DOD approved restrictions on use of cellphones and some other electronic devices in the Pentagon in areas where classified information is present or discussed, the Associated Press reported Tuesday, citing a memo. DOD will still allow the use of cellphones in common areas and offices where classified information isn’t present. The memo reportedly has exceptions: Senior DOD officials with government-issued devices can get them approved for use in secure spaces provided camera, mic and wireless capabilities can be disabled. DOD didn’t comment.

The mobile business “is standing on the cusp of its own quantum leap” with the looming introduction of 5G, said Sumit Sadana, Micron Technology chief business officer, at a company investor day Monday. “If you see the type of improvement in download speeds that are possible with 5G,” 100 times those of 4G/LTE, “the important thing here is any time networks speeds go up by such a big magnitude, it enables massive amounts of innovation that are very difficult to foresee,” said Sadana. The 5G connections will be “significantly faster” than all the “high-bandwidth wired connections all of you have at home,” he said. “Imagine having all of that capability in your cellphone and all around us for machine-to-machine communication, which is going to become really a big growth driver once 5G comes along and is deployed in full volume.” 5G is “an extraordinarily important development which will enable you to download a 4K movie onto your mobile device within seconds -- just amazing capability,” he said. Micron sees 5G as bringing “really a complete transformation of important applications that drive real value for our customers, and that is not going to be possible without more memory and more storage inside the smartphone,” he said. The company thinks the 1-terabyte smartphone will become “pretty common” in the 2021 “time frame,” he said.

The FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology, “on their own motion,” Tuesday provided a conditional waiver of rules for spectrum access system administrators in the nascent 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band. SASs could authorize only lower-power (Category A) devices to operate in the band outside of exclusion zones and couldn’t authorize the use of any higher-power (Category B) devices before certification and deployment of environmental sensing capability (ESC) operators. The FCC side-stepped this requirement, letting SASs use an alternative protection methodology based on dynamic protection areas (DPAs). Every SAS will have to decide whether it will take advantage of the rule change, the FCC said. “Prior to the deployment of an ESC, a DPA-enabled SAS may authorize both Category A and Category B [devices] and will not be required to enforce Exclusion Zones in areas protected by DPAs,” the order said. “Prior to the deployment of an ESC, non-DPA-enabled SASs may only authorize Category A CBSDs outside of Exclusion Zones, consistent with the current rules.” The FCC said the revised rules will permit operators in the band to “operate both Category A and Category B [devices] in a larger portion of the country more quickly than anticipated and thereby will promote efficient spectrum use and rapid commercial deployment in the band, encourage investment, and facilitate the expeditious provision of new products and services to the public while still protecting federal operations.”

The FCC Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force announced an upcoming presentation on the process for challenging the identification of areas initially deemed ineligible for funding through the Mobility Fund II reverse auction. The presentation will be May 31, starting at 11 a.m., at the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum in Jackson.

An April 30 FCC order on reconsideration of procedures for a Mobility Fund Phase II challenge process takes effect June 20, said a notice for Tuesday's Federal Register. The FCC also says in a notice the OMB approved for three years the information collection requirements in a wireless mic order approved by commissioners in July (see 1707130055). OMB’s approval came May 1.

Nearly 75 percent of voters in California, Florida, Michigan and South Dakota wouldn't ride in a driverless vehicle, a Consumer Watchdog poll said Monday. “Voters want Congress to apply the brakes to robot car technology until it is proven safe,” the organization said. CW plans a news conference Tuesday.

Microsoft representatives urged the FCC to address reconsideration petitions on the TV white spaces rules, meeting last week with Chief Julius Knapp and others from the Office of Engineering and Technology. “The Commission should affirm its rules on channel 37 and replace its current database ‘push’ notification rule with a rule establishing a fast-polling channel,” said a filing Monday in docket 16-56. “Microsoft’s White Spaces experimental licenses point the way to effective use of the band to serve rural communities.” The company is using white spaces to provide connectivity for school buses along a rural route in Michigan (see 1804020040).

The National Advertising Division recommended T-Mobile USA discontinue its “Best Unlimited Network” advertising claims, said a Monday news release. T-Mobile says it will appeal to the National Advertising Review Board, NAD said. NAD investigated in response to AT&T's complaint. “Wireless service providers have, for many years, claimed to be superior to their competitors in various attributes, with claims like ‘fastest,’ ‘largest,’ ‘best coverage,’ or ‘most reliable,’” NAD said. “While wireless service providers should be free to truthfully promote the advantages that their innovations provide consumers, comparative advertising claims must be substantiated to avoid misleading consumers and to ensure that wireless service providers compete on a level playing field.” NAD said T-Mobile justified its claims by offering data from two independent sources, Ookla and OpenSignal, “showing that it provided superior data speeds to its customers as compared to its major competitors.” NAD is an investigative unit of the advertising industry’s system of self-regulation and is administered by the Council of Better Business Bureaus. "T-Mobile has the best unlimited network for consumers and we wanted to share that with them in a simple and clear way," A T-Mobile spokesman said. AT&T didn't comment.

Toyota Motor North America is well aware of moves on the 5.9 GHz band and a proposal that favors cellular vehicle-to-everything technology as an alternative to dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), said CEO James Lentz in a letter to Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel. The automaker said in a recent filing Toyota and co-owned Lexus plan to start deployment of DSRC on vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2021 (see 1804270048) and the two commissioners raised questions in a letter to Lentz (see 1805100062). “We have, of course, been closely monitoring developments” in the band, Lentz wrote, posted Monday in docket 13-49. “The decision by Toyota and Lexus to deploy DSRC in the U.S. is just the latest development in an ongoing and persistent move by automakers, infrastructure owners and operators, and other stakeholders to deploy the proven technology throughout the world.”

A recent rash of enforcement actions by the FCC shows LED billboard companies need to pay attention to RF rules or face hefty fines, said Mitchell Lazarus, wireless lawyer at Fletcher Heald, in a blog post. By his count, the FCC already has fined six. “Those bright, colorful LED signs are up everywhere,” he wrote. “They advertise gasoline prices, announce church services, and promote specials at the dry-cleaner.” But many don't realize the billboards are subject to FCC regulation, he said. “Nowadays pretty much anything with a battery or a wall plug contains digital circuitry, which means all of those devices come under FCC regulation (apart from a very small number of exceptions),” Lazarus said. “In addition to paying fines, companies that ignore the rules risk expensive interruptions to production and sales, and possibly an accumulation of un-sellable inventory.”