The FCC established a pleading cycle on Worldcall’s proposed sale to AT&T of two lower 700 MHz B-block licenses in Puerto Rico. “The Applicants maintain that the proposed transaction would provide AT&T with additional spectrum that would enable it to increase its system capacity to enhance existing services, better accommodate its overall growth, and facilitate the provision of additional products and services in two Cellular Market Areas,” the FCC said Thursday. The FCC also sent letters to both companies asking about the deal. Petitions to deny are due Jan. 5, oppositions Jan. 15 and replies Jan. 23. The letter to Worldcall poses a single question: “Explain in detail the decision made by Worldcall to assign the Lower 700 MHz B Block spectrum that is the subject of this application to AT&T, including any attempts made to enter into a sale of this spectrum or alternative arrangements with parties other than AT&T.”
The FCC “fundamentally” mischaracterized FiberTower’s position in its legal challenge of an agency order that held the company hadn't demonstrated that it was providing substantial service for 689 of its 24 GHz and 39 GHz licenses and the licenses should be revoked, FiberTower said in a filing last month at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. In October, the FCC told the court it acted within its legal authority in rejecting the licenses (see 1410150093). FiberTower said it never contended “no service” could satisfy FCC build out rules. “To the contrary, despite the technical challenges inherent in the bands and the dearth of widespread customer demand for reasons outside of FiberTower’s control, the record establishes the ample service FiberTower has provided under all of its 24 and 39 GHz licenses,” FiberTower said. FiberTower said the service it offered included “building a nationwide construction platform with the systems and contracts necessary for providing transmission on demand; developing new equipment such as small-cell technologies for transmission in congested urban areas; making 100 percent of its licensed spectrum available for use on a daily basis both through its innovative ‘spectrum-in-a-box’ program and through secondary-market leasing; and -- last but not least -- constructing and operating links wherever sufficient demand existed, including on at least 42 of the licenses at issue.” Oral argument is set for Jan. 20 (see 1412030048). FiberTower filed with the court Nov. 18.
IHS’s 2014 forecast for worldwide unit sales of 58 million wireless charging receivers and 20 million wireless charging transmitters is going to fall short when the company releases figures for the year, said Ryan Sanderson, IHS analyst, in an interview Thursday. But numbers will be better than IHS anticipated midyear after CES and Mobile World Congress didn’t yield the expected number of new smartphones or tablets with wireless charging capability, Sanderson said. While the industry will “struggle” to reach estimates for this year, IHS expects to still see significant growth for the wireless charging market over 2013, he said. Sanderson expects growth in the wireless charging market to get a boost going forward from the wearables category. The Moto 360 smart watch has Qi inductive wireless charging built in, and Apple CEO Tim Cook referenced wireless charging for the Apple Watch at the wearable's product announcement in September. A caveat to wireless charging for wearables derives from the category name itself, Sanderson said. “It’s called a wearable, so the consumer shouldn’t really have to take it off to charge it.” Technologies today require users to do that, either placing the wearable on a surface or near a transmitter for charging. That will change in the near future with far-field wireless charging over a distance of as much as 30 feet, Sanderson said. Energous, with WattUp technology that won a CES Innovations award for 2015, announced this week it has joined the Power Matters Alliance and completed initial FCC Part 15 certification testing for its WattUp receivers. Energous’ technology delivers “scalable power” using the same radio bands as a Wi-Fi router, according to company literature, and allows “meaningful, useable power” that users can tap into while roaming so the device doesn’t have to be plugged in or positioned on a mat for charging, it said. The wireless charging market began slowly in 2014 but picked up midyear with the introduction of products with embedded Qi receivers, including the LG G3, Google Nexus 6 and, more recently, the Nokia 830, which has a receiver that’s both PMA- and Qi-enabled, Sanderson said. He said he “wouldn’t be surprised” to see more developments in multimode, multidevice wireless charging products. On the likelihood of a unified standard, Sanderson said that without A4WP (Alliance for Wireless Power) charging products in the market, “it’s not a level playing field” for consumers to compare products and decide which technologies they prefer. A4WP had expected to have Rezence products in the market by year-end, but that hasn’t happened. A spokesman for A4WP didn’t comment. Over the next couple of years, Sanderson expects to see much more multimode and multistandard support for the tightly coupled technology -- Qi, PMA and Rezence -- as manufacturers look to safeguard themselves in a multihorse field.
The FCC Public Safety Bureau granted the Missouri Department of Public Safety a waiver of a requirement under Section 90.559(b) of FCC rules, which mandates station identification be made on the lowest frequency utilized in a group of trunked channels. The department argued that it launched the Missouri Statewide Interoperability Network (MOSWIN) in 2012 prior to the adoption of the rule and it would be expensive and difficult to implement. “We agree with Missouri that it would be unduly burdensome to require MOSWIN user agencies to ‘reprogram their radios with new control channel lists’ solely to ensure that each base station in the system can use the lowest channel for [base station identification] rather than as a control channel,” the bureau said Thursday.
