Chinese panel makers shipped more than a million active-matrix OLED smartphone displays for the first time in Q3, IHS Markit said in a Thursday report. Though Chinese makers account for less than 2 percent of the global AMOLED smartphone panel supply in terms of shipments, surpassing the million-unit mark in a single quarter “shows significant improvements in their manufacturing technology,” IHS said. Total shipments of AMOLED displays for smartphones set a record of 101 million units in Q3, it said. Samsung Display continued to hold the dominant share by far with 99.7 million units shipped, it said. But three Chinese panel makers -- EverDisplay Optronics, Tianma Micro-electronics and Govisionox Optoelectronics -- collectively shipped 1.4 million units for Q3, a significant increase sequentially from the 590,000 units they shipped in Q2, IHS said. Many Chinese smartphone makers are planning to adopt AMOLED panels in their devices, it said. “This gives Chinese display suppliers a great opportunity to gain more orders, improve their mass production yield rate and enhance their product reliability.” It’s forecasting AMOLED display penetration among Chinese smartphone brands will increase from 8 percent in 2015 to 13.6 percent in 2016. “However, due to the tight supply of AMOLED panels from Samsung Display, many domestic smartphone brands are turning to local Chinese panel makers,” it said. “Chinese panel makers are still too small to threaten Samsung’s dominant position, but they still play an important role as a second or third source for major smartphone brands in China,” IHS said. Moreover, as Samsung Display shifts its focus to flexible OLEDs, Chinese panel makers “are expected to expand their shares in the rigid OLED panel market,” it said.

LG will bow four K series smartphones for the mid-range market at CES, said the company in an announcement. The phones bring features from high-end models to a broader audience including a 120-degree wide-angle front camera lens, 2.5D arc glass design and a rear fingerprint scanner, said the company. It will also debut the third-generation Stylo 3 smartphone with a fiber-tip stylus that’s said to simulate the feel and feedback of a pen when users write on the screen.

Total Call Mobile agreed to pay $30 million to resolve fraud investigations by the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York into allegations the company “enrolled tens of thousands of duplicate and ineligible consumers” in the Lifeline program, the FCC said in a Thursday news release. Total Call admitted to engaging in “fraudulent practices” and will permanently lose its authorizations to participate in the Lifeline program anywhere in the U.S., the FCC said. FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc said: “This unprecedented $30 million settlement along with a permanent ban from the Lifeline program affirms our commitment to pursue the strongest sanctions for those who defraud or abuse the Universal Service program.” Total Call admitted hundreds of its sales agents enrolled duplicate and ineligible subscribers into the program through the use of “fake and repeated eligibility cards” and false subscriber information, the FCC said. “Total Call also admits that its managers failed to take corrective action when they received reports of these fraudulent activities and failed to put in place systems to prevent fraudulent conduct.” The company couldn't be reached for comment.

Eleven percent of consumers in U.S. broadband homes own a smartwatch, up from 6 percent at the beginning of 2015, Parks Associates reported Wednesday. Fifty-eight percent use their smartwatch for fitness tracking, said Parks, and 57 percent use it to receive notifications such as texts and Facebook updates. Nine percent of smartwatch owners use their device for smart home control, it said.

Tanya Sullivan is stepping down as CEO of the Rural Wireless Association, to be replaced by Brian Woody, who already holds the title of president, RWA said in a news release Wednesday. RWA also appointed Michele Giroux, who it said has 30 years of experience in areas including management and administration, as chief administrative officer, overseeing day-to-day management, the association said.

The FCC Wireless Bureau approved AT&T’s buy of a single 700 MHz B-block license covering one local market area in New Jersey from Qualcomm. AT&T already has more than one-third of the below-1 GHz spectrum in New Jersey 1-Hunterdon, so the deal got extra scrutiny, the bureau said. “The record provides general support for the Applicants’ contentions that the proposed transaction would likely result in some public interest benefits post-transaction in this market,” said a Wednesday order. “We anticipate that AT&T, through the acquisition of this … spectrum, would likely be able to improve and enhance its LTE network. By adding this specific low-band spectrum to fill in the gap in its Lower 700 MHz spectrum holdings in the Northeast corridor between Boston and Washington D.C., AT&T potentially would be able to provide its consumers with consistently greater throughput.” The bureau also cleared AT&T’s buy of 700 MHz licenses in New Mexico from Fuego Wireless. AT&T is buying three lower 700 MHz B-block licenses and a single C-block license (see 1607050068). “After carefully evaluating the likely competitive effects of AT&T’s increased aggregation of below-1-GHz spectrum in the relevant market areas, we find that the ability of rival service providers to offer a competitive response to any anticompetitive behavior on the part of AT&T is unlikely to be materially lessened,” said a bureau order. “The record provides general support for the Applicants’ claims that the proposed transaction would likely result in some public interest benefits.”

