Dynamic spectrum access is a key to addressing a growing, worldwide digital divide, Dynamic Spectrum Alliance President Kalpak Gude told the DSA Global Summit in Capetown, South Africa. “As the world becomes more mobile, the Internet has also become far more dependent on wireless access,” Gude said, according to a DSA news release. “As we move to the next generation networks that will support the demands of an always connected society, we must confront the reality that four billion of our fellow citizens on earth lack any real connectivity. They are being left behind as the fortunate few race ahead. Access to spectrum is part of the solution to both problems confronting regulators and society.” ViaSat is the first broadband satellite operator to join, DSA said. DSA said it also added as a member broadband network and services company Brightwave.

Mobile advertising, dominated by Facebook and Google, had $36.6 billion in revenue last year and made up 51 percent of digital advertising, emailed Roger Entner, analyst at Recon Analytics. Digital advertising for the first time was bigger than TV advertising, he said Wednesday. “What is hidden beneath the numbers is that mobile advertising is taking more than the entire growth of digital advertising,” Entner wrote. “Advertising is clearly going where Americans are spending more and more of their time and where most of the data traffic is being consumed. Advertising is also moving into the segments dominated by Google and Facebook, which are dominating mobile advertising to a much greater extent than the fixed internet.” Those companies increased their share of the digital ad market from 67 percent in 2015 to 71 percent in 2016, he said. Entner cited recently released numbers from the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

Samsung Electronics America, Cisco and Verizon said they did the first successful deployment of a multi-vendor, end-to-end 5G trial network in the field, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Verizon is preparing for customer trials of 5G technology for home broadband service in five U.S. cities. “Each location offers a unique set of test parameters, including vendors, geographies, population densities and demographics, and the Ann Arbor location is the first to tackle a multi-vendor deployment of 5G,” the companies said in a Wednesday news release. “This trial highlights the readiness of key 5G technologies, paving the way for deployment of commercial 5G networks. This also demonstrates that service providers can deploy 5G networks specialized to their unique market needs by selecting individual network infrastructure components from a selection of multiple vendors.” The carrier has plans to lead the U.S. deployment of 5G (see 1705090035).

Sprint said it's experimenting with pop-up stores in Florida. Sprint Express stores will open in Miami, Orlando and Tampa, Sprint said in a Tuesday news release. “Sprint Express is designed to expand the company’s retail distribution presence, as well as better reach and serve consumers in local communities,” the carrier said. “Consumers will find Sprint Express’s temporary pop-ups at grocery stores, concerts, and special events in Miami, Orlando and Tampa.”

The FCC should hold off on a net neutrality rulemaking until the Supreme Court decides whether to review the 2015 net neutrality order, said Brett Glass, owner of wireless ISP Lariat, in a call with Nick Degani, aide to Chairman Ajit Pai. “I agreed 100 percent with Chairman Pai's desire to reverse the Commission's misclassification of Internet access service,” Glass said. Supreme Court review is “the most likely path to a certain and lasting outcome,” said a filing in docket 17-108. “We further asked that [Pai] specifically publish a statement saying that he preferred the Court to rule on the case before acting, encouraging it to settle some or all of the issues it raised.” Glass said that as a small company, Lariat has had trouble obtaining financing while uncertainty continues over regulation of the internet and ISPs.

Mattel should stop production of Aristotle, a baby monitor with artificial intelligence like Amazon Echo, the Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood said Tuesday in a news release as it launched a petition. The Wi-Fi-enabled device watches and listens to children with a camera and mic, stores data about the child’s activity and shares it to other apps and online retailers, CCFC said. "Aristotle is no friend to babies or children -- it’s a marketing device and a data-collecting intruder into family privacy," said Executive Director Josh Golin. Mattel didn’t comment.

Broadcom officials said they spoke with Rachael Bender, aide to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, to urge a decision on Wi-Fi in the 5.9 GHz band. Broadcom was one of the companies that submitted Wi-Fi prototype equipment so the Office of Engineering and Technology can test co-channel operation of auto safety and Wi-Fi devices, said a filing in docket 13-49. “Broadcom continues to be a strong proponent of the rechannelization plan for the 5850-5925 MHz band, which will establish three dedicated 10 megahertz channels for dedicated short range communication (DSRC) latency-sensitive safety applications while designating 45 megahertz of shared spectrum for unlicensed operations and other DSRC applications in the 5850-5895 MHz portion of the 5.9 GHz band.”

The Wireless ISP Association endorsed the draft NPRM​ on net neutrality circulated by Chairman Ajit Pai for a vote at next week’s commissioners' meeting. Seventy WISPA members signed a letter. Reclassification of broadband under Title II of the Communications Act is a problem for WISPs, the group said. “Our relative lack of size and scale frustrates our ability to attract the additional private capital that would enable us to more rapidly expand our networks to help bridge the urban-rural digital divide and to densify our networks to improve the consumer experience through higher speeds and better performance,” said the filing in docket 17-108. “Our challenges are exacerbated by the Title II Order the FCC adopted in 2015, which has significantly increased compliance burdens and regulatory risk through heavy-handed regulation that is rife with uncertainty.” The WISPs said small providers face disproportionate burdens trying to comply with one-size-fits-all rules like those in the 2015 net neutrality order. The WISPs singled out the “general conduct” standard in the 2015 order as particularly troublesome.

There's “great promise” for blockchain to “alter and transform established industries beyond” financial technologies, ABI Research reported Monday. Blockchain-based applications “can be used for numerous applications, including: digital identities, governance, asset tracking, and [machine-to-machine] transactions, among many others,” said analyst Michela Menting in a news release. “Blockchain can affect and perhaps radically transform all kinds of interactions.” With more than 1,500 blockchain startups, the technology generated more than $500 million in venture capital funding globally in 2016, ABI said. Vendors will need to address economics, legal and privacy issues for the technology, the firm said. “While the cryptocurrency market may be maturing, IoT applications are still largely untested,” Menting said in the news release.

Straight Path said Monday a rival bidder to AT&T's offer to buy the company and its high-frequency spectrum raised its bid (see 1705030056) from $2.3 billion to $3.1 billion, or $184 per share. Industry officials believe Verizon is the bidder but neither Verizon nor Straight Path have confirmed. Straight Path reported the revised bid in a news release. AT&T earlier agreed to buy Straight Path for $1.6 billion (see 1704260041). “In the span of just a few weeks, the value of millimeter wave spectrum has risen from about $0.009 per MHz-POP, to $0.017 per MHz-POP,” Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson wrote Monday. The situation is complicated and Straight Path owns key blocks in the 39 GHz band the FCC plans to auction for 5G, Moffett wrote. “He who owns Straight Path has all the leverage in working with the FCC to repackage the spectrum for an upcoming auction,” he said. "And it goes without saying that should the auction be materially delayed, he who owns Straight Path will hold essentially all the usable 39 GHz licenses on the market.” Moffett also noted the FCC still has leverage: “The FCC will have to approve a license transfer, as they would in any spectrum transaction, and it is quite possible that they would only do so on the condition that the buyer agree to a repacking to make the rest of the 39 GHz band usable.” Straight Path shares closed up 33 percent Monday at $214.74.