2.3 billion it owes by Dec. 1. Sprint has made clear it plans to raise as much as $5 billion, and existing network equipment, new network equipment and some spectrum will all be part of the equation, Wells Fargo said.

Consumer Watchdog wants transportation regulators to reject Google's proposal seeking federal help to fast track its self-driving car technology through regulatory hurdles so the company can go to market. "Though couched in euphemisms and poll-tested terminology, Google’s ploy is obvious. It plainly hopes to obtain a congressional bailout from the nation’s automobile safety laws," the group wrote in a 10-page letter Thursday to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and Mark Rosekind, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Consumer Watchdog said Google's cars are "dangerous," citing several statistics, and "can't cope" in routine traffic situations, pointing to a February incident in which a Google driverless car and California public transit bus crashed into each other. No one was injured. In a March 11 letter to Foxx, Chris Urmson, who heads Google's self-driving cars project, outlined the company's proposal that supports new authority for the transportation secretary to allow implementation of innovative safety technologies in cars following public notice and comment. He said "current authority is insufficient to keep pace with safety technologies being developed," such as adaptive beam headlights, side mirror-replacing sensors, and new automated systems necessary for fully self-driving cars. Consumer Watchdog said Google wants to replace an "open and accountable process" with an expedited one "that will favor the tech giant's business and marketing plans at the expense of consumers and the marketplace by permitting the company to collude with DOT and NHTSA behind closed doors and out of sight of the public and the news media." While automotive safety laws have made roads safer, a Google spokesman emailed Thursday that more than "33,000 people still die on our roads each year and we believe that self-driving cars can make a difference. Today’s rules were written with yesterday’s cars in mind and that’s why there needs to be a way to allow life-saving innovations on the roads once that technology has been proven to provide a equal or higher level of safety than existing standards."