A model spectrum city, as envisioned by the Obama administration, could prove “quite useful as a tool to facilitate experimentation and validation of proposed concepts that could lead to improved spectrum sharing methods and techniques,” Nokia Solutions and Networks US said in comments (http://bit.ly/1vUKaWd) filed at the FCC, posted Friday in docket 14-99. In July, NTIA and the FCC sought comment on a public-private partnership to create a spectrum test city (CD July 14 p15), a recommendation of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in its July 2012 spectrum sharing report. The city could be used to advance the understanding of the propagation among the different systems trying to share the same spectrum, Nokia said. The Irregular Terrain Model (ITM) is the one generally used by government agencies, but “there is limited empirical data to validate the parameterization of the ITM models,” Nokia said. “It would be very beneficial to those who design and manufacture radio equipment to have reasonably validated propagation models in order to innovate and seek good solutions to the challenges of sharing spectrum with disparate systems ideally to the point of co-existing with those systems rather than trying to simply avoid them.” Nokia suggested that funding shouldn’t be just from private industry and said the administration should seek “supportive funding from entities such as the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Commerce or other means."

Microsoft modified app certification requirements to reduce imitation apps, it said in a blog post Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1licjpg). “Earlier this year we heard loud and clear that people were finding it more difficult to find the apps they were searching for; often having to sort through lists of apps with confusing or misleading titles.” The changes will give more weight to apps’ names, icons and categorization, the company said. “We've also been working on titles already in the catalog, conducting a review of Windows Store to identify titles that do not comply with our modified certification requirements.” Through this process, Microsoft has removed more than 1,500 apps from the app store, it said. Customers can apply for a refund if they paid for a misleading app, Microsoft said.

Global smartphone shipments jumped 50 percent last year to more than a billion units and are on track to top 1.2 billion in 2014, Futuresource Consulting said Thursday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1papCTC). Smartphones have seen a “steady move” toward larger screen sizes, and “phablets” with screen sizes 5.5 inches and larger are expected “to gain an increasingly significant share of the market, as smaller bezels and greater availability of mobile content will make the form factor increasingly appealing,” it said. Though “ongoing strong growth” is expected globally, smartphones are “increasingly nearing the saturation point in many developed markets,” where they already are the majority of handset sales, it said. “However, in many developing markets there are still considerable growth opportunities for feature phones. Likewise, the universal appeal of the smartphone -- due to its role in allowing internet access coupled with rapidly falling prices -- will result in an unprecedented level of uptake even in extremely poor countries, where a smartphone will act as a primary device.” A separate IDC report Thursday (http://bit.ly/VPYLFE) closely mirrored Futuresource’s findings. IDC estimated more than 1.25 billion smartphones will be shipped worldwide in 2014, a 23.8 percent increase from 2013. It projected a 12.7 percent compound annual growth rate in smartphone shipments through 2018, when 1.8 billion units will ship. Emerging markets have been more than half of all annual smartphone shipments dating back to 2011, “so it is no question that they have been crucial to the growth of the overall market,” IDC said. “However, up until 2014, mature markets have consistently delivered double-digit year-on-year growth.” But this year, mature-market growth will slow to just 4.9 percent, with emerging markets “continuing to soar” at 32.4 percent, it said.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau ordered Telava Wireless, a San Francisco-based tower company, to pay $7,500 for failing to monitor its antenna structure lighting as required by agency rules and failure to repair unlit antenna structure lighting as soon as practicable. The violation was for an antenna in Fordsville, Kentucky (http://bit.ly/1q8U85D). “Telava does not dispute the violations, but requests cancellation of the forfeiture based on an alleged inability to pay,” the bureau said. The FCC had proposed a fine of $17,000, but reduced it based on financial documents from Telava. The bureau warned, “future violations may result in significantly higher forfeitures that may not be reduced due to Telava’s financial circumstances.” Telava had no immediate comment Thursday.

