Adoption of next-gen “802.11 2x2 Multiple-In Multiple-Out” (MIMO) Wi-Fi technology on smartphones is on the rise, said a study by IHS Technology. MIMO technology uses multiple antennas at the transmitter and receiver ends to signal range and improve performance between devices, IHS said. Smartphone OEMs are gravitating to 2x2 MIMO technology, which employs two transmitter antennas and two receiver antennas, it said Wednesday. “The improved capabilities of 2x2 MIMO make Wi-Fi a suitable alternative to 3G and 4G wireless networks.” IHS sees global smartphone shipments doubling to 1.9 billion units in 2018 from 1 billion in 2013, and all but a tiny fraction of all mobile handsets in 2018 will support Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Samsung’s Galaxy S5 was the first smartphone to support 2X2 MIMO, and other makers are expected to follow Samsung’s lead, “due to a growing need for better-performing Wi-Fi in smartphones,” it said.

T-Mobile fired back at a Minority Media & Telecom Council filing opposing the carrier’s request that the FCC impose more stringent parties-in-interest disclosure requirements as part of process reform. “The record remains devoid of any information regarding the prevalence of non-disclosure or how it materially affects the regulatory process,” MMTC said in a May 8 filing (http://bit.ly/1hb7cVO). “MMTC’s suggestion that the Commission is so different from the federal courts because it knows everyone practicing before it, and the courts do not, is exaggerated and misses the point,” T-Mobile said (http://bit.ly/1x8uiRM). Certain courts, particularly the Supreme Court, “are quite familiar with a small cast of regular players,” but still require disclosure, T-Mobile said. “Second, the Commission’s familiarity with some participating parties does not obviate the need for disclosure.” The filing was posted by the FCC Wednesday in docket 10-43.

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology asked for comment on an application by Medimetrics Personalized Drug Delivery for a waiver allowing the marketing, sale and operation of its medical device trademarked as the IntelliCap Portable Unit. The device connects an electronic capsule swallowed by a patient to a central control unit, typically a laptop computer, and can be used to pump drugs into the body at a specific location, said the company (http://philips.to/1hb5jIJ). The waiver would be needed to accommodate the capsule’s small antenna that requires the use of higher power limits than now allowed to connect the pill to the control unit, OET said Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1iXAy57). The connections use 433 MHz and 2.4 GHz spectrum. Comments are due July 7, replies July 21, in docket 14-84.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau agreed to a request by CTIA that the agency extend by 30 days the June 11 deadline for reply comments on proposed changes to the commission’s wireless location accuracy rules. The new deadline is July 14. Under rules proposed in February (CD Feb 21 p1) carriers for the first time would have to meet standards for wireless calls made from indoors. The extension “is warranted to provide commenters with sufficient time to prepare reply comments that fully respond to the complex technical, economic, and policy issues raised” by the FCC, the bureau said Wednesday (http://bit.ly/Ucg7fH).

A New York magistrate judge’s ruling ordering the federal government to institute privacy protections for innocent third parties when obtaining cellphone location information through so-called “tower dumps” is a “step forward,” said the American Civil Liberties Union in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1osYWze) Monday. The ACLU disagreed with another aspect of U.S. Magistrate Judge James Francis’ May 30 decision (case no. M-50) (http://1.usa.gov/TaoAzd) in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Francis didn’t require authorities to show probable cause through obtaining a warrant when seeking “tower dump” records, ACLU noted. The practice, which involves getting location information for all cellphones from select towers during a set period of time, doesn’t constitute authorities tracking a person’s movements over a period of time, the decision said. Francis was the second federal judge to issue a public ruling on the practice, said the ACLU. The ruling involved a request in early May seeking permission to obtain AT&T, MetroPCS, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless records for some cell towers near a New York City address over more than a four-hour period, noted ACLU. Saying thousands of people would likely have made phone calls in the area during the time period, ACLU said it opposed the request as “a highly invasive dragnet search.” Francis ordered the government to submit a plan to address the protection of private information of innocent third-parties whose data is disclosed to the government. The request for the records will be approved if the plan is sufficient, he said.

