American Tower Q4 total revenue rose 22 percent to $1.28 billion from Q4 2014 as profit rose by the same percentage to $206 million, it said in its earnings report Friday. Total property revenue in Q4 reached $1.25 billion -- an increase of 21.5 percent over the same quarter in 2014. The company reported spending close to $345 million on acquisitions in Q4, headlined by a $304 million payment for its previously closed purchase of sites in Nigeria from Bharti Airtel. "In 2016, we expect to extend our proven track record of generating double digit growth across our key metrics as we drive additional organic revenue on our existing assets and selectively seek complementary new investments," CEO Jim Taiclet said.

Zero-rated offerings from wireless carriers are good for consumers, Scott Bergmann, CTIA vice president-regulatory affairs, said Friday in a blog post. “Ever dial a toll-free number?” Bergmann asked. “Or purchase an item online with free shipping? I’m sure you have. And each time, you’re benefiting from a form of what some advocates call ‘zero rating’ -- in other words, free services that provide consumers with more without paying more.” Bergmann cited FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s initial positive comments from November on Binge On, T-Mobile’s zero-rated video streaming service (see 1511190045). “Wheeler was right -- free data services are ‘highly innovative and highly competitive,’” Bergmann wrote. “We want operators competing for customers on price, quality and new offerings like free data. It is competition that compels companies to roll out new ways of improving service and consumers win.” Zero-rated offerings also encourage experimentation and meet demands for more data, he said. “Consumers demand more and more mobile data, particularly for video services,” Bergmann said. “We want to help meet that demand and promote usage on our smartphones and tablets to embrace the connected life and the Internet of Things.”

It's “incumbent” upon HP as the “global commercial PC leader” to “reinvent what the category is capable of,” such as with the introduction this week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona of the HP Elite x3 all-in-one device, CEO Dion Weisler said on a Wednesday call on results for Q1 ended Jan. 31. The Windows 10-based HP Elite x3 is a “revolutionary category-creating mobile solution that brings together mobility and computing in a truly meaningful way,” Weisler said. It “unites phablet, laptop and desktop experiences into a single device,” he said. Though Windows 10 is “a tremendous operating system platform,” HP has “not yet seen the anticipated Windows 10 stimulation of demand that we would have hoped for, and we're carefully monitoring any sort of price developments that could further weaken demand,” Weisler said. Microsoft representatives didn’t comment Thursday.

Sluggish tablet and smartphone sales led a 1.7 percent Q4 drop in comparable sales at Best Buy, CEO Hubert Joly said on an earnings call Thursday. Joly forecast flat domestic revenue for the full year on strength in connected home and other products countering slowing sales in smartphones and other categories. He cited opportunities in service beyond free setup offered by the Geek Squad. Tech support, beyond self-help, “is something that customers are happy to pay for and we are seeing increased demand,” he said. Online sales were up nearly 14 percent at 15.6 percent of total domestic revenue in the quarter ended Jan. 30, Joly said. For FY 2017, Best Buy is entering the next phase of its Renew Blue strategy, to be “the retailer that helps customers learn about the latest technologies,” Joly said. Joly said low consumer demand and high smartphone penetration “is depressing the category.” Over the year, “more compelling smartphone offerings” could fuel renewed growth in the category, he said. Best Buy’s growth initiatives include the IoT. The Geek Squad and services business are key to the IoT strategy, Joly said. Longer term, Joly is “very excited” about virtual reality.

The FCC is getting dozens of comments from amateur radio operators on a proposal that the agency give them lifetime, rather than 10-year, licenses, under Part 97 of agency rules. Amateur radio operator Mark Krotz, of Mesa, Arizona, requested the change in a November petition, on which the commission sought comment. “The FCC processes about 70,000 renewals per year (10 percent of 700,000), or about 5,830 per month, or nearly 300 per workday,” Krotz wrote. “Depending on the amount of human interaction required, this could be quite costly.” The 10-year license renewal requirement creates “a huge regulatory paper mill with questionable benefits,” he said. ARRL, formerly known as the American Radio Relay League, told members in a release how to file comments. James Smith of Atascadero, California, said his main concern is the impact on vanity call signs. “Good call signs would never expire,” he wrote. But most amateur radio operators appeared to support Krotz. “This would save me the hassle of having to mail in a renewal form every ten years, and would also I believe save the FCC administrative costs,” said Pat Kilcoyne, of Rockville, Maryland, who identifies himself as a licensee. The comments were posted by the FCC Wednesday in RM-11760.

