ON Semiconductor introduced a multi-sensor shield and expanded software support for its IoT development kit. The kit is designed to accelerate development time and deploy IoT solutions for applications including smart home and wellness and industrial wearables, said the company Monday.

Two-thirds of the world’s mobile connections will be 4G or 5G by 2025, GSMA reported Monday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, predicting 35 billion IoT connections in 2025. It forecasts 4G will cover 53 percent of mobile connections worldwide by then, up from 29 percent in 2017. Only 14 percent will be 5G. “We are at the dawn of a new era in mobile with the imminent launch of the first 5G networks and the Internet of Things poised to further transform the way we live and work,” said Mats Granryd, GSMA director general. “Operators continue to expand and upgrade their 4G networks in order to provide an evolutionary path into the 5G era.”

AT&T said the FCC should update its National Environmental Policy Act and National Historic Preservation Act rules for reviews of small-cell installations to “pave the way” for 5G. The rules for NEPA and NHPA reviews are based on “large macrocell towers” and modernizing those rules would “reduce the time it takes to deploy small cell facilities, reduce the cost of deploying small cell facilities, and facilitate an increase in small cell investment,” AT&T said in a filing in docket 17-79. “With each antenna comprising only about 3 cubic feet in volume, small cells indeed are unobtrusive and in harmony with the poles, street furniture, and other structures on which they are typically deployed.” AT&T complained about the high cost of tribal reviews: "Standard fees charged by Tribal Nations have increased by 1400 percent in the Northeast and by 2500 percent in the Southeast in just the last 7 years. Many projects that implicate no tribal interests, such as collocations on existing structures, nevertheless generate significant tribal fees."

CTIA and the Wireless Infrastructure Association jointly urged the FCC to finalize the draft program comment approved by commissioners in December (see 1712140049). The FCC is examining ways the towers could be made available for collocation of wireless facilities without additional historic review. The draft offers “a sensible solution to free these towers from regulatory limbo, enable additional use of existing infrastructure, and enhance the wireless experience for consumers,” the two groups replied in docket 17-79. “By enabling Twilight Towers to serve as collocation platforms, the Draft Program Comment will help expand wireless coverage to new areas that can then be densified with small cells needed to support next-generation wireless services.”

The FCC Enforcement Bureau warned the Department of Public Works of Glen Cove, New York, against use of an unauthorized land mobile radio service station operating at 450.500 MHz. An agent for the bureau investigated and identified the station in January, said a notice to the department. The department is in apparent violation of federal law and continued operation “may subject the operator to severe penalties, including, but not limited to, substantial monetary fines, in rem arrest action against the offending radio equipment, and criminal sanctions, including imprisonment,” the bureau said. “Since January, resolution of this matter has been a priority for Mayor [Tim] Tenke and the City of Glen Cove, even before we received official notice from the FCC,” said a spokeswoman for the city: “We are working proactively with the FCC and our vendor, Integrated Wireless Technologies, to rectify the situation.”

Murata will develop cellular IoT devices using Altair Semiconductor’s dual-mode CAT-M1/NB1 chipset and STMicroelectronics’ STM32 MCU and ST33 Secure MCU, it said Thursday. Potential applications are in healthcare devices, wearables and Global Navigation Satellite System trackers, it said. Solutions will include support for Amazon Web Services and other cloud-based service providers, it said.

Global sales of smartphones to end users totaled 407.85 million units in the fourth quarter of 2017, a 5.6 percent decline from a year earlier, said a Gartner report. It was the first year-on-year quarterly decline recorded since Gartner started tracking the global smartphone market in 2004, the company said. Replacement smartphone users are “choosing quality models and keeping them longer, lengthening the replacement cycle of smartphones,” and that contributed to the decline, said Gartner. Of the top five global brands, only Huawei and Xiaomi had Q4 sales increases, said the report. Samsung’s sales fell 3.6 percent to 74.03 million phones, and iPhone sales declined 5 percent to 73.18 million, it said. Apple finished Q4 with a 17.9 percent global unit share in smartphones, second to Samsung’s 18.2 percent, it said. The two companies finished Q4 a year earlier virtually tied in unit share at 17.8 percent each, it said.

The FCC posted in docket 13-111 an email from Cell Command to the agency on its observations on requirements from various sides on a technological fix to address contraband cellphones in correctional facilities. The email advised that corrections officials require “complete device disablement,” a low-cost system with zero chance of obsolescence that won’t require extra staff to operate. Carriers demand a system that won’t interfere with their networks or require them to hire extra staff, Cell Command said. The FCC requires the system be legal and allow the public to make 911 calls, the company said. Cell Command offers technology that allows corrections agencies to block the use of contraband phones. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai plans to appoint a task force to look at technological solutions (see 1802080035).

The FCC approved special temporary authority for Project Loon to test its balloon-based communications system at its launch facility in Winnemucca, Nevada. Loon is led by Google parent Alphabet. Tests will be in LTE Band 20 spectrum. “Loon will itself be using ordinary, FCC approved handsets to communicate with the balloons, and then Wi-Fi to interconnect with the ground terminals,” Loon said in a filing. “The frequencies specified in this application will be used in conjunction with Part 15 unlicensed Wi-Fi to support these communications. Loon will provide service to the proposed test area only to the extent it can be done without interference to neighboring services. Loon holds all necessary government authorizations for the related aeronautical activities.” The authorization expires Aug. 23.

The FCC needs to preserve the Tower Construction Notification System (TCNS) for Indian tribes to register geographic areas of historic value, as the agency promotes 5G, said officials with the Kaw Nation of Oklahoma in a meeting with FCC Wireless Bureau staff. “The Kaw representatives provided multiple positive examples of the TCNS program’s value to tribal nations and to the protection of priceless cultural and historic resources,” said a filing in docket 17-79. The Kaw Nation’s TCNS administrator “has been able to identify and flag a construction project that would adversely affect the Nation’s sacred ceremonial grounds. Working together with the tower construction company, the Kaw are providing alternative locations in the vicinity for the build-out.” CTIA reported on a call with Will Adams, aide to Commissioner Brendan Carr, also in docket 17-79. “CTIA encouraged the Commission to find ways to more effectively target the environmental and historic preservation review of infrastructure and to streamline and provide clarity regarding the historic preservation review process consistent with past comments,” CTIA said.