The FCC gave its blessing to AT&T’s buy from Kaplan of two lower 700 MHz C-block licenses and a cellular B-block license, covering all or parts of two local market areas in Louisiana. The Wireless Bureau said its analysis found that the deal would give AT&T low-band spectrum holdings in the two above one-third of the currently suitable and available below-1-GHz spectrum, requiring a more detailed review. But it still said the transaction is permissible. The review found that the transaction would give AT&T 12 to 37 MHz of spectrum in nine parishes covering all or parts of two cellular market areas in parts of Louisiana, the order said. Since the transaction doesn't involve wireless business units or customers in either market, the bureau said it did examine the effect on market concentration. “After carefully evaluating the likely competitive effects of AT&T’s increased aggregation of below-1-GHz spectrum in these markets, as well as the other factors ordinarily considered in a case-by-case review, we find that the likelihood of competitive harm is low,” it said. “We find some public interest benefits are likely, such as increased network quality and a better user experience.” The bureau established a pleading cycle on the deal and raised additional questions of the two companies in October (see 1410290065). The two companies sought approval last August.

Qualcomm’s Qualcomm UK Spectrum agreed to sell all of its U.K. L-band spectrum in two separate transactions, Qualcomm said Wednesday in a news release. The spectrum is in the 1452-1492 MHz band. Hutchinson 3G and Vodafone UK both agreed to buy 20 MHz of the spectrum, Qualcomm said. “Harmonized and mandated for mobile broadband by the European Union in May 2015, L-Band spectrum can be used for Supplemental Downlink (SDL), helping Mobile Network Operators to meet the global demand for increased mobile data traffic.” The SDL spectrum can be used for VOD and other “downlink centric services,” the company said. Both sales are subject to regulatory approvals, including from Ofcom, Qualcomm said.

ZTE had $252 million net profit during the first half of 2015 on $7.1 billion in total revenue, the company said in a news release Wednesday. The net is up 43 percent from the same period in 2014 and can be attributed to increased sales of 4G LTE network equipment, ZTE said. Networks division revenue increased 30 percent, while telecom software division revenue rose 36 percent, the company said. ZTE said it plans to launch several new Axon smartphone products during the second half of 2015.

American consumers spent, on average, 3 hours and 40 minutes per day in Q2 on mobile devices, a 35 percent increase from one year ago and 24 percent increase from Q4 2014, wrote Yahoo Senior Vice President-Publishing Products Simon Khalaf in a blog post Wednesday. Mobile users spend 10 percent of their time in a browser, down from 14 percent a year ago. Ninety percent of users' time is spent in apps, Khalaf said. “This has major implications on the digital industry in general and the content and media industry in particular.” Social, messaging and entertainment apps accounted for 51 percent of time spent on mobile, Khalaf said. Mobile users spend most of their time in social apps consuming news, whether that's reading an article or watching a video, he said. “This is a big trend and one that will be watched very carefully.” An unexpected result found in the analysis of mobile use was that time spent on mobile gaming declined from 52 minutes per day to 33 minutes per day, Khalaf said.

The smartphone is the most vulnerable link in the IoT, and it’s the device consumers think the least about protecting, Gary Davis, Intel Security chief consumer security evangelist, told us after a keynote speech last week on security here in Las Vegas at the Wearable Tech Expo. As the connecting point for smart home, car and wearables data, the smartphone is constantly building a profile that a hacker can exploit for nefarious purposes, said Davis. Wearables, which send information to a smartphone, are constantly collecting users’ information on location, physical activity, physiological statistics, consumption, medical symptoms, bodily functions and mental health, said Davis. "Being able to synthesize all that data is why I believe it’s the weakest link.” People he called bad actors can access smartphone data from various Internet connections including Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, said Davis, who advised the audience to shut off antennas when not being used. He said people should install security software, use full-device encryption and use only trusted app stores.

Boomerang Wireless filed an amended version of its 2010 petition at the FCC asking to be designated as an eligible telecom carrier to offer low-cost service under the Lifeline program. Boomerang wants to serve Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. “Boomerang submits this Amended Petition to expand its proposed Lifeline offering,” said the petition, filed in docket 09-197. “Boomerang proposes to provide Lifeline customers with low- cost plan options that include 250 MB of data per month, and Lifeline customers who reside on tribal lands with low-cost plan options that include 500 MB of data per month.” Boomerang asked for an expedited decision by the commission.

The FCC Wireless Bureau made 36 minor changes to the FCC competitive bidding report and order, released by the agency July 21. Typical of the changes, the bureau modified a provision on the attributable material relationship rule to read that it establishes “a bright-line test for triggering the attribution of revenues where a lease was for more than 25 percent of the spectrum capacity of any individual license.” The sentence as released said only that it establishes a bright line. Footnote 485 discussed competitive carriers’ access to “scare” spectrum. The real concern is “scarce” spectrum, the bureau clarifies.

The Food and Drug Administration approved a wireless glucose monitoring device built by Dexcom, which uses Bluetooth to transmit data from the on-person monitor to an app on iOS-enabled devices, the company said in news releases Monday and Tuesday. The G5 Mobile Continuous Glucose Monitoring System allows users to share their glucose information with up to five recipients, who can then remotely monitor the patient's information and receive mobile alerts, Dexcom said. The company previously introduced the G4 glucose monitor and apps for use on the Apple Watch, it said, and expects to begin shipping G5 devices in late September. Dexcom also said it plans to release an Android app for the G5 device in early 2016.

Bluetooth low-energy beacons can deliver more precise indoor location-based services than Wi-Fi, but have their limits, said an AT&T blog post. A beacon transmits a signal to a smartphone to share its proximity to the beacon. Beacons require mobile apps and require a company to know what it wants to communicate, said the blog post by Maribel Lopez of Lopez Research. “The beacons aren’t smart,” Lopez wrote Monday. “They transmit signals, not content. You have to code what that signal means in your app. This sounds easy, but it requires planning.” Beacons also aren’t as good as Wi-Fi for overall customer analytics, she wrote. “With beacons, a company can only capture analytics on the users that have downloaded the app,” she said. “If the store is using Wi-Fi for location services, it can capture basic information, such as entering the building, from every user that has Wi-Fi turned on and has associated at least once with the Wi-Fi network.”

Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure has only a few years to turn around the carrier, he said in an interview with The Kansas City Star. “What I know is I got hired to do a job, and I want that job to be completed in three to five years,” he said. The paper said Overland Park, Kansas-based Sprint is one of that area’s largest employers. Claure, 44, was named Sprint CEO last August (see 1408070044).