A new consortium led by Ordnance Survey, Britain’s official mapping agency, secured 20 million pounds (about $27.9 million) in U.K. government funding to position the U.K. as a leader in connected and autonomous vehicles, the consortium said in a Wednesday announcement. The new consortium, code-named Atlas, officially opens for business in May and counts Sony Europe as one of its several members, the announcement said. Atlas will “study data critical to the efficient operation of autonomous vehicles” and “the feasibility of maintaining, processing and distributing this data is a core element of the project,” it said. “If Atlas is successful, we could see a more rapid take-up of connected and autonomous vehicles, consolidating the UK’s position as a global leader in driverless car technologies and innovation.” Autonomous vehicles “will need to find their way reliably and safely through a vast network of streets while interacting with driven and other autonomous vehicles,” it said. Self-driving cars “will combine the power of advanced sensors to detect road conditions, cutting edge, 5G communications technology to access a stream of data about the world around them, and geographical databases of routes, destinations and points of interest,” it said.

Microsoft agreed to buy mobile app developer Xamarin, it said Wednesday. In a blog post, Scott Guthrie, Microsoft's executive vice president-cloud and enterprise group, said Xamarin’s open cloud-based platform allows developers to share common code across iOS, Android and Windows apps while delivering native experiences for each, he said. Xamarin has more than 15,000 customers in 120 countries, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies, said Guthrie. Terms weren't disclosed.

Issues involving text-to-911 and wireless location accuracy for 911 call routing should be referred to the FCC Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council or the Office of Engineering and Technology for consideration, said the Boulder Regional Emergency Telephone Service Authority in a filing in docket 11-153. BRETSA is concerned that as wireless services migrate to LTE-IMS, vital text-to-911 capabilities will be lost, it said. SMS text messaging over cellular-mobile service (CMS) control channels currently allow CMS subscribers to communicate by text message well beyond the area where CMS coverage is sufficient for subscribers to make voice calls, it said. BRETSA worried that even as text-to-911 is being deployed, substantial public safety benefits of the service will be eliminated as a result of the evolution of CMS technology and systems. These issues require technical information and analysis, knowledge of the capabilities of CMS provider systems, and cost-benefit analyses that aren't generally available to public safety agencies and public safety answering points, the filing said. BRETSA asked the Public Safety Bureau to refer these concerns.

Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry and others from CCA met with Jon Wilkins, FCC managing director and soon-to-be Wireless Bureau chief, to discuss issues most important to small carriers, said a filing posted Wednesday in FCC docket 10-208. Top among CCA’s issues is USF reform and the launch of Mobility Fund Phase II “or another ongoing support program,” CCA said. “CCA will continue to collaborate with the Bureau to further develop its Mobility Fund II proposal.” It called on the agency to distribute $73 million left over from the first mobility fund. Just as important, CCA said, is access to spectrum. CCA reiterated its support for requiring broadcasters to move within 39 months of the TV incentive auction. “Likewise, it is increasingly difficult for competitive carriers to get access to additional low-band spectrum through secondary market transactions,” CCA said.

Representatives of Samsung Electronics said they discussed high-frequency spectrum with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel and others at the FCC. “Samsung noted its support for establishment of a regulatory framework for provision of mobile services in the 28 GHz (27.5-28.35 GHz), 39 GHz (38.6 to 40 GHz), and 37 GHz (37 to 38.6 GHz) bands,” said a filing on the meetings in docket 14-177. “Samsung also urged the Commission to make development of a regulatory framework for the millimeter wave spectrum bands a priority.” The FCC approved an NPRM in October on spectrum frontiers (see 1510220057). Reply comments are due at the agency Friday.