Changes approved by the FCC to Part 95 personal radio services (PRS) rules in May take effect Sept. 28, said a notice set for Tuesday's Federal Register. The rules cover citizens band radios; walkie-talkies; radio-controlled toy cars, boats and planes; hearing assistance devices; and more sophisticated apparatus including medical implants and personal locator beacons (see 1705180040). The order deleted two rules, requiring the Office of Management and Budget sign off on the resulting modification of the information collections under the Paperwork Reduction Act, the FCC said. “Because subsequent review and consultation with OMB has revealed that there is no existing clearance that will be modified by the deletion of these two rules, OMB review is not necessary,” the notice said. “The same effective date applies to all of the rules in the Report and Order.”
The FCC Wireless Bureau released data about mobile voice and broadband deployment as of June 30, 2016, and Dec. 31, 2016, based on industry Form 477 submissions, it said in a docket 11-10 public notice Friday. The data is available at the FCC's mobile deployment data webpage, it said.
A group representing Apple, Amazon, AT&T and Comcast wants the FCC to address TV white spaces "as soon as possible" to "provide regulatory certainty" to TVWS operators. TechNet last week wrote all commissioners, in a filing not posted as of Friday afternoon in dockets including 17-183. It said members have been "very active" pursuing rules to successfully use the band; other members include Google and Microsoft, its website said. "The FCC has opened a number of dockets making proposals and adopting rules for how unlicensed technologies can use white spaces and has acknowledged that access to a national footprint of sufficient unlicensed spectrum is needed to drive production of affordable" TVWS technology, TechNet said. It wants three 6 MHz white space channels in every market. Tech companies sought something similar, and NAB had expressed doubts (see 1708230035). “NAB opposes TechNet" because viewers could lose programming, a spokesman replied Friday. "Broadcasters have relinquished more" than half the spectrum allocated to them "in the last two TV auctions," he said: "We’re hopeful that policymakers reject giveaways of spectrum to companies who haven’t participated in either of those auctions, and who would decimate the integrity of the broadcast TV band.”
Apps account for more than 50 percent of digital media use, comScore reported Thursday after surveying 1,033 smartphone users last month. Desktop computers make up 34 percent of digital media usage, tablet apps are 7 percent, smartphone web use is 7 percent and tablet web use is 2 percent, it said. On average, U.S. digital media users spend 2.3 hours per day on mobile apps. They're selective, too. Most smartphone users don’t download any apps in a month, and the average number is two. App discovery is down, though word of mouth, at 15 percent of users, was more effective for app discovery than social media (10 percent) or news/reviews (8 percent). Advertising was minimally effective for app discovery at 10 percent via website, 9 percent via device browser and 6 percent via TV, print or billboard.
Smartwatches will lead wearables in unit sales 2019-21, said a Thursday Gartner report, projecting 81 million unit sales worldwide by 2021 with $17.4 billion in revenue. This year, smartwatches are on track for 41.5 million. Average selling prices are projected to slip from $223.25 to $214.99 during the period, as higher volumes lead to “slight reductions in manufacturing and component costs,” said analyst Angela McIntyre.
Cisco weighed in with strong support of an ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board request to expand its scope of recognition as a body that accredits test labs under FCC rules. ANAB, already so recognized in the U.S., wants to be recognized to also accredit labs in non-mutual recognition agreement (MRA) countries. The Office of Engineering and Technology sought comment last month in docket 16-313 (see 1707200039). Cisco was the lone commenter. “As a leading vendor of IP-based networking technologies, Cisco values accreditation of test labs in support of the application of consistent certification requirements that apply equally to all market participants, and to enhance traceability,” Cisco said. “Cisco hopes that ANSI-ASQ will be able to accredit US-located laboratories so that US lab data is accepted in countries where there is no MRA, such as Brazil or China.”
The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau gave low-cost carrier TracFone until Dec. 31 to support text telephony (TTY) over its IP-based wireless service. As a reseller of wireless services, TracFone told the FCC, it has little control of timing. “TracFone asserts that its requested waiver is to enable it to provide its customers access to Wi-Fi calling,” said a Thursday order. “TracFone points out that from a technical prospective, it provides the same wireless service, over the same communications network provided by AT&T. As such, TracFone notes, it is only able to comply with Commission rules requiring support for TTY to the extent its underlying carrier complies with those rules.” AT&T got a similar waiver, also until Dec. 31, in 2015.
The Arkansas Board of Corrections and the Department of Corrections urged the FCC to act on contraband cellphones, in filings posted Thursday in docket 13-111 (see here and here). In March, commissioners approved 3-0 rules and a Further NPRM to combat contraband cellphones in correctional facilities (see 1703230056). Board Chairman Benny Magness wrote: “Those using the network to smuggle contraband cellphones into correctional facilities could use the same network to smuggle in weapons." The FCC should amend its rules to allow “surgical jamming technology, and to provide stringent measures to ensure carrier cooperation, with beacon technology, managed access technology and future technologies,” he said.
The Office of Management and Budget signed off on the final part of rules for the shared 3.5 GHz band, said a notice in the Federal Register Tuesday, when it took effect. But the FCC is looking at a rewrite of parts of the rules, with an NPRM expected in the fall (see 1708010058). Technical work remains, Fletcher Heald wireless lawyer Mitchell Lazarus blogged Wednesday. “Don’t run down to Best Buy quite yet,” he wrote. “The engineers are still working out the kinks. Under development is a so-called Spectrum Access System that will automatically assign frequencies among three priorities of users: incumbents entitled to interference protection; those who pay at auction for priority access; and the rest of us. Getting all this to work right is a major technical challenge."
The Samsung Galaxy Note8 launches Sept. 15 on the T-Mobile network, the carrier said Wednesday. (See a separate report about the Note8 launch in today's issue of this publication.) But the phone won't come with a chip allowing the use of the 600 MHz spectrum T-Mobile bought in the TV incentive auction, a spokesman said, saying Samsung will have a handset available by year-end that does. "When you put the Note8 on the T-Mobile network, it’s like putting a world-class racecar on a brand new, state-of-the-art racetrack -- it’s straight up incredible,” T-Mobile CEO John Legere said in a news release.