Ericsson and AT&T Drive launched an automotive solution to provide consumers with "an easy way to manage Wi-Fi connectivity within their vehicles," Ericsson said in a news release Tuesday. It allows consumers to access a free Wi-Fi hot spot trial, buy a data session for their cars and manage Wi-Fi accounts within their connected vehicles, it said.

OnStar, owned by General Motors, and Synchronoss Technologies partnered to allow Synchronoss' Integrated Life mobile platform to "facilitate merchant transactions and cloud intelligence to expand the features, and contextual relevance" of OnStar's commerce and marketing platform, Synchronoss said in a news release Monday. The Integrated Life platform provided by Synchronoss will be the "interaction hub" for merchants providing "value propositions" to OnStar customers, said the release.

Cricket is offering a tough new cellphone for $79.99, the Kyocera Hydro View, the low-cost AT&T subsidiary said Monday. The handset is exclusive to Cricket, the carrier said. “Engineered to stand up to everyday ‘oops’ as well as more extreme work or play activities, the Kyocera Hydro VIEW is equally perfect for a mom on the go or a tradesman out in the field,” Cricket said in a news release. “It can be wiped off with water to get rid of sticky messes or submerged in up to 3 feet of water for 30 minutes and still perform beautifully.”

If manufacturers don't start producing hearing aid compatible phones costing less than $100, it's likely cost would exclude some Lifeline recipients from using the wireless option, said the Arctic Slope Telephone Association Cooperative in a letter to the FCC in docket 15-285. ASTAC is the incumbent LEC serving the North Slope region of Alaska. Mandating a 100 percent HAC requirement on small carriers that lack the ability to influence manufacturers will decrease the choice for ASTAC members who are nonhearing impaired, removing five popular wireless phones from the lineup, the co-op said. Reducing the choice for those consumers makes the small carrier less able to compete on a variety versus "latest and greatest" basis, ASTAC said. The ILEC suggests the FCC change the de minimis exception for providers from a metric of two or fewer devices offered to a more realistic metric of total revenue from sales of wireless phones.

AT&T released a report detailing the business opportunities provided by the IoT and providing information on the cost-cutting and revenue-boosting effects of the IoT, it said in a news release Monday. The report highlights several areas where it says the IoT can be used to improve business strategies, including connected cars, smart cities, fleet management and supply chain monitoring, and "identifies insights from industries already transforming with [the] IoT," AT&T said. The company touted itself in the report as the "North American IoT leader," and said more than 25 million connected devices were on its network in Q3 2015 and 1.6 million devices were added to its network during that quarter. AT&T also launched a website to coincide with the release of the IoT report, which "offers an interactive experience showing how every day, objects ... are evolving to help create an interconnected world," it said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after a vigorous internal debate, backed away from a warning 18 months ago urging caution on cellphone use because of the cancer risks, The New York Times reported, citing internal documents and interviews with former CDC officials. The CDC initially advised “caution in cellphone use,” but then rethought that warning. “Although the initial C.D.C. changes, which were released in June 2014, had been three years in the making, officials quickly realized they had taken a step they were not prepared for,” the paper reported. “Health officials and advocates began asking if the new language represented a policy change.” The CDC didn't comment Monday.

General Motors said it’s investing $500 million in Lyft to aid the mobile taxi service’s continued “rapid growth” and entering into a “long-term strategic alliance to create an integrated network of on-demand autonomous vehicles in the U.S.” GM said Monday it will get a seat on Lyft’s board. GM’s investment was part of a fundraising push that netted Lyft $1 billion that will go toward additional branding and product development. “Working with GM, Lyft will continue to unlock new transportation experiences that bring positive change to our daily lives,” said Lyft President John Zimmer in a GM news release. The GM-Lyft joint development of on-demand autonomous vehicles will “leverage GM’s deep knowledge of autonomous technology and Lyft’s capabilities in providing a broad choice of ride-sharing services,” GM said. The car company will also become the “preferred provider” of short-term use vehicles to Lyft drivers. GM and Lyft will “provide each other’s customers with personalized mobility services and experiences through their respective channels,” GM said. GM CEO Mary Barra is scheduled to keynote CES on Wednesday at 1 p.m.

The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council asked the FCC not to approve an AT&T request for waivers to use power spectral density (PSD) measurements to comply with effective radiated power limits for 800 MHz cellular operations in eight cellular market areas in Kentucky and Tennessee. The FCC should address changes to cellular service power limit rules through the pending rulemaking proceeding and not through waivers, NPSTC said in comments filed in docket 15-300. “However, should the Commission decide to grant AT&T’s waiver request, NPSTC urges that the waiver include conditions similar to those the Commission attached to previous grants in Missouri and Kansas, plus a condition requiring AT&T to compensate public safety entities for their time and expenses involved in investigating and resolving any interference that occurs,” NPSTC said. NPSTC had objected as well to other PSD waiver requests by AT&T (see 1505010039).

FirstNet is gaining momentum as it heads into 2016, Vice Chair Jeff Johnson said Thursday in a year-end blog post. Among the areas of progress, FirstNet is researching indoor location technologies at its technical headquarters in Boulder, Colorado, Johnson said. “FirstNet views in-building coverage as a critical part of public-safety users’ needs in the field; solving in-building coverage will improve operations and the safety of first responders,” he said. FirstNet also completed initial consultations with 55 states and territories in the last half of the year, “from the Northern Mariana Islands to Florida,” he said. “It’s great to see FirstNet gaining momentum, as public-safety stakeholders throughout the country ask the types of questions that they should.” Johnson also said that with the appointment of Mike Poth as CEO and TJ Kennedy as president “FirstNet has developed a leadership team with the right blend of public-safety and technology experience required to make the network a reality.” FirstNet is also moving “with strategic urgency” to put out a request for proposal “that will help us determine a network partner,” he said (see 1512090071).

T-Mobile CEO John Legere is predicting continuing success next year for his company. Among his predictions: “T-Mobile will keep eliminating industry pain points, and we will absolutely keep creating new ways to delight and surprise our customers” and “our LTE coverage will keep improving faster than the other guys -- and perception will start catching up to reality,” he said in a letter posted Wednesday on the company’s website. Legere also took on Verizon directly. “Big Red is FINALLY starting to realize they have a real fight on their hands!” he wrote. “Now that T-Mobile’s LTE coverage has reached near parity and is still the fastest LTE network in the country (AND we continue to improve and build out our network faster than Verizon can even imagine), we are starting to see them sweat!” Verizon didn't comment.