The FCC Public Safety Bureau reminded carriers and commercial mobile radio service providers they face a key filing deadline June 2 on E-911 location accuracy benchmarks. “The initial benchmark requires CMRS providers to provide, as of April 3, 2017, dispatchable location or x/y location (latitude and longitude) within 50 meters for 40 percent of all wireless 911 calls,” the bureau said in a Thursday public notice. “CMRS providers must certify compliance with this benchmark no later than June 2.” The bureau said it opened a new docket, 17-78, for filing E-911 location accuracy certifications.

LG Electronics filed a Tariff Act Section 337 complaint seeking a ban on imports of LTE wireless communication devices imported by BLU Products. LG said BLU’s Dash, Energy, Life, Neo, Pure, Speed, Studio, Vivo, Win and R1 HD mobile phone products infringe its patents, and are imported by CT Miami, a company related to BLU, on BLU’s behalf. As technologies essential to the LTE communication standard, LG committed to license use of the patents on fair terms, but BLU didn't respond to LG attempts to negotiate a fair and reasonable licensing deal, LG said. LG seeks a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders banning import and sale of infringing LTE mobile devices by BLU. The International Trade Commission is seeking comment by April 10, it said in Friday's Federal Register. LG also is pursuing BLU in court (see 1703270059). BLU didn't comment Friday.

Having landed three deals licensing the BlackBerry brand and intellectual property to smartphones shipped by other companies (see 1612200062), BlackBerry is “expanding to the next phase of our licensing program” that will “focus on a broader set of end points,” CEO John Chen said on a Friday earnings call. “What this might mean -- and I make no promise -- is that you may soon see a BlackBerry tablet.” Before the tablet can progress to the next stage of commercial reality, "we have to QA it, we have to do a lot of things with it, so it’s not a 100 percent-committed thing," Chen said of the quality assurance process. "It’s going to come from our partners.” not from BlackBerry itself, he said. He didn't identify the licensee that’s weighing the possible tablet introduction. With more than “100 million lines of software code in some of today’s vehicles, there’s a growing risk of security breaches and failures,” Chen said of connected cars.

An Apple iPhone update this week patched a vulnerability that could cause the devices to repeatedly dial 911, overwhelming emergency-number operators, a spokesman confirmed. A spike in abandoned calls earlier this month overwhelmed 911 operators in Dallas. The city has been investigating (see 1703170040).

The National Emergency Number Association said it's pleased wireless carriers' privacy and security plan for the National Emergency Address Database (NEAD) got general support. The FCC Public Safety Bureau sought comment on the plan; replies were due Thursday in docket 07-114 (see 1702280051). NENA said it felt compelled to respond to earlier comments by the National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) and its supporters. They argue access should be provided to 911 entities and their authoritative geographic information system (GIS) data providers for purposes analogous to current address validation, discrepancy reporting and error resolution, NENA wrote. “It is at least implicit in the comments, however, that NSGIC seeks access to data beyond that which was contemplated at the time E9-1-1 and/or NG9-1-1 standards were developed, beyond that which was negotiated between NENA, APCO, and the four largest wireless carriers and included in the Commission's rules, and beyond that which was designed-in to the NEAD architecture. Although NENA agrees entirely with NSGIC that address data utilized for 9-1-1 purposes must be validated in advance of use, we are compelled to reaffirm our commitment to the standards, the agreement and rules, and the significant work that has already gone into architecting the NEAD.” The New York State Office of Information Technology Services said the request to add “pre-validation of a NEAD dispatchable location, including its additional ‘subaddress’ information, as an allowable government use for 9-1-1 purposes’ to the NEAD Privacy and Security Plan” is critical to public safety answering points and GIS data providers. Both “need to confirm civic address locations within the NEAD are valid prior to their use during a 9-1-1 call so that should a call ever come from that device, its associated location is routable for 9-1-1 and usable for dispatch, which ultimately will save lives,” the agency said.

As full driverless technology takes over, it "will spark a transformation of personal mobility," increasing the use of shared vehicles, said ABI Research in a Thursday news release. The market researcher predicts more than 11 million shared driverless vehicles will operate by 2030, serving an average of 64 users each. ABI said automakers will design vehicle interiors that will be reconfigurable to individual needs and preferences. “Car OEMs and other automotive newcomers have been imagining the interior of the driverless vehicle for some time, usually focusing on the fact that fully autonomous operation will do away with all of the usual driver distraction concerns and enable the occupant to fully engage in other tasks,” said ABI analyst James Hodgson.

The National Emergency Number Association told the FCC it agrees with T-Mobile, which sought FCC clarification of the December order establishing a common standard for the transition from text technology (TTY) to real-time text (RTT). T-Mobile sought clarification (see 1702240035) of the obligation of carriers to deliver calls to public safety answering points (PSAPs) using an emergency services Internet Protocol network (ESInet). “Carefully reviewing T-Mobile’s Petition, we are convinced that, in one narrow case, transcoding of RTT to TTY should not be the responsibility of an originating service provider or access network provider,” NENA said in comments filed in docket 16-145. “As T-Mobile correctly notes, it would be difficult, if not impossible, for an [access network provider] to insert its own systems between a terminating ESInet and a legacy PSAP,” NENA said. “Doing so would require a novel call-routing mechanism, or would require a carrier to pay for all or part of the costs of installing and maintaining a Legacy PSAP Gateway.”

CTIA was at the FCC Monday to meet with Wireless Bureau staff, including acting Chief Nese Guendelsberger, on the importance of streamlining the rules for deploying small cells. “CTIA highlighted the importance of sound policies at the federal, state, and local levels to facilitate the rapid and efficient deployment of wireless infrastructure to support 4G LTE and 5G networks,” said a filing Wednesday in docket 16-421. “U.S. wireless carriers have invested $200 billion in 4G networks since 2010 and are anticipated to invest another $275 billion over the next seven years to build next-generation 5G networks. By developing policies that foster this capital investment, the Commission can help enable more than three million new American jobs and open the door for the wireless industry to add $500 billion to our economy.”

The Competitive Carriers Association asked the FCC to closely examine the proposed transfer of high-frequency spectrum from FiberTower to AT&T (see 1703160059). “Auction FiberTower’s 650 licenses that previously terminated as a matter of law as soon as possible, to allow competitive carriers the opportunity to bid on licenses and provide next generation services to consumers,” said a CCA news release. Competitive carriers also need the 39 GHz licenses, and “potentially” the 24 GHz licenses as well, being purchased by AT&T, said CCA President Steve Berry. “The Commission should not reward FiberTower's failure to meet its spectrum buildout requirements by allowing the applicants to make a profit on the proposed license transfer. These licenses were terminated -- every carrier, including AT&T -- should be allowed to bid on this spectrum asset, and that profit should be redirected to the benefit of US taxpayers and the economy.”

The FCC denied local government groups’ request for more time to file replies on the Mobilitie petition seeking FCC pre-emption of state and local authority over rights of way (see 1703230045). Replies are still due April 7. In a Wednesday order in docket 16-421, the commission said it already considered the right amount of time for replies when it previously extended comments deadlines, and nothing had changed significantly since then to warrant more time. “Although we had the opportunity to grant a longer extension of time, we declined because of the balancing consideration of potential delay to the Commission’s consideration of issues subject to comment," the FCC said.