A Wednesday field hearing in South Carolina will focus on combating the problem of contraband cellphones in prisons, FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said in an opinion column Tuesday in USA Today. The two Republicans cited the case of Robert Johnson, an officer at Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, South Carolina, shot six times in a hit ordered via a contraband device. “One reason we imprison criminals is to incapacitate them -- that is, to prevent them from committing additional crimes,” Pai and Haley said. “But with contraband cellphones, prisons have become a base of operations for criminal enterprise.” There is “much more that can and should be done” and the FCC has a big role to play, they said. “In 2013, the FCC teed up technological solutions and regulatory reforms that could make it easier for law enforcement to prevent the use of contraband cellphones,” they said. “To date, however, the FCC has not enacted any of those reforms.” The hearing will be streamed starting at 3 p.m. EDT.

Smartphone penetration among U.S. consumers ages 18-34 was “solidly above 90 percent” at the end of 2015, a comScore cross-platform report said. Penetration is highest in the 18-24-year-old bracket, growing from 90 percent in December 2014 to 94 percent at the end of 2015, comScore said last week. Overall smartphone penetration hit 79 percent at the end of 2015, “finally showing signs of slowing growth as the market nears saturation,” comScore said. Among operating systems, iOS gained a point in 2015 versus 2014, representing 43 percent of the U.S. market, while Android held steady at 53 percent. The industry research firm expects iPhone 6/6S models to surpass iPhone 5/5S/5C models among U.S. users this year. Despite fewer U.S. cable households, the average amount of TV viewing per household rose in Q4 by 7 percent over Q4 2014, comScore said, citing a broader selection of viewing options that appeal to a “wider array of tastes.” Total quarterly live household viewing hours rose 7.3 percent to 1,004, it said. Cable VOD viewing time during Q1-Q3 was 7.1 percent transactional on demand, 31.2 percent subscription VOD and 61.7 percent free on demand, comScore said. Most growth in cable VOD is coming from subscription services such as HBO and Showtime, comScore said.

First-weekend sales of the 4-inch iPhone SE were lackluster, according to media reports and industry researcher Localytics. Apple’s larger screen smartphones and the iPhone 5S “all had better opening weekends than the iPhone SE,” Localytics said. In 2013, the iPhone 5S captured 0.9 percent of Apple iPhone sales in its first weekend on the market, while the 6 and 6s represented 2 percent and 1 percent. After its Friday launch, the SE pulled in just 0.1 percent of Apple smartphone sales over the weekend, Localytics said.

Brocade agreed to buy Ruckus Wireless in a $1.2 billion cash and stock transaction. The acquisition adds Ruckus' higher-growth wireless products to Brocade's networking services, Brocade and Ruckus said. The companies said they expect the deal to drive business for the combined company in new verticals and strengthen the company's position in 5G mobile, IoT, smart cities, OpenG and LTE/Wi-Fi convergence. The completion of the deal is subject to regulatory reviews by U.S. and international antitrust regulators, and a tender of a majority of outstanding shares of Ruckus common stock, they said. The companies said they expect to close the deal in Brocade's fiscal Q3, which ends on Aug. 1. Ruckus CEO Selina Lo will continue to lead Ruckus as a division reporting directly to Brocade CEO Lloyd Carney, the companies said. Monday, Brocade stock closed down 14 percent at $9.19, while Ruckus rose 32 percent, closing at $13.24.

The FCC should take flexibility into account if it imposes new service requirements for licensees, Competitive Carriers Association representatives said in a meeting with FCC Wireless Bureau staffers. The FCC should also refresh the record in the proceeding before imposing new rules, CCA said. “If the Commission were to consider requiring licensees to show ongoing, consistent service under an updated license renewal regime, for example, CCA noted that service may be intermittently discontinued under certain licenses to address network developments,” the filing said. “A licensee may discontinue service to perform network upgrades from 3G to 4G, outsource outdated technology, re-farm spectrum, and tend to other network repairs,” CCA said. “Secondary market transactions and spectrum acquisitions may require additional time to adequately transition the spectrum between networks.” CCA also called on the FCC to build reasonable exceptions into the rules. “Some towers located in rural and remote areas have the ability to provide service, but may not carry regular traffic because of their remote locations,” said the group. Its filing was posted Monday in docket 10-112.

