T-Mobile said additional video providers are now participating in its Binge On offering. Binge On, introduced in November, allows subscribers to stream video from a wide number of services without that usage counting against a customer’s monthly data bucket (see 1511120045). Some net neutrality advocates see the zero-rated offering as potentially violating FCC rules, which T-Mobile executives deny (see 1602040060). Subscribers can now also watch Baeble Music, Discovery Go, ESNE TV, FilmOn.TV, Fox Business, Google Play Movies, KlowdTV, Red Bull TV and Google's YouTube without dipping into their data allowance, T-Mobile said in a Thursday news release. Subscribers have streamed 57 million GB of video using Binge On and 70 percent of the services that subscribers watch are now part of the program, T-Mobile said. “Binge On is a runaway hit, and adding these services is just huge,” said CEO John Legere. “Now T-Mobile customers can watch all of the videos they want from these platforms without even touching their high-speed data.”

The Enterprise Wireless Alliance withdrew a Feb. 2 petition seeking clarification of one aspect of FCC revised hearing aid compatibility rules. A modification adopted by the FCC “arguably would require all operators of 800 MHz and 900 MHz Specialized Mobile Radio digital systems to offer HAC-compliant mobile devices," EWA said in the petition. “This would expand the requirement to include, seemingly inadvertently, a category of licensees whose systems were deliberately exempted under the previous rule.” These SMR systems aren't used by the public, EWA said. It withdrew the petition voluntarily and without comment in a filing in docket 07-250. EWA confirmed that the FCC had addressed its concerns about the Hearing Aid Compatibility Act. "The staff responsible for the FCC rules that implement the HAC legislation confirmed that the SMR systems described in the EWA petition do not fall within those covered by that legislation," EWA President Mark Crosby said.

The NTIA-driven multistakeholder process crafting a privacy, transparency and accountability best practices guide for commercial and private drone operators scheduled its next meeting April 8, 1-5 p.m., at the American Institute of Architects boardroom, said a Federal Register notice published Thursday. Participants, who have been working on this issue since last summer, are discussing a couple of draft guides -- a combined one developed by the Center for Democracy and Technology and Hogan Lovells, and another presented by a news media coalition represented by Holland & Knight (see 1602240048). Issues largely involve how detailed the document should be and how it might affect news companies. The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Wednesday approved a broad aviation policy bill that requires NTIA to provide a report by July 31 on the ongoing multistakeholder process (see 1603150014 and 1603160028).

T-Mobile is “going big” on Major League Baseball, signing an expanded partnership with MLB, it said Wednesday. T-Mobile will be the title sponsor of Home Run Derby during All-Star Week and the T-Mobile Junior Home Run Derby, a new youth competition. T-Mobile Simple Choice customers on qualifying plans also can sign up opening week, April 3-10, to get a full, free year’s subscription to MLB.TV Premium, T-Mobile said. "For the last three years MLB has been with us every step of the way as we have re-written the rules of wireless,” said CEO John Legere in a news release. “This year we're doubling down.”

Futuresource Consulting estimates 99 million wearable devices were sold globally last year “across all categories,” up 76 percent from 2014, the firm said in a Wednesday report. Sales increased 267 percent to $24 billion, reflecting average selling price increases spurred by momentum in the connected watch category, it said. In the smartwatch segment, Apple “quickly established itself as outright market leader despite being late to market compared to some of the other major brands,” it said.

Local control has emerged as a big issue for FirstNet’s proposed network and the authority is paying attention, said Jeff Posner, senior applications architect, in a blog post. “Probably the most important lesson I have learned from work in this area is that local control means different things to different constituencies,” Posner wrote. FirstNet’s Chief Technology Officer team looked at the issue in its January requests for proposals, he said. “We cast the widest net and included as many ideas and suggestions as possible regarding local control,” he said. “Then, we grouped these suggestions logically, aligned them with other sections” of the request for proposal, “and organized them into areas of ‘Direct Control’ and ‘Indirect Control.’” FirstNet recently met with its Public Safety Advisory Committee Local Control Task Team in Boulder, Colorado, to discuss the topic, he said. PSAC Chairman Harlin McEwen said in a report to the FirstNet board Wednesday that one big recent recognition is that manual, local control of the network will “rarely, if ever, be necessary.” That is an important observation, he said: PSAC members didn’t understand that until a recent meeting on the topic with FirstNet staff. “Almost everything will be automated and dynamic,” McEwen said.

CTIA has real concerns about statements in the fact sheet the FCC released on its pending Lifeline overhaul order, officials with the group said in a series of meetings at the FCC. The fact sheet was released when Chairman Tom Wheeler circulated a Lifeline order last week for a vote at the agency’s March 31 meeting (see 1603080024). “The Commission’s proposal to ‘flash cut’ mobile wireless [voice] services to an ‘unlimited’ minimum offering this year appears to disregard affordability as a primary objective of the Lifeline program,” CTIA said, according to a filing. “The record and general market offerings demonstrate that ‘unlimited’ mobile wireless voice plans are substantially more expensive than the $9.25 Lifeline subsidy.” The proposal appears to move the program away from technological neutrality, CTIA warned. “By eliminating support for mobile wireless voice services while maintaining support for fixed wireline offerings, the proposal appears to violate … principles of competitive and technical neutrality,” the group said, saying many low-income people need their wireless devices to call 911 in an emergency. The FCC would be better off launching a discussion of Lifeline rules involving all major stakeholders, CTIA said. An inclusive process “could lead to agreement on a path forward to reach the Commission’s goals of unlimited Lifeline voice minutes and greater adoption of broadband services, on a reasonable timeline that will avoid flash cuts and loss of critical services for millions of low-income people,” the group said. CTIA met with aides to Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel. The filing was posted Wednesday in docket 11-42.

The global wireless charging market will reach $9.4 billion by 2020, growing at a 33 percent compound annual rate, a Technavio report said Tuesday. Wireless charging growth is being driven by rising awareness of wireless power technology among consumers and increased adoption for industrial and health care applications, especially in the U.S., Technavio said. Market leaders are Integrated Device Technology, Intel and Qualcomm. U.S. OEMs such as Duracell Powermat are investing heavily in R&D infrastructure projects in shopping malls, transportation stations and restaurants, and CE vendors Apple, Google and Microsoft are investing significantly in wireless charging, it said. Google parent Alphabet plans to test its wireless charging technology for autonomous electric cars, analyst Sunil Kumar Singh said.

In what it called a “ho-hum refresh,” IHS estimated the Samsung Galaxy S7 smartphone costs about $255 to build. The U.S. version of the S7, with 32 GB memory, has a bill of materials (BOM) of $249.55, or $255.05 with manufacturing cost, IHS said. The phone sells at Verizon for $672. Apple’s 16 GB iPhone, by contrast, has a $187.91 BOM and retails for $649, IHS said. In the refresh, the S7 received “a case of small refinements,” analyst Andrew Rassweiler said. “The Galaxy S7 is the upgrade Samsung had to do, but there’s not a lot of trailblazing happening on the device.”

Broadcom officials explained their support for a proposal to allocate the upper 30 MHz of the U-NII-4 band (5895-5925 MHz) exclusively for dedicated short range communications, while allowing unlicensed to share the rest of the band, in meetings with FCC officials. Broadcom met with aides to the FCC commissioners and with Julius Knapp, chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology, said a filing in docket 13-49. In a second filing posted Tuesday, Broadcom said it also met with FCC officials about high-frequency spectrum, particularly a proposal to allocate the 64-71 GHz band for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed use. Broadcom said it met with aides to all the commissioners except Mignon Clyburn.