The FCC set a comment deadline of April 4 on a rulemaking notice asking how the agency can ensure that wireless calls to 911 provide accurate location information to dispatchers. Replies are due May 5. The FCC approved the NPRM at its February meeting (CD Feb 21 p1). The comment deadline was set in a notice published in the Federal Register Wednesday (http://1.usa.gov/1q6BF8S). The FCC “seeks comment on a proposed timeframe and several aspects of implementation of text-to-911 service, particularly relating to the technical ability of interconnected text providers to comply with a text-to-911 mandate,” the notice said. “Specifically, the Commission seeks comment on a proposal that text-to-911 capability should be made available by all text providers no later than December 31, 2014, and should be provided within a reasonable time after a [public safety answering point] has made a valid request for service, not to exceed six months.” The commission also asks for comments “on several issues that we anticipate will be part of the long-term evolution of text-to-911, though it does not propose to require their implementation by a date certain,” the notice said. Written comments on the Paperwork Reduction Act proposed information collection requirements are due at the Office of Management and Budget May 5, the FCC said.
Immersion doesn’t expect it will be able to grow its annual revenue about 50 percent, like it did in 2013, each year, Immersion CEO Victor Viegas told the JMP Securities Technology Conference webcast from San Francisco late Tuesday. Twenty to 25 percent revenue growth is more likely for the haptics technology company, he said. It was able to grow revenue 48 percent in 2013 due to the favorable conclusion of patent infringement suits with LG, Motorola and Samsung that resulted in Immersion being paid by the companies for not only the use of its software, but also the use of its intellectual property (IP), he said. There are “a number of opportunities” that would enable Immersion to reach the “upper end” of the revenue forecast, or “even exceed” it, “namely continued growth” of PS4 sales and inclusion of its software in devices by more OEMs, he said. Immersion gets paid 10-50 cents per mobile phone, depending on whether the device uses its IP or software, he said. It gets paid anywhere from 50 cents to $2 or $3 per device in the automotive sector, where volume is lower, he said. Under most deals in the game sector, Immersion gets paid 5 percent of the wholesale selling price of a controller, which is typically 25 cents to $2 or $3 for a high-end steering wheel, he said. The PS4 and Xbox One are using Immersion’s haptics IP, but not any of its software solutions, he said. Immersion provided Apple, early on, with a haptics solution for Macintosh computers for third-party game peripherals, but Apple isn’t currently an Immersion licensee, he said. “We have worked hard at providing them demonstrations and concepts and road maps around adding haptics” to current Apple devices, he said. “The success we're having with Samsung and others in the Android community is obviously putting some pressure” on Apple to offer similar technology in its devices, he said. Apple would like to make gaming on its devices more of a “console-like experience” and it’s hard to do that without haptics, he said. “We think there’s a real need there. The dialogue is always open. But they sometimes have a reluctance to license IP or follow with a me-too solution,” he said.
Sprint is partnering with Recipero in an effort to prevent the trade and sale of stolen smartphones, Sprint said Wednesday. Recipero maintains the CheckMEND database, a listing of lost and stolen mobile devices. “All Sprint retail buyback portals now employ Recipero’s CheckMEND online analytics tool, in addition to checking other internal and external databases, to help identify mobile devices that have been reported lost and stolen,” Sprint said. “The agreement will also provide consumers and law enforcement greater access to Sprint data on lost and stolen phones."
The FCC should freeze for six months the grant of new licenses for business communications in the 900 MHz band while industry develops a 900 MHz Private Land Mobile Broadband (PLM BB) plan, said the American Petroleum Institute, Enterprise Wireless Alliance and Utilities Telecom Council in a petition filed at the FCC. The groups proposed that 5x5 MHz of 900 MHz Industrial/Business spectrum be reallocated, with 2x2 MHz dedicated to existing Land-Mobile Radio systems and 3x3 MHz to support private LTE networks. “As the Commission is aware, access to spectrum capable of meeting these members’ internal broadband communications requirements is essential if they are to continue supporting America’s economic growth, expanded employment, public well-being, the delivery of critical goods and services, security, and workforce safety,” the groups said (http://bit.ly/1kVBSb1). The freeze would only affect applicants that don’t already have a license in a particular market, they said. “Under this approach, current 900 MHz licensees would be permitted to expand geographic coverage or channel capacity to serve ongoing business communication requirements while the PLM BB plan is more fully defined. New applicants, however, would be prohibited."
CTIA asked the FCC to delay by 60 days the deadline for filing reply comments on a Dec. 13 rulemaking on expanding access to wireless services onboard aircraft. Replies are currently due March 17. “The Notice raises a number of highly technical issues and cited various interference studies involving in-flight wireless connectivity and the use of licensed commercial mobile spectrum,” CTIA said (http://bit.ly/1oo3RjL). “It relies on European studies to tentatively conclude that Airborne Access Systems can provide in-flight wireless connectivity using licensed commercial mobile spectrum across the United States without interference -- but these studies did not analyze U.S. mobile spectrum bands or all of the air interfaces used across the U.S. bands.” CTIA said many substantial comments were filed in the initial comment round (CD Feb 13 p7). “Extending the deadline for reply comments will provide parties with additional time to conduct much needed interference and other technological analyses, consider other existing studies beyond those discussed in the Notice, and follow up on questions and issues sparked by commenters who discussed the inflight systems that have been deployed abroad,” the group said.
