Annual IP traffic will likely triple between 2014 and 2019, when it will reach 2 zettabytes, said a news release Wednesday releasing the Cisco Visual Networking Index Forecast. Some of the growth will come from increasing mobile access and demand for video services, which will represent 80 percent of global IP traffic by 2019, the study said. Global IP traffic will reach 168 exabytes per month by 2019, up from 59.9 exabytes per month in 2014, Cisco predicted.

Eden Rock Communications said it agreed to be bought by Nokia Networks. Financial terms weren't announced. The deal gives Nokia Eden’s self-organizing network (SON) technology -- designed to make the planning, configuration, management, optimization and healing of mobile networks easier and quicker. Eden said the deal is expected to be completed in Q3. “A massive appetite exists among operators for a proven SON solution with disruptive technologies, open framework and carrier-class capabilities,” said Eden Rock CEO Charles Immendorf in a Wednesday news release. “Via this acquisition, Nokia Networks brings complementary SON functionality, a renowned reputation for wireless excellence and an ascending market presence to Eden-NET.” Eden Rock is to spin off a new company taking in its spectrum sharing solutions, technology and patents, the company said. More details are to follow, Eden Rock said.

Mobile phone data and mobile Twitter use are helpful in estimating crowd sizes, said researchers at the Data Science Lab at Warwick Business School in the U.K. “Using a football stadium and an airport as case studies, we present evidence of a strong relationship between the number of people in restricted areas and activity recorded by mobile phone providers and the online service Twitter,” they said in a paper. “Our findings suggest that data generated through our interactions with mobile phone networks and the Internet may allow us to gain valuable measurements of the current state of society.” Measuring crowd size is difficult, as evidenced by “the hugely varying estimates we see of the number of people at protests,” said Federico Botta, lead researcher on the project. “We found that this automatically generated data provides an excellent basis for estimating the size of a crowd. Quick and accurate measurements of crowd size could be of vital use for police and other authorities charged with avoiding crowd disasters."

Unlicensed spectrum is no solution for positive train control, said Richard Bennett, network engineer, on the HighTech Forum blog. PTC emerged as a big issue after the May 12 deadly Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia (see 1505150047). Some public interest groups argued at the time unlicensed spectrum is the answer, but it's not, at least not by itself, Bennett wrote. “One of the most important takeaways from the Amtrak derailment is the difficulty of developing new systems for old industries that use spectrum,” he said. “This is a very technical subject that is well outside the expertise of railway engineers; it’s similar in that respect to auto safety systems that are targeted to use 5.9 GHz spectrum allocated by Congress for their use. That spectrum directly conflicts with the planned expansion of Wi-Fi. These systems also stress the ability of radio engineers because they don’t know the application very well.” Bennett said LTE-unlicensed could have use in PTC. “It could very well be the case that the railroads would be best served by an LTE-U-like hybrid system that combines the licensed spectrum already in the hands of mobile operators with unlicensed spectrum capable of doing the up-close work of monitoring train speed, direction, and identity,” he said.

Northstar Wireless asked the FCC to reject a pleading by AT&T that it said supports petitions asking the agency to reject Northstar’s applications for the licenses it won in the AWS-3 auction. Northstar was one of the two designated entities (DEs) working with Dish Network in the auction (see 1505190046). The AT&T motion is “misleadingly styled as a ‘partial opposition’ when it actually arguably appears to seek denial of Northstar’s applications,” Northstar said. “Rather than file a petition to deny, AT&T has attempted to piggyback on timely filed applications.” The “stratagem” should be denied, Northstar said. The DE is controlled by Doyon, an Alaska Native Corporation. Dish is “confident” it and the DEs followed FCC rules in the auction when they bought $13.3 billion worth of spectrum for $10 billion, saving more than $3 billion in discounts, Dish CEO Charlie Ergen said on a recent earnings call (see 1505110035). AT&T is "not an applicant for the licenses at issue in this proceeding," Northstar said. "Moreover, AT&T does not qualify within the meaning of an 'interested party' under Section 1.939(f) of the Commission’s rules as it alleges no ownership or other interest in the licenses in question." The AT&T filing was made May 18 and challenges to the license applications were due at the FCC May 11, Northstar said.

