Samsung’s chip business propped up earnings in Q4, offsetting flat CE sales hit by the Galaxy Note7 recalls and production shutdown in October. Overall sales hit 53.3 trillion Korean won (US $45.6 billion) in the quarter, with earnings of 7.1 trillion won ($6.1 billion), said the company's Tuesday earnings release. In mobile, operating profit grew to 2.5 trillion won ($2.1 billion) on sales of core smartphone products, while the S7 and S7 edge sales grew “slightly,” it said. Samsung predicts a slowdown in the smartphone market for 2017, “but new services such as AI [artificial intelligence] will become a new opportunity for differentiation,” it said.

Results from an Intel survey on family dynamics in connected homes say 76 percent of parents in select regions around the world allow their children to take an internet-connected device to bed, and just 23 percent of parents said they used software to monitor their children’s internet activity. Some 35 percent of parents said they monitored children’s device usage by keeping the devices in their possession, allowing children to use them only when the parents are around, it said Tuesday. Four in five parents said they're concerned about their child potentially interacting with a social predator or cybercriminal online, and 34 percent have discovered their child visited an inappropriate website. Tips from Intel on online safety: Start conversations early, set a good example by limiting time on social networks, keep strangers out of children’s online interactions and use security software to manage and protect connected devices. Intel Security commissioned the December survey of 13,000 adults ages 18-55-plus that included respondents in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, U.K. and U.S.

Sprint named Néstor Cano chief operating officer, a new position. “Cano will be responsible for delivering operational excellence, driving further expense reductions, and strengthening systems and processes across the business,” the carrier said in a Tuesday news release. He was previously president-European operations at Tech Data, which distributes IT products and services.

Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Elliot Kaye praised results of the Samsung Note7 recall, citing a 97 percent (“and counting”) consumer response rate, while urging the 2-plus percent of outstanding customers to “do the right thing,” in an email update Tuesday. Samsung has been "accountable in taking steps to drive up the recall response rate and keeps pushing, as they should, for every one of the recalled [phones] to be returned,” said Kaye, urging the industry to “modernize and improve the safety standards for lithium-ion batteries in consumer electronics and also stay ahead of new power sources that will inevitably come along and replace these.” Consumers “expect more power from a smaller battery that charges faster and discharges more slowly,” said Kaye, noting companies are “under a lot of pressure to meet this performance demand.” CPSC and Samsung are working with the wireless industry, battery makers and electrical engineers “to take a fresh look at the voluntary standard for lithium-ion batteries in smartphones,” Kaye said. “The overheating is a fire risk" and defective batteries are a serious issue, he said, "so I urge the remaining Note7 owners who are holding out to do the right thing and get a full refund or a new phone." After hoverboard and smartphone battery recalls, CPSC added to its operating plan a project for its technical staff to assess high-density battery technology, innovations in the marketplace, gaps in safety standards, and the research and regulatory activities in other countries, he said. “Beyond an excellent recall response rate, we need more good to come out of the Note7 recalls and I believe Samsung agrees." At a minimum, he said, industry needs to learn from the experience "and improve consumer safety by putting more safeguards in place during the design and manufacturing stages to ensure that technologies run by lithium-ion batteries deliver their benefits without the serious safety risks.”

No satellite operator seriously disputes that full-band, full-arc coordination of earth stations has kept notable amounts of spectrum out of service and blocked fixed service links that could use that spectrum, said the Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition Tuesday in reply to satellite industry objections (see 1701090067) to FWCC-proposed changes to earth station licensing rules (see 1612270034). Satellite interests argued the FWCC didn't present evidence of FSS blocking FS links, what it has shown is that relatively anemic FS use of the 4 GHz band "makes a compelling case for blocking by earth stations," it said. The coalition said coordination successes at higher frequency bands don't support the current FSS licensing practices. FWCC said its proposal would address most of the concerns brought up by satellite interests -- for example, its proposed waiver process accommodating earth stations that commonly communicate with a changing cast of satellites, and the availability of growth capacity accommodating unexpected customer demands and dealing with emergencies. The group said that the current rules regime "does actual harm to FS in many of the same ways that satellite interests assert our proposal would harm them." The comments were to be posted Tuesday in RM-11778.