APCO, the National Emergency Number Association and National Association of State 911 Administrators jointly expressed concerns about a CTIA proposal for quarterly 911 live call reports by the carriers, due at the FCC starting in February. “CTIA included a proposed template for the reports and explanatory information regarding the carriers’ intent to exclude certain categories of 9-1-1 calls from consideration,” the public safety groups said. But the proposal wouldn't include some important calls to 911, the associations said. “APCO, NENA, and NASNA are particularly concerned that the carriers intend to exclude 9-1-1 calls made from roaming handsets and non-service initialized (NSI) devices,” said a filing in docket 07-114. Location accuracy rules, meanwhile, “make no exceptions when it comes to the collection and reporting of aggregate live 9-1-1 call location data,” the groups said. CTIA didn't comment Wednesday.

Proposed draft revisions to guidelines designed to improve measurement of mobile web and in-app advertising were released Tuesday for comment by Feb. 1, said the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), Media Rating Council (MRC) and Mobile Marketing Association in a joint news release. Among the changes, "References to 'served' impressions have been removed from the proposed guidelines, substituting for them with the concept of counting event-driven impressions which have a greater potential for an 'opportunity-to-see' by an end user." Separately, a proposed revision to the guidelines for desktop display served impressions was introduced that will align mobile and desktop measurement closer to digital video measurement. “These updates will be critical in delivering the efficiencies that marketers and agencies seek from digital campaigns," said IAB Senior Vice President-Mobile and Video Anna Bager. "They move measurement to more closely align with other measurement metrics, such as viewable impressions -- providing an avenue to more cohesive cross-platform measurement.” MRC will consider the input and make any necessary changes. Documents then will be shared with IAB and others for a final review.

Cellular South told the FCC it implemented industry standard capabilities in its 4G LTE network, including Internet Engineering Task Force standard RFC 4103, to support interoperable real-time text (RTT). Cellular South, which got a waiver from the agency to use RTT as an alternate to text technology (TTY), noted it was required by the regulator to file semi-annual reports. “Based on implementation of industry standard-based technology in the network, Cellular South is actively working to ensure functionality, accessibility, interoperability between networks, and interoperability with legacy TTY devices,” the carrier said in a report in docket 15-178. “By basing its transmission protocol for RTT transmission on recognized industry standards, Cellular South’s development of RTT will promote the wider availability of interoperable RTT.” Commissioners last week approved an order on the broader transition from TTY to RTT (see 1612150048).

The FCC Wireless Bureau granted the Monterey County Superintendent of Schools (MCSS) a waiver of the FCC filing freeze on new educational broadband service applications for four new EBS channels in the Salinas, California, area. MCSS also sought a waiver of the electronic filing requirement for such applications to permit it to use available EBS channels to operate an LTE network, said the order in Tuesday's Daily Digest. “In its [July] application, MCSS explains that it seeks a regular authorization to construct and operate a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network to provide ‘broadband educational services to underserved students and MCSS faculty and staff." The bureau noted Salinas ranks below national and California averages for the percentage of the population with a high school degree or higher. “Application of the filing freeze would be inequitable and contrary to the public interest under the unique circumstances presented by MCSS,” the bureau said. “Absent access to the additional channel of EBS spectrum, MCSS would face substantial challenges in providing educational content to all of the members of its school community, including underserved students, faculty and administrators.” The bureau Tuesday granted a similar waiver to the Kings County Superintendent of Schools (KCSS) in Kings County, California. “Based on the comparison of certain metrics from before and after the construction and deployment of the existing KCSS wireless broadband network, and the provision of devices and broadband services to students, KCSS has found that student suspensions and failures have decreased, the number of students being promoted and making the honor roll has increased, the number of high school students taking and passing college level courses has increased, and there has been significant improvement in student reading and math proficiency,” said a second order.