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology and the International, Public Safety and Wireless bureaus will host a workshop on GPS protection and receiver performance June 20. The workshop will be in the Commission Meeting Room, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the FCC said in a public notice (http://bit.ly/1p5rBvr). The objectives include the importance of GPS operations, particularly to critical infrastructure and public safety users, and the benefits of Global Navigation Satellite System operations, it said. Panels will discuss a path forward and critical infrastructure and public safety, it said. The workshop will stream online at www.fcc.gov/live, it said.

The FCC said Monday it’s opening the pleading cycle on AT&T’s proposed buy of all 19 of Sprint’s A block and B block Wireless Communications Service (WCS) spectrum licenses (http://bit.ly/1hWUwwO), which was announced in May (CD May 16 p13). It would give AT&T 10-20 MHz of WCS spectrum in 153 cellular market areas in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, the FCC said. Petitions to deny are due by July 2; oppositions to those petitions July 14. Replies to oppositions are due July 21, the FCC said.

Amdocs said T-Mobile US subsidiary MetroPCS is using its Amdocs Enterprise Payment Processing system as part of MetroPCS’s multi-year agreement to use Amdocs products to “optimize its customers’ electronic payment options.” The Amdocs products will help reduce MetroPCS’s costs associated with customer payments, Amdocs said. The Enterprise Payment Process system allows the use of “smart tender steering” to process payments in the most cost-effective way possible. The system interfaces with multiple banks, financial institutions and contact center services, Amdocs said.

Sprint expanded its wireless coverage and capacity footprint to enhance the availability of communications during emergency weather events. The better wireless coverage footprint and overlap will compensate if a cell site is affected by a natural disaster, Sprint said Monday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1nYeUD2). It also plans to provide enhanced wireless data and voice capacity “due to modernized network hardware and software,” and a “reduction of blocked voice calls during mass calling events,” it said. If a hurricane or tropical storm threatens the operation of Sprint’s network, the company’s network disaster recovery unit and emergency response team will implement a standard emergency response about 24-72 hours before the storm’s predicted to make landfall, it said. Sprint said it has thousands of permanent generators installed at all of its wireless and wireline switches, about 250 additional cell sites and cell sites that serve Atlantic coastal communities and the Gulf Coast states. C Spire, meanwhile, said it’s waiving its activation fee and up to $4.50 in monthly service fees for Wireless Priority Service (WPS) use on its network for qualifying emergency response agencies. WPS provides emergency response agencies with a higher priority connection during a crisis or natural disaster. Agencies use WPS authorized cellphones by dialing *272 before the destination phone number, C Spire said. WPS charges typically include a $10-per-line activation fee, which will be waived for approved emergency responders, along with up to $4.50 in service fees. All users will still be charged $0.75 per minute for all WPS calls, C Spire said (http://bit.ly/1pMPMP8). C Spire noted the waiver as part of its preparations for the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season, which officially began Sunday. C Spire also said its category-5 hurricane-ready “super switches” in Mobile, Alabama, and Hattiesburg, Mississippi, will continue to provide additional protection to its network along the Gulf Coast (http://bit.ly/1rDO1sl).

After years of trying, AT&T has caught up with Verizon Wireless and both now each have about 34 percent of the U.S. wireless market, said Chetan Sharma Consulting in a report released this weekend. Verizon had been on top since it bought Alltel in 2008/2009, but AT&T was able to catch up with its recent acquisition of Leap, the report said (http://bit.ly/1m2gwr7). It said T-Mobile “continued to impress” with a 66 percent share of all U.S. carrier Q1 net adds. U.S. mobile data service revenue was also up sharply in Q1, with carriers seeing a collective $25.9 billion, up 23 percent from the year-ago period and four percent from the previous quarter, the firm said. It predicted the U.S. this year will be the first nation to cross the $100 billion mark in mobile data services revenue.