FirstNet plans to put in place its own approval process for devices that can be safely used on its network, said a Monday blog post by Kameron Behnam, FirstNet device test and certification manager. The FirstNet certification is on top of approval of the device by the FCC and commercial carrier acceptance. “In general, the mobile device approval process is necessary to verify that a device meets certain technical specifications and unique operator requirements to ensure that the device is interoperable with the operator’s network and doesn’t negatively impact network performance,” Behnam wrote. “FirstNet plans to have its own carrier acceptance test plan that focuses on validating a device is safe for use on the Band 14 network, testing device features unique to public safety, and testing performance aspects of Band 14 that are above and beyond the 3GPP [3rd Generation Partnership Project] and other specifications. Examples of features unique to public safety include direct mode, proximity services, mission critical push-to-talk, etc.”

BlackBerry is “encouraged” with the progress it’s making toward the goal of fashioning a profitable smartphone device business during the fiscal year ending in February, CEO John Chen said on a Friday earnings call. However, BlackBerry’s smartphone sales volume in Q4 ended Feb. 29 “was below our expectations,” Chen said. BlackBerry shares closed 7.5 percent lower Friday at $7.48. Chief Financial Officer James Yersh disclosed that BlackBerry sold 600,000 handsets in Q4, or 100,000 fewer than it sold in Q3. Analysts said the Q4 volume finished well below Wall Street's expectations of 850,000. “The softness in the high end of the smartphone market is certainly a headwind,” Chen said. “But the main issue that we face, that we need to address, is the distribution.” BlackBerry’s Priv, the company’s first Android smartphone, “is now available in 34 countries, up from four last quarter,” Chen said. “Unfortunately, contract negotiations took longer than planned with certain major carriers, including Verizon.” The delay pushed the sales volume BlackBerry had hoped to report from Verizon for Q4 into Q1, Chen said. “However, Priv continues to receive very positive reviews and net promoter scores.” Priv’s “value proposition” of offering “the most secure Android smartphone for the enterprise is actually quite strong,” he said. “We believe this market opportunity, whilst maybe small today, will continue to develop and open up, and we are leveraging this through increased channel coverages.” Having launched Priv in March through “1,700-plus” Verizon retail stores in the U.S., “we are working on six more countries and 14 more additional carriers,” Chen said. “In the last week, we formally launched in Japan, and next week we are planning to launch in Mexico.”

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology sought comment Friday on ANSI C63.26-2015 “American National Standard for Compliance Testing of Transmitters Used in Licensed Radio Services” and whether it should be incorporated into the commission’s rules “by reference” as part of an open rulemaking proceeding on FCC equipment authorization rules. Comment dates will come when the notice is published in the Federal Register. In the NPRM, the commission acknowledged the then-pending ANSI standard, OET said. “It observed that references to the applicable measurement procedures in ANSI C63.26 could replace measurement procedures set forth in both the Part 2 equipment authorization rules and many of the specific licensed service rule parts.”

MoffettNathanson Friday downgraded its outlook on the wireless sector to neutral, AT&T from neutral to sell and Verizon from buy to neutral. “Telecom stocks have enjoyed an almost pitch-perfect backdrop over the past six months, with a strong dollar, falling interest rates, and falling risk appetites,” the firm said in a note to investors. “Perhaps more surprisingly, the Telecoms have continued to perform well even as the market has rebounded from its February trough as risk appetites expanded, tracking lower expectations for further rate hikes. Both AT&T and Verizon have very substantially outperformed.” The bad news is that device sales are slowing and average revenue per user reported by the carriers “remain challenged,” the firm said. MoffettNathanson was the most bearish on AT&T. "Real growth metrics are much weaker than they appear on the surface,” it said. “As we enter the back half of this year, AT&T will begin to anniversary their new segment reporting, and the weak organic growth rates of underlying businesses will be much more apparent. Recent commentary about the company's ‘success’ in creating a quad play bundle with DirecTV only underscores our concern.”

Qualcomm reminded the FCC its rules and test procedures don’t take into account portable devices that operate in high-frequency spectrum and suggested a possible approach the agency could take, in a filing in docket 14-177. Qualcomm said it urged the FCC to use the limits and test procedures established by ANSI/IEEE and the International Commission on Non-ionizing Radiation Protection for hand-held device operations in the millimeter wave bands. “These standards are used for approvals of portable devices that operate in the millimeter wave bands in the European Union, China, Japan, Brazil, and Canada, among others,” Qualcomm said. Qualcomm representatives met with officials from the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology. “This view is unanimously supported by all parties who commented on this issue” at the FCC, the filing said.