The IEEE could vote as early as Jan. 18 on the long- awaited 802.11n Wi-Fi standard. If, during its week-long meeting in Hawaii, the IEEE adopts the standard, unanimously endorsed by an ad hoc industry body, initial pre-certification 802.11n products could reach store shelves by mid-2006. To adopt a standard, the IEEE must vote it out with 75% approval.
The FCC Wed. scheduled its long-awaited air-to-ground (ATG) 800 MHz auction for May 10. Companies led by Verizon’s Airfone, a prospective bidder, had asked the FCC to schedule an auction as soon as possible. The auction means that passengers on some commercial flights could have access to broadband through the ATG spectrum as early as next year.
The FCC’s long-awaited BRS/EBS order has been withdrawn from circulation so new Comr. Tate can get up to speed on its complex issues, industry sources said this week. The order involves leasing spectrum assigned to educational institutions for wireless broadband use. Meanwhile, lobbying continues. Motorola defended itself against the Assn. of Home Appliance Mfrs. (AHAM) charges that its recent data on the interference threat from microwave ovens and other IMS devices were based purely on “discredited” information and an NTIA study that tested old gear. A group representing ITFS license holders urged an end to secrecy on the terms of leases filed at the FCC.
The Wireless Communications Assn. said broadband radio services (BRS) licensees the FCC wants cleared from the 2150-2162 MHz band to make way for the award of advanced wireless services (AWS) licenses shouldn’t have to spell out in advance their estimated relocation costs, specially since relocation may occur as long 15 years in the future. The FCC is looking at whether to require BRS operators to provide this data on the grounds that operators should recover no more than 110% of that estimate. WCA told the FCC in a filing the requirement would be unprecedented. “Although the Commission has engaged in a myriad of involuntary relocations before, it has never required incumbents to be relocated to provide auction participants with anything like this, and there is no reason for the Commission to change course here,” WCA said. “Imposing such an obligation on BRS licensees will result in a substantial compliance burden, as a host of considerations that will ultimately determine the cost of relocating BRS operations perhaps fifteen years from now are currently unknown to incumbent BRS licensees.” “This is a very important issue,” said a BRS source. “This goes to… whether the Commission is going to treat fairly incumbent licensees who have done exactly what the Commission wants them to do.” The source said the issue could complicate the FCC’s desire to hold an AWS auction in June. “The Commission wants to deal with this before the auction and the AWS community wants it dealt with,” the source said. “But if the Commission adopts rules that are fundamentally unfair to incumbents we will pursue all legal remedies.”
Industry analysts and other observers view a Clearwire- News Corp. link as the likeliest outcome when the firm headed by Rupert Murdoch unveils details of a proposed $1 billion investment in high-speed Internet through DirecTV. “If you think that there are 2 possible suitors out there, at least in the U.S., Clearwire would be the one that would make the most sense,” said Peter Jarich, with Current Analysis: “Sprint is probably ruled out by the work they've done with the cable companies.”
Sometime in 2006, Defense Dept. facilities worldwide will require drivers to use hands-free devices or pull over before making or taking a wireless phone call. With only about 12 states curbing drivers’ phone use, DoD’s move significantly boosts the hands-free issue’s profile on the national scene, industry observers said. The new rules will apply on 180 large and mid-size bases in all 50 states.
Bucking trends in an arena that has done little in recent years but grow, Canada’s Rogers Communications said Mon. its wireless customer growth rate plummeted. In the last 3 months of 2005, Rogers added 216,300 wireless subscribers, down from the 262,900 the same period in 2004. Prepaid wireless subscriber net additions fell to 13,700 from 54,800. John Gossling, vp-financial operations, told the CitiGroup conference in Phoenix Rogers expected a decline, acknowledging it failed to compete aggressively on price against Bell Mobility and Telus. “We didn’t play in the free-phone space, we didn’t do the gift with purchase -- free DVD player, free hairdryer, whatever,” Gossling said. He said his company’s 54% share of the 3rd quarter postpaid market wasn’t “sustainable… against 2 big national players.” Rogers seems to have slipped thanks only to an earlier acquisition of Microcell and its Fido wireless service, Seaboard analyst Brian Sharwood told us. “If you take the numbers apart from the aberration of buying Fido, they look quite strong,” he said. “The churn numbers also look pretty good… They want to get churn under control and they're down at 1.5%.” Rogers’ cable results were more disappointing, he said. Rogers said cable TV subscriber net adds rose 35.6% to 8,000 from 5,900 a year earlier. Internet subscriber additions were 62,200, up from 57,100. Sharwood said he had expected more adds, based on very positive late 2005 data cited last week by Videotron. “The disappointing numbers are the numbers on both the IP phone and corresponding high-speed Internet and mostly basic cable,” Sharwood said: “Videotron had quite strong high-speed Internet and quite strong basic cable growth and that hadn’t happened in the industry for quite some time.” UBS analyst Jeffrey Fan dubbed Rogers’ net wireless subscriber additions “light.” But, he said in a research report, “overall, we believe the subscriber results were in line to better than consensus expectations… We believe underlying fundamentals remain strong.”
Municipalities and other govt. bodies should be able to roll out broadband networks, but are unlikely to perform as well as major cable and telecom firms, Media Access Project Senior Vp Harold Feld said Fri. at an FCBA Wireless Practice Committee lunch. Feld squared off against Tom Lenard, senior fellow at the Progress & Freedom Foundation, who argued that muni broadband efforts drive out private investment.
Cellphone power will get ever more attention as handset makers push to satisfy demand for multi-media phones, said ABI Research. “All eyes are again on handset power consumption and battery life,” said ABI. “The power management section, which is responsible for converting battery energy into voltages to power all parts of the handset, will see renewed focus and innovation.” Power management must become more sophisticated, analyst Alan Varghese said. “As time went on the mobile phone became more of a multimedia device,” he told us: “Phone technology hasn’t progressed at the same rate.” Varghese said one answer is “dividing the phone into parts” with tools to shut down elements not in use while other parts are active. Varghese said technology developed for wireless phones easily can translate to other devices. “It’s not really a destination as much as a process,” he said.
Cellphone power will get ever more attention as handset makers push to satisfy demand for multi-media phones, said ABI Research. “All eyes are again on handset power consumption and battery life,” said ABI. “The power management section, which is responsible for converting battery energy into voltages to power all parts of the handset, will see renewed focus and innovation.” Power management must become more sophisticated, analyst Alan Varghese said. “As time went on the mobile phone became more of a multimedia device,” he told us: “Phone technology hasn’t progressed at the same rate.” Varghese said one answer is “dividing the phone into parts” with tools to shut down elements not in use while other parts are active. Varghese said technology developed for wireless phones easily can translate to other devices. “It’s not really a destination as much as a process,” he said.