Motorola Solutions wants the FCC to prevent interference with incumbent users by using a proposed database for the agency’s upcoming so-called citizens broadband service in the 3.5 GHz band. Possible uses of the band, both for short-duration applications and longer-term operation, include critical access and commercial/enterprise uses, the company told Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology staff. Existing TV white spaces databases could be modified to better support the needs of the 3550-3650 MHz band, now used for military and satellite operations, said the public safety equipment provider in a Friday ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1eXioxF) and accompanying presentation to bureau and OET staff (http://bit.ly/1eXozlb).
The National Emergency Number Association’s “Friends of 911.org” program got a high-profile boost Sunday when it was featured during the NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Phoenix by way of a logo on the yellow Ford of driver Joey Logano. Logano finished fourth and led 71 laps in Sunday’s race. “9-1-1 professionals help keep Americans safe every day, and I hope folks in the stands and watching at home will be inspired to join me in saying ’thank you’ to these unsung heroes of emergency response,” Logano said in a statement prior to the race.
AT&T will work with QuickPlay Media on developing an in-vehicle video service called Qu, the companies said Monday. The offering will be powered by QuickPlay’s OpenVideo platform and will deliver live linear TV and streaming video-on-demand services to carmakers collaborating in the AT&T Drive Studio, AT&T’s Atlanta-based research center for the connected car. In-vehicle video services will play a major role in the next generation of connected cars, said Chris Penrose, senior vice president-emerging devices, AT&T Mobility. The collaboration enables QuickPlay Media to offers its customers the ability to leverage their pay TV investments by extending QuickPlay’s end-to-end managed services capability to a new multiscreen video infrastructure from which consumers can access TV Everywhere services, said CEO Wayne Purboo. QuickPlay manages more than 400 live channels and 5,000 streaming profiles through its global network operations center in San Diego, it said.
Best Buy allowed customers to trade in an iPhone 4s or 5 for a new 16-GB iPhone 5s for only $1 as part of a limited-time promotion Friday and Saturday only, it said. Customers who traded in an old iPhone were offered a minimum $150 gift card to be used toward the iPhone 5s purchase, it said. But customers had to sign a two-year activation agreement with AT&T, Sprint or Verizon. The deal was available only in-store, not at the Best Buy website, it said. Best Buy was selling the 16-GB iPhone 5s at $149.99, $50 off its usual price there, it said. The iPhone traded in would have to be free of water damage and screen cracks, it also said. Despite the $1 price cited at Best Buy’s website and in an email that the retailer sent to customers, spokeswoman Shandra Tollefson told us customers “won’t be charged the $1.” The iPhone 5s would instead be “free” as part of the deal, she said. “The only out-of-pocket costs for the customer will be any applicable sales tax on the new phone and any applicable carrier activation fees,” she said. The sales tax would be based on the $149.99 price, she said. Therefore, the total cost to consumers would be somewhat more than the $1 anyway. The “free” cost was also cited in an email news blast that Best Buy sent to reporters Friday and in a separate news bulletin posted at its website.
Battelle is asking the FCC to adopt rules that support the cost-effective delivery of data streams using relatively high power levels in spectrum above 100 GHz. Battelle, a nonprofit research and development organization, specifically sought service rules for the 102-109.5 GHz band, already allocated on a primary basis for fixed and mobile communications. Philip Schofield, manager-sensors and communication systems, told us Friday that Battelle met with FCC officials to discuss the petition before it was filed and has received general support from industry so far. Big New York City area hospitals, which have lots of data they need to transfer, see the connections as a backup when other connections fail, he said. “They want to ensure they have network diversity so that under any circumstances they can move their information around,” he said. “You have the same sort of input coming from folks who operate cloud storage facilities, collocation centers around densely populated markets. ... They're just looking for another tool.” Schofield said the high-band connections could see wide use in the developing world where wireline connections often cannot be installed, though the spectrum faces challenges, with transmissions compromised by rain and other atmospheric conditions. A high-frequency link can transmit data 10 miles or so in good weather at power levels in the 300 milliwatts range, Schofield said. Battelle is proposing that for the 102-109.5 GHz band the FCC allow power levels of 3 or 4 watts, he said. “You can send data a lot further with a lot higher availability with much more output power,” he said. Battelle, “after a decade of research, has developed technology for commercial use that can wirelessly deliver 10-gigabit/second Ethernet (lOGE) data streams, with less latency than fiber optic cable,” Battelle said in its petition at the commission (http://bit.ly/1cg3M1C). “The technology provides low-cost, high-capacity, moveable data links that are ideal for applications like medical centers needing to transport and store data intensive patient records, for financial institutions that need to move data from one location to another, and for reducing the response and recovery times for communications networks after natural disasters,” Battelle said Friday in a news release. “The technology would be useful for any business or institution that needs to move large amounts of data quickly from one location to another at low-cost.”