Wireless has a big role to play if the FCC moves forward on a Lifeline program overhaul (see 1505010051), CTIA said in an ex parte filing at the agency. CTIA officials met with Gigi Sohn, aide to Chairman Tom Wheeler, and officials in the Wireline Bureau, the group said. CTIA offered “general support for the Commission’s recent efforts to deter waste, fraud and abuse in the Lifeline program, including support for the National Lifeline Accountability Database, which has successfully limited duplicate enrollments,” the filing said. The FCC is expected to expand the program to offer a minimal level of broadband support, CTIA said. “In potentially defining broadband as an eligible service for purposes of the Lifeline program, CTIA encouraged the Commission to recognize the unique characteristics and ability of mobile broadband services to offer affordable broadband services to low-income consumers.” The filing was in docket 11-42.

Initial comments demonstrate broad support for a proposal to introduce new, full-power, interstitial 12.5 kHz “offset” channels in the 809-817/854-862 MHz band, said the Enterprise Wireless Alliance in reply comments posted by the FCC Wednesday. EWA sought change in 2009 and the FCC asked for comment in February (see 1505130018). Replies were posted in docket 15-32. The comments filed “confirm that the Part 90 community has a keen interest in deriving highly efficient use from its limited spectrum allocations,” EWA said. “Virtually all parties support the availability of 800 MHz interstitial channels in the 800 MHz Mid-Band if appropriate protection is provided to adjacent 25 kHz bandwidth systems.” Some critics question whether the interstitial channels can be deployed without creating interference for 25 kHz channel licensees, the alliance said. “The Land Mobile Communications Council (LMCC) is close to completing a detailed matrix that will enable frequency advisory committees (FACs) that chose to coordinate these channels to make appropriate, consistent determinations as to the interference potential between interstitial and full channel systems.” The LMCC recommended some protections for incumbent users of the band based on rules already established by the FCC, including co-channel and adjacent channel separation and limits and antenna power and height. “Proceed conservatively and err, if at all, on the side of protecting the operations of incumbent 25 kHz systems,” LMCC advised the FCC.

IDC sees global smartphone shipments growing 11.3 percent in 2015, less than half the 27.6 percent growth the market experienced in 2014, the research firm said in a “tracker” report Tuesday. “While overall smartphone growth will continue to slow, many markets will have robust growth in 2015 and beyond, and worldwide shipment volumes are forecast to reach 1.9 billion units annually by 2019.” Though the firm sees iPhones dominating Android smartphones this year in terms of year-over-year growth -- 23 percent vs. 8.5 percent -- it forecasts that iPhones and Android devices will have fairly identical (7.3 percent vs. 7.5 percent) compound annual growth rates through 2019.

Hyundai became the first car company to launch Android Auto on production vehicles when it debuted the feature on the 2015 Sonata, it said in a Tuesday announcement. Android Auto will become available on other Hyundai models later this year, it said. Android Auto “brings a high technology experience” to Hyundai owners and improves safety, Hyundai said. For example, Android Auto helps keep drivers' eyes and attention on the road “by integrating the advanced driving-related functions of the user's smartphone with the familiar centralized screen, physical controls and microphone of their car,” it said. Under Android Auto, the smartphone's screen also becomes "locked," so drivers “are not tempted to look down and interact with their phones directly while Android Auto is in use,” it said.

Sennheiser representatives met with aides to all FCC members on the wireless mic maker's proposals for devices in the TV band, after the incentive auction, the company said in an ex parte filing in docket 12-268. The Sennheiser reps “disabused the myth that wireless microphone technology is not cutting edge or spectrally efficient” and “emphasized the importance of wireless microphones to one of our country’s most vital industries, content creation,” said the filing. It said Sennheiser highlighted the differences between wireless mics and white spaces devices “which allow wireless microphones to be good spectrum neighbors to incoming 600 MHz licensees and to not require control by a database.” Two clear UHF channels for wireless mics without white space devices “is a need not a want,” the company said.