Samsung said it bought artificial intelligence-based network and service analytics company Zhilabs, part of a $22 billion strategy to boost investment in companies to drive growth in AI, 5G, automotive electronic components and biopharmaceuticals. The acquisition lays the foundation for 5G offerings in automation and network analytics, it said Wednesday. AI-based automation will enable new services in connected cars and industrial IoT to analyze user traffic, classify applications and improve service quality, Samsung said. “5G technology will disrupt the communications landscape for the better, but it will only be successful if the quality of the networks transferring the information can be measured and improved," said Joan Raventos, CEO at Barcelona-based Zhilabs, which will operate under its own management.

Iota told Commissioner Mike O’Rielly the FCC should approve as circulated the draft report and order on public land mobile radio use of the 800 MHz band, set for a vote at Tuesday’s meeting (see 1810020050). A representative discussed the company’s plan for building a narrowband IoT network using 800 MHz specialized mobile radio expansion band (EB) and guard band (GB) channels. “Iota is eager to complete the construction of its IoT network but is restricted in doing so unless and until the FCC releases the channels in the EB and GB,” filed TeleMedia Policy's Justin Lilley, posted Wednesday in docket 16-261.

Ericsson officials spoke with the FCC team reviewing T-Mobile buying Sprint at the team’s request. Ericsson said it focused on a “technical understanding of 5G networks.” Issues discussed included “different upgrade scenarios for existing cell sites, the potential changes needed to retrofit a site, and the flexibility designed into the Ericsson Radio System,” said a filing Wednesday in docket 18-197.

The FCC doesn’t need to act beyond its recent toll-free number declaratory ruling (see 1809260047) to protect consumers from unwanted messages, CTIA officials asked an aide to Chairman Ajit Pai, said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-28. “Text messaging is an interstate information service -- and the record confirms that the Text-Enabled Toll Free Number NPRM’s proposal to impose regulations in the messaging market would be inconsistent with the Commission’s light-touch regulatory approach to interstate information services.”

Airline industry-owned Aviation Spectrum Resources Inc. (ASRI) petitioned the FCC for a ruling that aeronautical operational control (AOC) communications be allowed in the lower 136 MHz band. “With the growth of data centric applications and automation within the aviation industry, datalinks have increasingly augmented existing voice networks,” ASRI said Tuesday (undocketed). But the lower part of the band is available only for such uses as automatic weather observation, automatic terminal information, air-to-air corridor advisory and airport control tower communications, the company said. “Grant of the requested change would serve the public interest by facilitating the deployment of advanced aeronautical communications systems,” ASRI said. “Data communications provide for greater clarity. Messages transmitted … appear on a screen in the cockpit, can be printed, and can be transferred by the pilot or co-pilot into the aircraft’s flight computer.”

North America leads the world on the adoption of 4G wireless and likely will lead on 5G, not without risks, S&P Global said Wednesday. “Aggressive 5G deployment strategy increases credit risk for the U.S. telecoms at a time when M&A, mature industry conditions, and competitive pressures are already straining their balance sheets although tax reform might provide near-term relief,” the report said. “Upfront costs are likely to be considerable and the potential financial benefits are largely unproven and could take years to come to fruition.” S&P warned revenue gains from the expanding IoT, autonomous vehicles and other new applications “will take time to develop, while capital outlays in the form of spectrum license acquisitions and fiber network deployments are likely to be substantial.” S&P said most new revenue sources will take five-to-10 years to materialize. The race to 5G likely won’t have negative implications for the credit ratings of the carriers, the report said: Capital expenditures and spectrum purchases “are manageable.”

The Wireless ISP Association told the FCC members will be left out if the agency approves only county-sized priority access licenses in the citizens broadband radio service band. The proposed rules appear headed to a 3-1 vote at Tuesday's commissioners' meeting (see 1810160068). WISPA representatives met aides to all commissioners. WISPA asked the order be changed to approve at least two census-tract-sized PALs per market. “While county-based PALs may be acceptable to larger WISPA members, the majority of WISPA members are small broadband providers that would be able to participate in the auction in greater numbers and with better opportunities for success if the Commission auctioned PALs by census tracts,” the group said Wednesday in docket 17-258. “Because many counties contain urban cores where large companies could easily satisfy their build-out obligations, the rural areas surrounding those urban areas would, in many cases, be left unserved with PAL spectrum.” Auctioning PALs by county “would give an insurmountable advantage to large cellular carriers such as Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Union Cellular (a regional provider serving our area),” said Lariat, a WISP. CTIA repeated support for county-sized PALs, as did the Competitive Carriers Association (see here and here).

Huawei announced availability Tuesday of its Mate 20 smartphone series Android phone with wireless charging capability, an ultra-wide-angle lens and file-sharing. It’s the first smartphone to support the 4.5G LTE Cat. 21 standard, said Huawei, enabling download speeds of up to 1.4 Gbps. With Wi-Fi, users can download 2 GB of footage in 10 seconds.

As more Americans move to cellphones from landlines, pollsters face challenges getting respondents to take their calls and therefore answer their surveys, speakers said at a Google event Tuesday. With more than half of U.S. adults using cellphones as their only phone, surveys have "shifted more to cellphone," said Kyley McGeeney of PSB, which does polling including for C-SPAN. "The problem is, cellphones are lot more expensive to dial" because one can't autodial them, said McGeeney, who also works with the American Association for Public Opinion Research. Most respondents are interviewed via cellphones, she told an event organized by the Society of Professional Journalists. "The noncontact rate" is "the problem" with those devices, she said, with response rates of about 9 percent. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act restricts calls from automatic telephone dialing systems to wireless phones.

Verizon met FCC staff on the data request made by the Wireless Bureau earlier this month as part of reviewing T-Mobile buying Sprint (see 1810040021). Verizon officials discussed “the status of our production of the responsive data we maintain and that we expect to begin producing on a rolling basis this week,” said a filing Monday in 18-197. The Shawnee, Kansas, Chamber of Commerce supported the deal. Sprint is headquartered nearby.