The FCC extended a deadline to Feb. 24 for filing replies to oppositions to petitions for reconsideration of an order on mobile use of bands above 24 GHz. EchoStar, subsidiary Hughes Network Systems, Inmarsat, World Vu Satellites, SES Americom, Intelsat and Boeing Feb. 3 filed a motion seeking to extend the replies from Feb. 10 to Feb. 24 (see 1702030072), said an Office of Engineering and Technology public notice Wednesday in docket 14-177. OET noted the parties cited 24 filings that raised "complex and technical arguments," requiring "significant effort to analyze and rebut." They also said the benefits of a brief delay far outweigh any burdens. "We agree that an extension of time to file replies is warranted to ensure that the Commission obtains a complete and thorough record," OET wrote.

Cisco’s forecast that large-scale deployments of 5G infrastructure will begin affecting mobile data traffic in 2020-2021 shows the FCC “needs to think creatively about spectrum policy,” Chairman Ajit Pai tweeted Wednesday. "Enabling 5G/#IoT will impose big demands on airwaves.” Cisco said mobile data traffic’s share within total IP traffic will more than double by 2021 from its 2016 share, while average mobile data speeds will more than triple (see 1702070040).

UniPixel achieved “positive results” from in-house testing of its touch-screen sensors for use in future flexible and foldable display devices such as smartphones, tablets and wearables, the components supplier announced Tuesday. The sensors were folded and opened more than 200,000 times at a 2 mm radius at the fold, with no damage or performance degradation, it said.

FCC real-time text rules will take effect Feb. 22, the commission said in a Tuesday public notice. Comments on the related Further NPRM are due the same day, with replies due March 24, the FCC said. The commission approved 5-0 an order Dec. 15 on a common standard for the transition from text technology to real-time text (see 1612150048).

Streamlined procedures for telecom projects should apply to all federal lands and properties, CTIA commented to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. The association mostly supported ACHP proposals from a draft program comment issued Jan. 13, saying many of the proposals would speed wireless deployment on federal lands while protecting religious, historic and cultural areas. The proposals don’t cover all federal lands and properties, CTIA said. The ACHP should clarify that the National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 individual site review process won’t be required for undertakings determined not to have adverse effect, it said. ACHP should add exclusions for tower/structure removal and road maintenance projects that won’t have adverse impact on historic properties, it said. “Wireless providers have often faced delays in seeking to deploy network infrastructure on federal lands and properties,” CTIA said. “Those delays can be substantial, impairing service even when the agencies and their employees would directly benefit from more robust and reliable broadband. The delays are not caused by the effect of new wireless facilities on historic properties; indeed many times, there are no historic properties that are even potentially affected. Instead, the delays often result from different agencies having different procedures for reviewing those facilities, or from lacking clearly defined procedures.”

The FCC should require localities to negotiate fairly with the wireless industry on right-of-way agreements, Verizon said in a Feb. 2 meeting with an aide to Commissioner Mike O’Rielly. The company discussed local barriers it has faced when trying to install small cells, said a Monday ex-parte letter in docket 16-421. “We urged the Commission to use its authority under Section 2531 to require localities to negotiate fair, reasonable, and timely ROW agreements at cost-based rates.” The agency should adopt shorter shot clocks for small-cell collocations and encourage localities to speed up their approval processes, the company said.

Large-scale deployments of 5G infrastructure are likely to begin in 2020 and will begin to have an impact on mobile data traffic the following year, Cisco reported Tuesday; 4G will account for 79 percent of all mobile data traffic in 2021, while 5G will account for 1.5 percent that year. And 4G will account for 58 percent of mobile connections in 2021, up from 26 percent in 2016. Mobile data traffic will be 20 percent of total IP traffic in 2021, up from 8 percent in 2016. Mobile network connection speeds are to increase to 20.4 Mbps in 2021, up from 6.8 Mbps in 2016. Machine-to-machine connections will be 29 percent of all mobile connections in 2021, up from 5 percent in 2016, Cisco said. That increase in M2M connections will occur because of general growth in the use of IoT, it said. “With the proliferation of IoT, live mobile video, augmented and virtual reality applications, and more innovative experiences for consumer and business users alike, 5G technology will have significant relevance not just for mobility but rather for networking as a whole,” said Vice President-Service Provider Marketing Doug Webster in a news release. “Broader and more extensive architectural transformations involving programmability and automation will also be needed to support the capabilities 5G enables, and to address not just today's demands but also the extensive possibilities on the horizon.”

Major wireless carriers detailed their efforts to improve 911 indoor location accuracy pursuant to a FCC order in January 2015 (see 1501290066). AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon reported on their plans and actions to implement new regulatory obligations, including to meet certain indoor accuracy benchmarks for 911 calls, in filings (here, here, here and here) posted Monday and Friday in docket 07-114 that provided extensive technical information. Under the rules, "nationwide wireless carriers are required to generate either a Dispatchable Location ('DL') or X/Y location information within 50 meters for a certain percentage of wireless calls to 9-1-1 within specific timeframes," Sprint explained. "Dispatchable Location solutions provide the verified street address, plus additional location information from the planned National Emergency Address Database ('NEAD') that will help locate, with increased accuracy, a wireless device placing a call to 9-1-1. By developing Dispatchable Location solutions, wireless providers are leveraging evolving wireless technologies, such as WiFi and Bluetooth, to help improve the ability of first responders to efficiently and safely respond to wireless 9-1-1 callers that may be located indoors." The four carriers also "agreed to fund and implement a NEAD containing the locations of wireless access points to help provide a Dispatchable Location to public safety answering points," Sprint said.

The global in-car entertainment hardware market is on track to reach $36 billion by 2021, from $28 billion in 2016, Futuresource Consulting reported Monday. "The lines between couch and car are beginning to blur," said the research firm. As "ride-sharing and car-sharing become more popular," consumers “are spending less time driving and more time consuming entertainment and media in the car.” Better in-car entertainment systems “are allowing the integration of personal mobile devices, leading to even greater device usage in the car through both smartphones and tablets,” it said. "We're going to see the car repositioned as an entertainment provider for its occupants, rather than just a means of transport. Personal devices will work seamlessly when in the car, altering environment and driving preferences based on the driver.”

That 5G will support 1-Gbps data throughput rates suggests that TV and video delivery likely will become a “core capability” of next-generation 5G wireless services, Strategy Analytics reported Monday. “Combining 5G with other networking enhancements and technologies would allow operators to support TV-equivalent services” that could “eat into” the $500 billion global TV and video market opportunity currently served by pay-TV and terrestrial broadcast service providers, it said. “Data rates get the headlines, but other network technologies will also make or break the business case for 5G TV services,” it said. “The efficiency of the end-to-end network will determine whether 5G TV is possible.” But early demonstrations suggest 5G TV “will arrive sooner or later in many parts of the world,” it said.