The Wireless Broadband Alliance launched World Wi-Fi Day set for June 20 to focus industry, policy and public attention on addressing the divide between connected and unconnected societies. The alliance is encouraging cities, government bodies, fixed and mobile operators, technology vendors, Internet giants, service providers and retailers to unite to deliver “connectivity to everyone, everywhere.” The digital divide in developing nations and developed urban centers “is still a major issue,” said the alliance. Billions of people in developing nations are unconnected, and hundreds of thousands of people in developed markets like the U.S. are still struggling to gain Internet access due to poor infrastructure or slow Internet speeds, it said. “As the only universal unlicensed and affordable public access network, Wi-Fi connectivity will be the key to bridging the global digital divide -- connecting the unconnected and underserved,” said Wireless Broadband Alliance CEO Shrikant Shenwai.

Kaspersky Lab and WISeKey are jointly developing technology to safeguard financial data exchanged via wearables, the companies said Thursday. Many connected devices and the data they exchange are “worryingly unprotected," they said. Kaspersky CEO Eugene Kaspersky said millions of devices “were never designed to be secure” and there’s an “urgent need to establish and implement higher levels of security for IoT devices.” The collaboration will be based on WISeKey’s NFCTrusted technology and its Cryptographic Root of Trust for IoT that has been installed on more 2.6 billion desktop, browsers, mobile devices, SSL certificates and connected devices, said the companies. Existing wearables can be retrofitted with the Kaspersky security layer by adding asymmetric identification at the device level, a WISeKey spokesman told us. The technology will be applicable to other IoT sectors, said WISeKey CEO Carlos Moreira.

The FCC was wrong in its net neutrality order and wireless competition report, and in other orders, to refuse to say mobile broadband is a substitute for wireline broadband, Free State Foundation President Randolph May said Thursday in a blog post. “The fact that 13 percent of Americans in 2015 were ‘smartphone-only,’ which is more than a 60 percent increase in two years, shows that a growing number of consumers perceive mobile and fixed broadband to be substitutable services,” May wrote. “The increasing substitutability of mobile and fixed broadband services is making an already competitive broadband market even more competitive. The Commission should not ignore the actual realities of the marketplace and clear patterns of consumer behavior in order to pursue a pro-regulatory agenda.”

The FCC Wireless Bureau approved AT&T’s buy of two lower 700 MHz C-block licenses in Texas from Peoples Wireless Service. “After carefully evaluating the likely competitive effects of AT&T’s increased aggregation of below-1-GHz spectrum from the proposed transaction, as well as the other factors ordinarily considered in a case-by-case review, we find that the likelihood of competitive harm is low," the bureau said. “Further, we find some public interest benefits are likely to be realized, such as increased network quality and a better consumer experience.”

AT&T entered into a five-year agreement with the FCC to provide "a cost-effective IP solution that will support mobile and cloud-based applications," the company said in a news release Tuesday. AT&T's service will connect "a number of offices and data centers" and allow the FCC to alter its network and Internet needs as necessary, the release said.

Since the FCC’s narrowbanding requirement took effect Jan. 1, 2013, all VHF/UHF industrial/business and public safety radio pool licensees in the 150-174 MHz and 421-470 MHz bands are required to operate on channels with a maximum bandwidth of 12.5 kilohertz "or equivalent efficiency," the Wireless and Public Safety bureaus said in a Wednesday public notice. Wideband-only operation “absent a waiver is no longer permitted,” the bureaus said. Because wideband operation is no longer permitted, “the Bureaus now dismiss applications to renew 150-174 MHz and 421-470 MHz band licenses that list only wideband emission designators unless (a) the application also proposes to modify the license by replacing the wideband emission designator(s) with narrowband emission designator(s), (b) the applicant certifies that the station equipment meets the narrowband efficiency standard, or (c) the licensee has been granted a waiver of the January 1, 2013 deadline for that station,” the PN said. Starting Feb. 16, the bureaus said, they're extending the policy to cover all private land mobile radio license applications in the 150-174 MHz and 421-470 MHz bands that list only wideband emission designators.

Qualcomm and TDK are in a $3 billion deal for a joint venture for delivery of RF front-end (RFFE) modules and RF filters into integrated systems for mobile and IoT devices, drones, robotics and automotive applications. Called RF360 Holdings Singapore, the venture will draw on TDK’s capabilities in micro-acoustic RF filtering, packaging and module integration and Qualcomm’s wireless technologies expertise, the companies said. Growing demands in mobile communications require current and future smartphones to support dozens of bands for 2G, 3G, 4G LTE and 5G, along with connectivity for wireless LAN, satellite navigation and Bluetooth. RF360 Holdings will initially be owned 51 percent by Qualcomm Global Trading and 49 percent by TDK subsidiary Epcos, the companies said. Filter and module design and manufacturing assets, plus related patents, will be carved out from TDK and its subsidiaries and be largely acquired by RF360, with certain assets being acquired directly by Qualcomm affiliates, they said of the deal seen closing by early next year.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau reminded wireless carriers of the Jan. 18 location accuracy deadline for providers that deploy network-based E-911 location accuracy technologies. The FCC approved the rules last January (see 1501290066). Covered carriers must meet a new location accuracy standard, including being able to locate a caller within 100 meters for 67 percent of calls in 100 percent of counties or 911 center service areas covered, and within 300 meters for 90 percent of calls, in 70 percent of counties or service areas, the bureau said in a Wednesday public notice.

A “broad cross-section of commenters” supports a protection framework that establishes maximum aggregate received power levels for grandfathered 3650 MHz-3700 MHz base stations to protect them from harmful interference from Citizens Broadband Radio Service users in the 3.5 GHz shared spectrum band, Google said in reply comments in docket 12-354. Google proposed the FCC establish an aggregate received signal strength limit of -95 dBm/MHz (or -85dBm/10 MHz) at locations where equipment is located “rather than creating inefficient protection zones” (see 1512290038). Google said groups including the Wireless ISP Association and the Wireless Innovation Forum favor a similar plan. The Utilities Telecom Council said it supports the FCC’s general approach on grandfathered wireless protection zone (GWPZ), but believes they should be larger than the agency proposed. “As the comments of UTC and several utilities on the record explain, the GWPZ should be expanded because utilities have made significant investments in the 3.5 GHz band (3550-3700 MHz band), and the reliability of these systems must be maintained in order to ensure the safe, effective and secure delivery of essential electric, gas and water services to the public at large,” UTC said in reply comments. “Utilities represent the significant majority of incumbent systems in the 3.5 GHz band, and the GWPZ uniquely impacts utilities.”

MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) expects to add mainstream record labels as it eyes various devices plus the car, and Atlantic Records expects to release tracks in the High-Res Audio format, Atlantic CEO Craig Kallman told us. The smartphone holds a lot of appeal for MQA because it’s the listening device of choice for an entire generation of music lovers, said Spencer Chrislu, MQA director-content services. MQA’s flexibility suits it well to the smaller device, he said Friday at CES in Las Vegas. “The idea that with MQA embedded into it you can now get 1,000 songs on your portable player but not have to deal with lossy compression … is a great opportunity to get at this generation that’s never been able to experience that.” Benefits are audible via a file downloaded to a network-attached storage drive or via a streaming service, he said. Chrislu said MQA is working with “many” on the hardware side on integration.