Jimm Phillips

As the FCC’s Broadband Measurement Group met Wednesday to plan the production of their next annual broadband speed measurement report, the commission made clear the group will produce the next report under the same data collection process that was used the first two times. “We have some disputes, some issues, between the people here in terms of the process and the policies,” said Walter Johnston, chief of the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology’s Electromagnetic Compatibility Division. “We're not going to let that get in the way of the next report,” he said.

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt’s gold medal win Sunday in the 100-meter final has become a highlight moment of the London Olympics. It’s one that Comcast and NBCUniversal officials used to demonstrate the power of NHK’s Super Hi-Vision ultra-HD technology during a demonstration at Comcast’s Washington headquarters Monday night. Reporters crowded around an 85-inch LCD screen as video showed Bolt and his rivals lined up to start the race. The technology that was shown is in early stages of development and takes many gigabytes to be sent from London to the U.S., executives at Comcast’s NBCUniversal said at the demo.

The U.S. formally opposed attempts to wrest control of the Internet away from its current governing organizations in favor of the United Nations’ ITU, the U.S. delegation to the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) said in documents filed Friday. The Dec. 3-4 meeting in Dubai will focus on revising the ITU’s treaty-level International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs), last revised in 1988. The U.S. State Department released the documents to the public after the filing (http://xrl.us/bnjbef).

Proposed rules by the NTIA on a technical panel and dispute resolution boards mandated by Congress to speed the conversion of federal spectrum to commercial use, and spectrum sharing “will bring needed clarity” to the process, but need to do more to ensure the transition occurs as Congress intended, T-Mobile said in comments at the agency. The rules the NTIA proposed in mid-July would define terminology for the transition regulations, lay out how the transition’s technical panel would work and establish resolution boards to solve transition-related disputes (http://xrl.us/bni6f6). NTIA posted the comments Thursday, a day after the submission deadline. The changes on which NTIA sought comment were part of spectrum bill enacted in February.

The U.S. will attempt to block controversial Internet regulatory proposals, which the government believes would threaten the Web’s free flow of information, ahead of the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), U.S. delegation head Terry Kramer said Wednesday, in remarks at the Information Technology Industry Council. The U.S. plans to release a key document Friday, when it will submit its initial set of proposals for WCIT to the ITU, which is hosting WCIT in Dubai Dec. 3-4 to revise the treaty-level International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs).

Android remained the top operating system in the U.S. smartphone market in Q2, but its numbers were on the decline, Strategy Analytics said in a report released Monday. The number of shipped Android-powered phones dropped to 13.4 million, from 15.3 million in the same period last year. The company’s market share stood at 56.3 percent -- a drop of more than four percentage points from its 60.6 percent last year, the report said. Apple’s shipping numbers rose to 7.9 million smartphones, up two million from last year. Its market share rose to 33.2 percent -- 10 percentage points up from last year, the report said. “Apple is rumored to be launching a new iPhone in the coming weeks, and that event, if it takes place, is going to heap even more pressure on Android in its home market,” said Strategy Analytics Executive Director Neil Mawston. BlackBerry’s market share dropped to 6.5 percent, with its smartphone shipping numbers dropping by more than a million units to 1.6 million. “Consumers, businesses and operators continue to be frustrated by BlackBerry’s limited touchscreen smartphone portfolio and repeated delays to its new BB10 operating system,” said Scott Bicheno of Strategy Analytics. Overall smartphone shipments in the U.S. fell 5 percent year-over-year, to 23.8 million units, the report said. Alex Spektor of Strategy Analytics called the quarter “one of the slowest growth rates ever experienced” by the U.S. smartphone market (http://xrl.us/bniqa5).

AT&T’s wireless data strategy is working and helping the company grow its wireless revenue, AT&T officials said Tuesday during the Q2 financial report. “We have confidence in our mobile Internet strategy,” Chief Financial Officer John Stephens said during a conference call. Competitors questioned whether the new data plans from AT&T and Verizon Wireless benefit subscribers, their representatives told us.

Verizon Wireless and AT&T’s recently announced shared-data plans caused controversy and fostered a debate on how carriers should treat wireless data usage (CD July 19 p11). Despite public interest groups’ concerns about the costs, industry experts said it’s too early to judge how their plans will affect the U.S. wireless market. The plans are unlikely to significantly change the continuing spike in data usage, said some experts we interviewed.

Early reviews for the Verizon Wireless shared data plan have been “great,” said Verizon Communications Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo, during the company’s quarterly financial call with analysts. He noted that customer adoption of the new “Share Everything” plans, available since June 28, has met expectations. “We are seeing a wide variety of customers and family share accounts opting into Share Everything, including existing smartphone customers with unlimited data plans,” Shammo said during an investor call Thursday. Subscribers get unlimited voice minutes and text under the new plans, but pay for a shared pool of data for up to 10 mobile devices. Public interest groups have criticized Verizon’s plans, as well as the similar “Mobile Share” plans AT&T announced Wednesday. The company had record wireless profits in the quarter, but saw weak results from its wireline products. Shammo also said Verizon is confident its AWS spectrum license purchase will clear FCC and Justice Department approval -- and that the deal will be completed this summer. The company is “ready to go” with the “auction” of its 700 MHz A and B spectrum licenses on the secondary market once the AWS purchase is completed, Shammo said.

AT&T said it will roll out its own shared data plans. Wednesday’s announcement prompted further ire from public interest groups, who had earlier railed against speculation that the company may begin charging for use of the iPhone’s FaceTime app on its wireless network. AT&T’s forthcoming “Mobile Share” plans will be available in late August. The new plans will allow subscribers to buy a set amount of data -- up to 20 GB -- and share it among up to 10 devices, including smartphones and tablets. Verizon Wireless unveiled its similar “Share Everything” plans last month, which became available June 28 (CD June 13 p7). Both companies’ plans give subscribers unlimited voice minutes and text, charge a graduated fee depending on the amount of purchased data and an additional fee for each device that will use the plan’s data pool. Unlike Verizon, AT&T will still offer subscribers traditional individual and family plans as well.