EchoStar and Inmarsat are pushing for reconsideration of some parts of the FCC spectrum frontiers decision. Representatives of the companies, in a meeting Monday with the International Bureau Satellite Division, said parts of spectrum frontiers "did not sufficiently consider the relative costs and benefits" and urged the FCC to revise the conditions for deployment of fixed satellite service (FSS) earth stations by axing the rule barring deployment near roads, event venues, railroads and other specific locations -- calling that rule "ambiguous at best" -- and replacing the 0.1 percent metric for earth station deployment with the coordination regime previously proposed by EchoStar and AT&T. The two satellite companies said that coordination regime would let the FCC delete the rule limiting FSS operators to three earth stations in a county or partial economic area. The satellite operators also urged the FCC to set up a means for letting FSS operators identify where upper microwave flexible use services are operating, such as a licensing database, to help with coordination, and to clarify the application of its rules to permit additional antennas at grandfathers 28 GHz earth station sites and to provide that most UMFUS service rules to FSS operators that acquire a UMFUS license for the purpose of protecting their earth stations. An EchoStar/Inmarsat filing Tuesday in docket 14-177 said the meeting included EchoStar Senior Vice President-Regulatory Affairs Jennifer Manner, Inmarsat Regulatory Director Giselle Creeser and Satellite Division Chief Jose Albuquerque. A separate ex parte filing in the docket Tuesday recapped a meeting between EchoStar and division personnel about means for ensuring FSS and UMFUS have adequate access to the 39, 47 and 50 GHz bands. That filing said EchoStar urged the FCC to preserve FSS' co-primary status in the 47 GHz and lower GHz bands and adopt the AT&T/EchoStar joint sharing proposal for those bands (see 1604070059). EchoStar also said the FCC needs to refrain from acting on the upper 50 GHz band since that could unduly influence the outcomes of ITU radiocommunication sector studies of the band, plus a Boeing petition for rulemaking regarding the band. The satellite firm said the FCC should allow FSS systems to operate in the 39 GHz band at ITU-approved power-flux density levels so as to overcome rain fade.

T-Mobile’s “no surprise” Mobile One plan is now in effect, it said Monday in a news release about the product that was announced at CES. Under the plan, subscribers pay the listed price for service with taxes and fees rolled in. “T-Mobile ONE now includes all monthly taxes, surcharges and fees,” the carrier said. “When a family of four signs up to pay $40 each with autopay for the unlimited T-Mobile ONE, they actually pay just that for unlimited wireless service -- per person and not a penny more.”

Sprint withdrew a Boost Mobile petition for limited designation as an eligible telecom carrier in various markets under the Lifeline program. The filing lists “Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maine, New Hampshire, North Carolina, New York, Tennessee, Texas, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the District of Columbia, Including Tribal Areas.” The carrier, in docket 09-197, didn't offer explanation. The company didn't comment Monday. Boost is a Sprint subsidiary offering low-cost, prepaid wireless service.

Sprint said Monday it's buying one-third of Tidal, the streaming-music service controlled by rapper Jay Z. “JAY Z and the artist-owners will continue to run TIDAL’s artist-centric service as it pioneers and grows the direct relationship between artists and fans,” Sprint said in a news release. “The formidable pairing of Sprint and TIDAL will grow customers on both platforms by offering exclusive access for customers who subscribe to TIDAL.” Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure will join the Tidal board, the carrier said.

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International launched the Remote Pilots Council to discuss commercial drone issues within the industry and with the Federal Aviation Administration. “The RPC’s immediate goals are to bring AUVSI members together to provide feedback on real-world [unmanned aircraft systems] operations, including clarifying and offering suggestions for greater efficiency in the FAA waiver process,” said AUVSI President Brian Wynne in a Monday news release. “The RPC will identify and discuss operational challenges and potential solutions in UAS regulation as the FAA moves towards the full integration of UAS into the [national air space].” In August, the FAA issued a rule that allows drones less than 55 pounds to fly in sparsely populated areas up to 400 feet high and up to 100 miles per hour during daylight hours, and requires operators to obtain certification by passing a written test (see 1608290049). The council first met nearly two weeks ago and scheduled other public meetings over the next month, including Feb. 8 in Washington.