The FCC Wireless Bureau approved waivers allowing Amtrak to deploy a positive train control (PTC) system in an 18-mile corridor along rail lines running from Washington, D.C., to Albany, New York, and from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Congress required Amtrak, and many commuter and freight railroads, to deploy interoperable PTC systems by Dec. 31 as part of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, the bureau noted Wednesday. The system provides trains with information on the status of tracks on which the train is traveling and allows the rail traffic controller to “manage the system by providing status of the tracks, switch positions, signal lights and location of work crews,” it said. The PTC system uses Automated Maritime Telecommunications System (AMTS) spectrum, originally allocated for marine voice and data communications, through a system of coastal stations, the order said. But the use of that spectrum comes with various strictures, including frequency monitoring and a requirement that coast stations receive calls from ships and aircraft, from which Amtrak sought waivers. “Our finding of good cause to grant the requested rule waivers is inseparably tied to Congress’ directive that Amtrak, as well as certain freight and commuter railroads, implement PTC safety systems and the substantial public interest benefits that will accrue from a nationwide interoperable rail safety network,” the bureau said.

Cetecom is partnering with Rohde & Schwarz to advance its 4G/LTE testing capabilities, a news release from Cetecom said Tuesday. With the deal, Cetecom also upgraded its R&S TS8980FTA-2, R&S CMW-PQA and R&S CMW500 wireless test platforms to allow LTE location-based services performance; VoLTE E-911 protocol; eMBMS radio frequency (RF) performance, video performance and protocol; LTE carrier aggregation RF performance, data throughput performance and protocol; IMS/Voice Over LTE protocol; RCS protocol; ePDG/Wi-Fi calling over IMS; and Wi-Fi offloading.

Mobile operators will continue to struggle as average revenue per user stays in continual decline, forecast a report from ABI Research Monday. It said the machine-to-machine (M2M), also known as the Internet of Things, market will grow to $174 billion in 2019, a 200 percent growth from 2014. ABI identified six potential future growth areas for mobile operators: digital content, M2M, mobile money, big data monetization, advertising and enterprise cloud solutions. The findings are part of ABI’s mobile deployments, capital expenditures and traffic market research.

Hewlett-Packard agreed to buy Aruba Networks in a deal worth about $2.7 billion, said an HP news release Monday. It said that puts HP in position to address market trends for next-generation 802.11ac Wi-Fi standards and the push for everything to be mobile-centric. HP said the deal is expected to be completed in the second half of its FY 2015, subject to Aruba stockholder approval, regulatory approvals in the U.S. and other countries, and other customary closing conditions.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau Tuesday sought comment on recommendations for a set of six channels that would be available nationwide for 700 MHz deployable trunked systems, in a public notice Tuesday. The channel sets on which the bureau sought comment were recommended by the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council and the National Regional Planning Council, the bureau said. The two groups noted in a February filing that the FCC had asked them in an October order to recommend up to eight channel sets. They said they identified six that were best suited for the use under the criteria laid out by the FCC. Comments are due on the six channels April 2, replies April 17, in docket 02-378.

The FCC text-to-911 registry of public safety answering points ready to accept emergency texts is available for inspection on the agency’s Web page, the Public Safety Bureau said in a public notice Monday. The registry provides an effective readiness date for those PSAPs that can accept texts to 911, the bureau said. The bureau reminded covered text providers that “they should periodically review the text-readiness of PSAPs in their service areas and reach out to these PSAPs as necessary to coordinate implementation of text-to-911 service.”

All 2016 model-year Audi vehicles equipped with the “Audi connect” function -- about 19 models -- will come with AT&T 4G LTE or 3G coverage, AT&T and Audi of America announced Tuesday. All 2016 models with Audi connect will be delivered to customers with an AT&T SIM card providing connectivity to the carrier's wireless network, the companies said.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau said new air-to-ground 700 MHz narrowband channels dedicated to communications between low-altitude aircraft and first responders on the ground aren't subject to trunking requirements. A trunked radio system is a computer-controlled two-way radio system that allows sharing of relatively few frequency channels among a large group of users. In January, the National Regional Planning Council asked for FCC clarity, saying a trunking requirement could “hamper effective conventional use of these channels.” The bureau agreed. The trunking requirement “applies only to General Use and State License channels,” the bureau said. “The recently reallocated air-ground channels are neither.”

Smartphones made up two-thirds of the global phone market in 2014, said research from Gartner released Tuesday. Worldwide sales of smartphones to end users grew nearly 30 percent in Q4 over the year-ago quarter to reach 368 million units, Gartner said. Apple was tops, selling 75 million units, stealing the top spot from Samsung (73 million), which had owned the market since 2011, it said. Samsung lost roughly 10 percentage points in market share in Q4 versus the year-ago quarter, continuing a downward trend since its peak in Q3 2013, said Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst: "Samsung continues to struggle to control its falling smartphone share.” Analyst Roberta Cozza cited Apple’s dominance at the premium end of the smartphone market and pressure from Chinese vendors offering “quality hardware at lower prices” at the lower end as challenges for Samsung. A “solid ecosystem of apps, content and services unique to Samsung devices” will be necessary for the Korean vendor to secure customer loyalty and provide long-term differentiation at the high end, she said. Lenovo’s share of the end-user market -- including Motorola and Lenovo devices following the companies’ transaction in October -- ranked third in Q4, reaching 24.3 million units, giving it 7 percent of the global smartphone market, followed by Huawei at 6 percent share and Xiaomi with 5 percent share. Xiaomi’s unit sales to end users nearly tripled to 18.5 million units in the quarter, while its market share more than doubled, Gartner said. Apple’s best-ever quarter -- Q4 2014 with 74.8 million smartphones sold -- was buoyed by “huge demand” in China and the U.S., where sales leaped by 56 percent and 88 percent, respectively, Gartner said. The larger screen sizes of the iPhone 6 models presented new users a “strong alternative to Android,” Gartner said. Huawei and Xiaomi, meanwhile, propped up their sales in the mid- and low-end smartphone markets at home and overseas, it said. "Chinese vendors are no longer followers," Cozza said. "They are producing higher quality devices with appealing new hardware features that can rival the more established players in the mobile phone market.” Dropping prices drove the migration of feature phone users to smartphones last year, Gartner said. The Android ecosystem benefited most from the transition, growing 2.2 percentage points for 2014 to 80.7 percent share, followed by iOS at 15.4 percent share. Windows Phone's performance was basically flat in Q4, selling 35 million units, but it recorded strong results in some markets in Europe -- and in the business segment, Gartner said. Windows Phone held 2.8 percent market share for the quarter, while BlackBerry came in under 1 percent at roughly 8 million units, it said.

The Public Safety Bureau circulated for FCC action an item addressing call-forwarding requirements for non-service-initialized phones. Public safety officials said Tuesday that the commission circulated an NPRM that will pose various questions and help the FCC develop a time table for sunsetting a requirement that out-of-service cellphones can still call 911. Public safety answering points have complained of myriad prank 911 calls made from old, untraceable phones. APCO, the National Emergency Number Association and National Association of State 9-1-1 Administrators filed a petition in 2008 at the FCC seeking action in effort to stop fraudulent calls to 911 (see 0803050126).