Southeast Texas won't quickly recover after Tropical Storm Harvey damaged and flooded 911 facilities and utility infrastructure (see 1708290029 and 1708280049), emergency and utility officials said in interviews last week. Surging numbers of calls overwhelmed public service answering points (PSAPs) used to far fewer requests, said one official. Industry officials said providers are working together and continue to restore service and assist with relief. The FAA cleared drones to fly into the area.
The number of cellsites down due to Tropical Storm Harvey continues to decline, though other communications services are faring worse. According to the FCC's latest communications status report Thursday, 3.8 percent of the cellsites in the 55 directly affected Texas and Louisiana counties and parishes were down, compared with 4.2 percent on Wednesday (see 1708300054) and 4.7 percent on Tuesday (see 1708290029), and no county has more than 40 percent of cellsites out of service. It said at least 270,139 cable and wireline subscribers were without service, up from Wednesday's 267,426. It also said nine radio stations were down, up from five Wednesday, while the number of TV stations down was two, one fewer than on Wednesday. The agency said the number of public safety answering points down was seven, compared with 11 the previous day, and that none of the downed PSAPs is without a re-route. In a public notice Thursday, the agency said it would extend its disaster data collection to nine additional Texas counties at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Meanwhile CompTIA encouraged tech companies to make donations, which it said it would help double. AT&T said it would use 25 drones to inspect cell towers and determine network damage in areas of Southeast Texas not accessible to cars or trucks due to flooding. AT&T also said it would deploy two satellite cell on wheels in Beaumont, Texas, and stage 12 more in the area to support customers and first responders following Harvey's second landfall.
The FCC launched a notice of inquiry Thursday seeking comment on mid-band spectrum for 5G and other wireless broadband. Intel hailed the launch, but the Wireless ISP Association said the NOI is at best a mixed bag. It's expected to be on a fast track, industry officials said. A big fight is likely brewing between two rival proposals, one led by Mimosa and WISPA, through the Broadband Access Coalition, and a second by Intel and other major players (see 1707240061). FCC members also approved several other items unanimously (see 1708030026).
A handful of congressional Democrats have publicly bucked their party’s overall resistance to negotiating with the Republican majority on net neutrality legislation, and they are unlikely to bring their colleagues back to the bargaining table soon, lobbyists told us. Top telecom-focused Capitol Hill Democrats, including Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., have signaled their party’s lack of short-term appetite for legislation amid FCC possible rollback of 2015 net neutrality rules and reclassification of broadband providers as common carriers under Communications Act Title II (see 1707130063). Some meanwhile wonder if the FCC will OK new rules based on Communications Act Section 706 authority (see 1707210040).
FirstNet updated the FCC with a list of public safety systems operating in band 14, the band FirstNet will use to build its network. Three of the public safety licensees on the list -- Kalamazoo County, Michigan; Monroe County, Michigan; and the Tennessee Department of Corrections -- were eligible for federal grants to move their systems out of the band but chose not to apply, FirstNet said. In August, the network awarded grants of as much as $14 million to help public safety systems relocate (see 1608180057). FirstNet awarded $14 million to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, $7.3 million to Virginia State Police, $3.8 million to the Arkansas State Police and $1.6 million to the Massachusetts State Police. The Department of Defense, Honolulu County; the Marshall, Michigan, Police Department; Stamford, Connecticut, Fire Department; and Post Falls, Idaho, Police Department each got less than $45,000. FirstNet filed a report in docket 12-94.
Shipments of flexible displays for smartphones and other devices are expected to reach 139 million units in 2017, up 135 percent from 2016, said IHS Markit in a Monday report. But flexible displays are expected to account for only 3.8 percent of total display unit shipments in 2017, said IHS. Many manufacturers have plans to develop foldable, bendable or dual-edge curved smartphone designs, and Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 8 in 2017 using a flexible active-matrix OLED (AMOLED) display, it said. Apple’s move into that sector “would dramatically drive up expected demand for flexible AMOLED panels,” enough for them to account for 20 percent of total OLED display unit shipments in 2017, said the researcher. “During 2016, many smartphone manufacturers have pressured display panel makers to supply them with more flexible AMOLEDs for their new smartphone designs.” Limited production capacity prevented all but “a few players” having their orders “met in quantity,” it said. Tight supply conditions are expected to ease in 2017 once Samsung Display and LG Display “start operating their new fabs to increase supply capacity for flexible displays, resulting in earlier availability of new smartphone entrants in the market,” IHS said.
Tech spending will grow 3.1 percent to $36.05 billion during this holiday season, lower than the overall retail sales increase of 3.8 percent to $825 billion (excluding gas and restaurant sales), a CTA forecast said Tuesday. CTA estimates total online holiday sales will grow by 16.4 percent to $84.2 billion.
Comcast's $3.8 billion takeover of DreamWorks Animation is complete, with DreamWorks now part of Comcast's Universal Filmed Entertainment Group that also includes Universal Pictures, Fandango and NBCUniversal Brand Development, Comcast said in a news release Tuesday. NBCUniversal CEO Stephen Burke has said the deal moves forward NBCU's TV animation plans and will help create consumer products and theme park properties (see 1606130022).
FirstNet will have stability at the top as it nears a key development: selection of a group of companies that will help build the network. The Department of Commerce said Thursday that Sue Swenson, FirstNet chairwoman, was reappointed to the board and will continue as chair. Jeff Johnson also was reappointed and will continue as vice chairman. Meanwhile, FirstNet took care of additional business Thursday, awarding grants to public safety systems that will have to move from the spectrum FirstNet will use to build its network.
Use of encryption, whether over the web with HTTPS, in the cloud or via email and messaging services like WhatsApp, has rapidly risen over the past few years as worries over cybercrime, government hacking, corporate collection and use of people's personal data have soared, several experts said in interviews over the past week. Despite the encryption advancements that are less costly now to implement than in past years, the experts said the lack of widespread encryption remains an issue within companies and governments protecting their data, as well as in mobile apps, which could expose considerable information about users if hacked.