Ericsson officials discussed a company white paper on 5G security during a call with FCC staff, Ericsson said in an FCC filing. "5G Security: Scenarios and Solutions" argues that 5G will present new challenges. “It is easy to think of 5G networks as mainly a quantitative evolution similar to previous transitions, such as higher bitrate, lower latency and more devices,” the paper said. “But this is not the case: 5G security will just as much be a qualitative leap forward to meet the demands of a Networked Society.” Such networks will connect industries as well as people, creating new challenges, the paper said. In the call, Ericsson encouraged the FCC to let industry work through issues as they develop. “We encouraged the FCC to use a light regulatory touch and to focus on ways of facilitating a collaborative, public-private partnership approach to engaging 5G security rather than to impose mandates by regulation,” the filing said. It was posted Tuesday in docket 14-177.

Mobile money accounts increased globally 31 percent to 411 million in 2015, the GSM Association said in a report released Tuesday. More than a billion transactions were processed in December, and mobile money is available in 85 percent of nations where most of the population lacks access to formal financial institutions, GSMA reported. In 2015, there were 29 cross-border mobile money initiatives that connected 19 countries, the group said. “Mobile money is driving social and economic impact for millions of people in emerging markets,” said John Giusti, chief regulatory officer of GSMA, in a news release. “Over the last decade, mobile money has done more to extend the reach of financial services than traditional bricks and mortar banking were able to do over the last century.”

Global wearable device suppliers shipped a total of 78.1 million units in 2015, a strong 172 percent increase over 2014, IDC said in a Tuesday report. “Triple-digit growth highlights growing interest in the wearables market from both end-users and vendors," IDC said. "It shows that wearables are not just for the technophiles and early adopters” but also have mass-market potential, it said. “Since wearables have yet to fully penetrate the mass market, there is still plenty of room for growth in multiple vectors,” including new vendors, form factors, applications and use cases, it said. “This will help propel the market further.” Fitbit, which Monday reported a 92 percent increase in its holiday-quarter sales (see 1602230049), ended 2015 “the same way it began the year: as the undisputed worldwide leader of wearable devices,” IDC said. Fitbit’s shipments climbed 93.2 percent in 2015 to 21 million units, enough to solidify its market leadership position with a 26.9 percent share, IDC said. Apple, which began shipping the Apple Watch last April, shipped 11.6 million such devices for the year, placing it as the world’s No. 3 wearables supplier with a 14.9 percent share, it said. China's Xiaomi shipped 12 million units in 2015, making it the world's No. 2 supplier with a 15.4 percent share.

Intel and LG are collaborating to develop and pilot 5G-based telematics technology, with a goal of being first to market with 5G solutions, the companies said Monday at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The effort will combine Intel’s experience in connected cars, sensor fusion and distributed deep learning with LG’s connectivity expertise, said Aicha Evans, general manager, Intel communication and devices group. 5G has been a point of focus at the conference, which ends Thursday (see 1602220064).

The FCC released information Tuesday on the number of handsets, by air interface, that individual carriers offered last year, as well as data on whether they satisfy hearing aid compatibility (HAC) requirements. The data show wide variations. AT&T, for example, offered 125 different handset models for GSM service and all but six were usable with hearing aids. All of the models offered by Verizon Wireless complied with the HAC rules. Arctic Slope Telephone Association Cooperative, in comparison, offered 48 GSM handsets and 22 weren't HAC compliant. Docomo Pacific offered 98 GSM handsets and 38 were noncompliant. Puerto Rico Telephone had 300 handsets on its rolls and 200 were noncompliant.

