“Innovation complacency” will cause device makers like Apple, Huawei, Microsoft and Samsung to “lag” behind other tech companies in the “post-smartphone era,” ABI Research reported Wednesday. ABI sees Google and Amazon taking the “lead” and driving innovation for “smartphones and related ecosystems” over the next five to six years: “Without having the heavy burden of legacy systems and hardware, these web-scale companies are in a good position to lead the market into the post-smartphone era.” The four “are not currently as well set up to drive future innovation in the market,” said ABI. “These players are also burdened with legacy establishments in the smartphone business, which give them little flexibility to innovate."

“Cost is a challenge” in developing self-driving vehicles, said Hilary Cain, Toyota North America director-technology and innovation policy, on a CTA podcast Tuesday. “When you look at these test vehicles you see out on the road, the cost of the sensor suite is ... oftentimes more, than the cost of the vehicle.” There’s “a little bit of truth” in all consumer surveys, whether showing consumers are excited about autonomous vehicles or are scared, she said. “I don’t think anyone’s talking about forcing this technology on somebody who’s terrified by it. But certainly we want to make the technology available to those folks who are excited.”

The FCC is wrong that one-time data collection required in Mobility Fund II rules have no cost, the Competitive Carriers Association said in Paperwork Reduction Act comments in docket 10-208. CCA lauded the FCC for approving the program but said all regulation has costs. “To comply with the Data Collection, many competitive carriers, especially rural and regional providers, will need to invest in new data systems, provide for processing and maintenance of these systems, and expend their personnel resources,” CCA said. Many will have to use contract engineers or third-party vendors to prepare and submit the required data, it said. Rural Wireless Association officials questioned parts of the proposed rules, in meetings with commissioners and staff. RWA questioned the bureaus’ proposed use of a 1-square-kilometer grid to determine challenge areas. “In the majority of rural America, roads are situated directly on the borders of a one mile by one mile grid,” the group said. “A square kilometer grid cell could be entirely encapsulated within a square mile road grid cell, leaving no access to drive a complete single kilometer-based grid cell.” RWA said carriers shouldn’t have to submit “extraneous data parameters” to qualify for support, opposing "these proposals because challengers will waste limited time and resources recording and processing data unnecessary to determining the only MFII funding eligibility criterion -- download speed.”

FCC commissioners upheld a Wireless Bureau waiver from last year of 700 MHz buildout rules requested by Bresnan Communications, which sold the three licenses, covering parts of Montana and Wyoming, to T-Mobile (see 1612210038). The Rural Wireless Association had filed an application for review of the waiver (see 1705220010). “It is well-established that the Commission may waive a rule where the particular facts make strict compliance inconsistent with the public interest, and it may take into account considerations of hardship, equity, or more effective implementation of overall policy on an individual basis,” said the new order. “We emphasize that we find a waiver is appropriate here based on the totality of the factors present and not solely because it would facilitate expedited construction.” But the FCC said it's granting RWA’s separate request that T- Mobile be required to file construction notifications demonstrating its geographic coverage for each license area as of June 13. “If T-Mobile fails to satisfy a performance condition under the waiver, it would only retain the geographic portion of the relevant license area it served as of June 13,” the order said. RWA disagrees with the decision. “Bresnan warehoused valuable low band spectrum for over eight years before selling it to T-Mobile at the eleventh hour,” said General Counsel Carri Bennet in a news release. “This behavior should not have been rewarded and RWA reiterates its concern that this decision will now allow other licensees to sit on valuable spectrum, cash out at the last minute and then extend the license’s build out obligations simply by transferring the license to another entity.”

The Aerospace & Flight Test Radio Coordinating Council told the FCC talks are underway among representatives of the aeronautical mobile telemetry (AMT) industry, FAA and WiMAX Forum on coordination between AMT and the aeronautical mobile airport communications system (AeroMACS) at airports located with aerospace manufacturing plants. AMT representatives gave the FAA a draft test plan, said a filing in RM-11793.

A group led by the Competitive Carriers Association met with FCC Public Safety Bureau staff on the wireless network resiliency cooperative framework, proposed by carriers and agreed to by the FCC last year (see 1612210008). “CCA noted its members’ continued collaboration with Public Safety Answering Points,” said a filing in docket 11-60. “CCA discussed its commitment to ‘provide relevant contact information for appropriate carrier and PSAP databases only within a reasonable period of time when an emergency situation is announced, subject to promises of confidentiality.’” CCA reminded that competitive carriers’ ability to comply with the voluntary commitments “is contingent upon their technical feasibility and prioritizing the needs of their consumers." Officials from APCO, CTIA, National Association of State 9-1-1 Administrators and Verizon also attended.

AT&T proposed a plan for a high-frequency spectrum auction to consolidate spectrum holdings, especially in the 39 GHz band, one of the first set for sale. A challenge to millimeter wave bidding is that incumbents have holdings “scattered throughout the band, typically in 50 MHz chunks,” blogged Hank Hultquist, vice president-federal regulatory. “Incumbents hold different types of geographic licenses that in many cases overlay each other. In order for the auction to be successful, the FCC must find a way to reorganize the band into block sizes that are more favorable for 5G, ideally 200 MHz blocks, and maximize the number of blocks.” AT&T proposed vouchers to incumbent licensees based on number of MHz/POPs they hold. Values would be set by bidding in the allocation phase. Hultquist said Tuesday the plan puts licensees on a level playing field. “It provides an elegant solution to the mish-mash of existing holdings in a way that maximizes the value and usability of the band,” he wrote. “By guaranteeing contiguity to successful bidders, the proposal allows winning bidders to maximize the bandwidth that will ultimately be available to consumers.” FCC officials say they can hold no major spectrum auctions until Congress approves legislative language that would let auction deposits be sent directly to the Treasury Department (see 1710240065). AT&T laid out the plan in a paper filed Tuesday in docket 14-177, by economists James Bono and Allan Ingraham of Economists Inc.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau approved a waiver for Clark County, Washington, allowing it to get early access to two 800 MHz expansion band channels to improve the operation of its site trunked simulcast radio system in two rural areas. Clark County is in the middle of a multiyear, $20 million project to upgrade its trunked radio, and grant of the waiver is in the public interest, the bureau said.

The FCC Wireless Bureau is seeking comment on a request by Echodyne to make ground-based use of its metamaterial electronically scanning array (MESA) system, a low-power, low-cost, radar operating in the 24.45-24.65 GHz band. “Echodyne states that it originally developed the MESA for airborne use in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to detect and avoid (DAA) obstacles, but users have expressed interest in using it as a ground-based security and surveillance radar,” the bureau said in a Monday notice. “In response, Echodyne developed a model that is optimized for ground-based use.” Potential uses include UAS traffic management, UAS detection at airports, prisons and other sensitive sites and ground perimeter surveillance, the bureau said. Comments are due Jan. 10, replies Jan. 25, in docket 17-352.

Verizon picked Ericsson to provide networking equipment for its commercial 5G launch, Ericsson said in a Monday news release. Verizon plans to launch a pre-standard 5G commercial radio network and the 5G Core network in select markets in the second half of next year, the company said: “Verizon and Ericsson plan to work together to move the mobile ecosystem towards rapid commercialization of 5G.” Ericsson said the two did fixed-wireless 5G trials using millimeter wave spectrum in “multiple cities and residential neighborhoods with different geographies and housing densities.” The trials are “a critical step in Verizon’s plan to deploy a first-of-its-kind fixed wireless broadband network,” Ericsson said.