Wireless mic maker Shure asked the FCC to extend by 45 days comment deadlines on two NPRMs examining the future of the devices in 600 MHz spectrum. “An extension is warranted because the Notices propose many substantial changes in technical and operational rules that will require significant evaluation, testing and analysis,” Shure said in a motion filed in docket 12-268: “The filing periods encompass the winter holidays when many team members will be out of the office and traveling.” Without an extension, comments would be due Feb. 19, replies March 12. Shure said the proposed rule changes would “dramatically alter wireless microphone operations and virtually restructure the entire wireless microphone industry” in the U.S. In October, the FCC approved the NPRMs, which seek comment on unlicensed use of the TV spectrum following the incentive auction and more specifically rules for wireless mics.
Correction: Telcordia, not Neustar, is the company that wants the FCC to quickly name the next local number portability administrator (see 1412030046).
Bids for AWS-3 spectrum reached more than $40 billion at the end of day 12 Tuesday of Auction 97. Bids rose 0.5 percent in rounds 42-43 and 0.3 percent in rounds 44-45, UBS analysts said Wednesday in a research note. The top 25 markets commanded an average price of $3.89/MHz POP for paired spectrum, they said. Atlanta was the most active market, rising 6.2 percent from day 11, followed by Pittsburgh and Sacramento, analysts said. Despite no new bids, Chicago remained in the lead, followed by New York and Los Angeles, UBS said. Auction 97 could run at a slower pace for an extended period, it said. The AWS-1 and 700 MHz auctions lasted for 161 and 261 rounds respectively, with minimal activity after rounds 52 and 27, it said. The momentum of the action is slowing, Evercore analysts said in a research note. The end of the auction “could be soon,” they said. The focus will shift “to how the bidders will finance their bids and when they have to finance them by,” Evercore said. The bidding exceeded the reserve price shortly after the auction started last month (see 1411180061).
Asus mobile phones and tablets that include Bluetooth or Wi-Fi features and security codes violate a U.S. patent (8,466,795) for a personal tracking and security system owned by Pragmatus Mobile since the patent was granted in June 2013, Pragmatus alleged in a complaint filed Nov. 24 at the U.S. International Trade Commission. The complaint seeks exclusive and cease and desist orders under Section 337 of the Tariff Act. Many CE manufacturers already license the patent that Asus allegedly violates, the complaint said, listing BlackBerry, HTC, Huawei, LG, Pantech, Samsung, Sony and ZTE among the licensees. In addition, several CE makers license the technology from Pragmatus on confidential terms, including one "major" manufacturer, it said. Many of the "accused" Asus devices at issue in the complaint "are smartphones and tablets, which are not necessary for some health or welfare need," Pragmatus said in a public interest statement. If imports of the Asus devices are barred from the U.S. under an ITC exclusion order, "there are many like or directly competitive articles" that could take their place, it said. Asus representatives didn’t comment.
Consumers said maintenance and predictive analytics on a vehicle’s health are the highest requirements for having a connected vehicle, a Compass Intelligence report found. The report released Wednesday said there's low interest in having entertainment DVD systems, Compass said in a news release. The target segment for this market, which is children under 10, is taking a hit because kids are increasingly using tablets for entertainment purposes, it said. “Overall products and services that can enhance the driving experience, entertainment and vehicle maintenance are the key wants from end-users.” Research for the report was done via an online survey of more than 1,320 persons, Compass said. More than half of users want a system that displays when preventative maintenance is due, and 60 percent want real-time traffic updates, it said.
Nearly six of 10 consumers who use a smartphone or tablet while shopping prefer to look up information on their devices rather than talk to store employees, CEA said Wednesday a survey found. That preference is highest among male shoppers and those between ages 25 and 44, it said. Sixty-two percent of mobile shoppers indicate they perceive the information they gather via their mobile device as more beneficial than the information available in-store via product displays or sales literature, it said. "Mobile devices have significantly shifted consumers’ shopping behavior," CEA said. "Retailers are increasingly focusing on delivering a complete consumer shopping experience and mobile devices are now a vital piece of that puzzle." Mobile shoppers more often use their mobile devices for assistance when shopping for electronics (60 percent) than for any other product type, CEA said. Following electronics, mobile shoppers most frequently use their devices while shopping in physical retail stores for groceries (55 percent), apparel (47 percent), shoes (45 percent), and health and beauty products (39 percent), it said. While shopping specifically for electronics, mobile shoppers use their devices to compare prices (63 percent), read customer ratings or reviews (52 percent) and search the Internet for more information (51 percent), it said.