The FCC should reject “self-serving” arguments by Sprint and T-Mobile asking it to rethink key parts of its May 15 spectrum holdings order (CD Aug 13 p1), Mobile Future Chairman Jonathan Spalter said in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1pmKT2x). Sprint and T-Mobile have had a different message for Wall Street and the FCC, he wrote. Spalter cited a T-Mobile news release (http://t-mo.co/1qFPGev) and a Sprint comment on the carrier’s spectrum position (http://bit.ly/1tP8cBv) saying the firm’s “spectrum position allows us to take a more aggressive stance in offering more data.” In “today’s more transparent world, you can’t have it both ways: Desperately seeking special spectrum handouts from government while simultaneously declaring spectrum superiority,” Spalter said. Sprint fired back. “Mr. Spalter’s latest blog is yet another attempt to perpetuate a virtual duopoly in the U.S. wireless market,” a spokesman said. AT&T and Verizon, “major supporters” of Mobile Future, “control the lion’s share of low-band spectrum and will go to great lengths to preserve their competitive advantage,” the spokesman said. Competitive carriers also need access to low-band spectrum, said Steve Berry, president of the Competitive Carriers Association: “It is not surprising that Mobile Future, an organization largely funded by AT&T and Verizon, is going to bat for the largest national carriers.”

Broadcom introduced a new development kit for its WICED family (for Wireless Internet Connectivity for Embedded Devices) family of components to enable developers to rapidly prototype “ideas and concepts” for Internet of Things devices and applications, the company said Wednesday. The $19.99 kit includes Broadcom’s newest Bluetooth Smart chip and five micro electro-mechanical systems and has a software stack that is Bluetooth 4.1 compatible, the company said. “By shortening the time between early ideas and end products, companies are able to deliver devices to market more quickly and with higher confidence in their success,” it said. Possible “use cases” range from a single-sensor technology to sophisticated programs gathering and analyzing data from multiple sensors, it said. It gave such smart home examples as using the kit to set up text alerts to be notified if a child’s bedroom rises above a certain temperature.

The Singapore-based Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) has added 14 members since January, the group said in a news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1C39rla). The new members are: Airi Ventures, Alcatel-Lucent, BAI, Broadcom, Charter Communications, DigiCert, Elitecore, Gemalto, Global Reach, Liberty Global, Linktel, Mobily, Telstra and Telus, WBA said. “They join at a pivotal time when Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) networks are now a commercial reality and operators are reaping the benefits of an improved carrier-grade of Wi-Fi,” the group said.

All five FCC commissioners got doused as part of the Ice Bucket Challenge issued by CTIA President Meredith Baker, a former commissioner (http://bit.ly/1C32gtm). The challenge is a fundraiser for efforts to fight Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Chairman Tom Wheeler issued a challenge to all former FCC chairmen who haven’t taken part.

The fingerprint sensor market -- energized by the introduction of the iPhone 5s last year and by the Samsung Galaxy S 5 in the spring -- is expected to reach $14.35 billion in 2020, said a report from MarketsandMarkets (http://bit.ly/1qfw1Ro). Among the drivers fueling the fingerprint sensor market are increasing demand for simple, secure user access to mobile devices, mobile commerce and high adoption rates of smartphones, the company said Tuesday. Laptops own the highest share of fingerprint applications, but the segment will be surpassed by smartphones by 2020, with smartphone sensor sales expected to grow at a projected compounded annual rate of 56 percent from now until 2020, it said. Reductions in size of fingerprint sensors will enable integration in smartphones without sacrificing other functionality, it said.

T-Mobile added six new music streaming services to its Music Freedom program. AccuRadio, Black Planet, Grooveshark, Radio Paradise, Rdio and Songza are available for customers to stream on T-Mobile’s Data Strong network “without ever hitting their LTE data bucket,” T-Mobile said Wednesday in a news release (http://t-mo.co/VNV1o3). The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council supported the action, in an MMTC news release. Music Freedom “has made history by opening its national wireless platform to diverse-owned enterprises,” MMTC said, referring to the addition of Radio One-owned Black Planet. Earlier this week, the carrier expanded a data plan (CD Aug 27 p14).