Virtual voice-controlled assistants (VAs) are likely to be a part of FirstNet's network, FirstNet said in a blog post Monday. FirstNet envisions a public safety equivalent of Siri or Google Now. “The role of the VA is an evolution of voice-control features,” FirstNet said. “While the initial use was for simple scenarios like dialing a hands-free call while driving, the technology soon became coupled with the same natural language speech recognition that allows a user to enter text in documents without a keyboard.” Many first responders already make the kind of VA requests consumers would on their commercial cellphones, FirstNet said. Use of a special kind of VA is dependent on secure access to appropriate databases, security and development of discipline-specific jargon or commands, among other requirements, FirstNet said. But FirstNet users potentially will be able to ask questions like “Who is the registered owner of tag number 123-XYZ and provide address information? Where’s the nearest fire hydrant to 1234 Pelham Place in Oakland? What’s the criminal history on John Doe from Kansas City?” the blog post said. The FirstNet Chief Technology Officer Devices Group filed the post.

Device makers and others used Monday's opening of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to make virtual reality and other announcements involving smartphones. VR is the “key tool” smartphone makers will use this year to market flagship smartphone models, IHS analyst Ian Fogg said in an emailed research note Monday. “In a mature smartphone market, smartphone makers compete with their older selves to drive consumers to upgrade their existing smartphones.” At Samsung’s Sunday news conference from MWC, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared as a surprise guest to tout the role Facebook’s Oculus VR technology will play in social media’s future. As a successor to audio and video, “VR is going to be the most social platform,” Zuckerberg said. Meanwhile, LG has much at stake, Fogg said, citing previous IHS projections that LG smartphone shipments would decline 3 percent in 2016. LG’s G5 smartphone was announced Sunday at MWC with a 360 CAM VR accessory camera. And Dolby and DTS announced new and expanded partner relationships at MWC with smartphone and tablet makers hoping to differentiate in the competitive market segments. DTS said it's extending the Play-Fi ecosystem to smartphones for the first time in models from Acer, Gionee and Phicomm.

AT&T is working with Ericsson on new software that will support “a new generation” of IoT apps and improve device performance on AT&T’s 4G LTE network, AT&T said Monday. “IoT solutions let businesses gather near real-time information on assets around the world,” said Chris Penrose, senior vice president-IoT at AT&T Mobility. “Working with Ericsson and our existing LTE systems, AT&T will continue to enable a wide variety of next generation IoT devices on our LTE network.” Work is focusing on CAT-M technology supporting “next generation devices” such as wearables and utility meters, and narrow-band IoT technology that “supports next generation devices like smoke detectors, pollution monitors and industrial/agricultural sensors,” AT&T said. Other work focuses on improving battery life. “This new software will support a number of IoT devices and enable existing networks to work as the foundation for smart cities, utilities and other industries to build upon,” said Thomas Noren, head of radio product management at Ericsson.

The Wi-Fi Alliance's draft test procedures for assessing LTE-unlicensed's effects on a Wi-Fi network are "on a good trajectory" but shouldn't be the basis for coexistence testing before the Wi-Fi Alliance resolves a variety of issues, NCTA told Edward Smith, legal adviser to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, according to a filing Friday in docket 15-105. The Wi-Fi Alliance also has said its draft plan isn't done and can't be used for evaluating coexistence (see 1602110041). NCTA's filing said the Wi-Fi Alliance should make clear in external communications "that much more collaboration and technical work is needed before this document can be utilized for its intended purpose." The Wi-Fi Alliance didn't comment. Wi-Fi Alliance member CableLabs has said the LTE-U/Wi-Fi test plan could be close to completion in March (see 1602120051).

T-Mobile’s network was back to normal Sunday after customers experienced difficulty with Wi-Fi calling and voice-over-LTE calling the previous day, CEO John Legere said on Twitter. “Calls are operating normally nationwide,” Legere tweeted. “I'm sorry to those who may have been affected yesterday. #WeWontStop improving for our customers.” Twitter lit up Saturday with complaints from subscribers about the network problems. “We are working very diligently to fix & I am pushing to resolve for our customers ASAP,” Legere tweeted in reaction on Saturday. Legere also released a video on Facebook Sunday apologizing to customers. T-Mobile didn't comment Monday.