Rapid growth in use of messaging and social media apps drove a 115 percent increase in overall mobile app usage from 2012 to 2013, said Flurry Analytics research released Monday (http://bit.ly/1j3X68w). Messaging and social app usage tripled over that time span, the research showed. “This type of growth could explain the high valuation Facebook has allegedly put on SnapChat or Facebook’s rush to add direct messaging in Instagram, an app frequented by teens,” said a Flurry blog post. Utilities and productivity app usage was increased the second most, after messaging apps, in 2013, according to the research. Use of utilities and productivity apps went up 149 percent, it. Flurry based its research on 400,000 apps it tracks in its analytics system, said the blog post. The company has done analytics work for companies such as Yahoo, eBay, T-Mobile and Sprint, said its website.

The WhiteSpace Alliance (WSA) called for “opportunistic and more efficient utilization of spectrum enabled through database, sensing and beaconing technologies” in the 3.5 GHz band, in a document filed at the FCC, in advance of an FCC workshop Tuesday on the Spectrum Access System for the 3.5 GHz band. “WSA agrees with the FCC that opening up the 3550-3700 MHz spectrum to radio sharing technologies will spur innovation to address meaningful communications needs of consumers, businesses and governments while also protecting incumbent mission critical needs such as various [Department of Defense] systems,” the group said (http://bit.ly/1ai35S6). “WSA is willing to work with the FCC, NTIA and other [government] organizations to leverage interoperable spectrum sharing standards and create products for the 3.5 GHz Band."

It’s important to expand hearing aid compatibility requirements to all types of devices that are functionally equivalent to telephones, the Hearing Industries Association told FCC Wireless Bureau officials Tuesday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/1lYglNG). With the rapid expansion of voice-over-LTE services, it’s important to ensure hearing aid users “do not face roadblocks during the migration to this and other new technologies,” HIA said. HIA opposes expanding the power-down option to achieve hearing aid compatibility to more than just the 1900 MHz band. “The usefulness of handsets is impaired when power is reduced, denying impaired users access to the same quality of service that other users enjoy,” HIA said.

The U.K. Office of Communications should act to improve in-building mobile phone coverage, consulting company Real Wireless said in a report to the regulator Thursday (http://bit.ly/1bUz0V2). Reliability of indoor mobile services is becoming increasingly important to consumers, and can be tackled by outdoor solutions in which users receive a mobile signal from a network outside the building, or via indoor solutions where the signal comes from some kind of access point in the building dedicated to serving only that premises, it said. In the U.K., existing indoor cellular coverage provided by outdoor macro-cellular networks is at a high level for voice and data services, but the outdoor approach has some drawbacks, the report said. Among other things, construction material variations and building geometries may make it impossible for signals to penetrate inside all buildings, and trends toward more thermal shielding required in building regulations will significantly affect coverage levels over time, it said. So while outside solutions will continue to provide a baseline level of indoor coverage, there will be greater need for dedicated in-building plans to give consumers better services, it said. Poor indoor service arises from users being long distances from their operators’ sites; inside a building with challenging construction materials or layout; or in a high-rise that suffers from interference from multiple cells, the report said. Wi-Fi installed by an end user is a popular option for boosting indoor mobile services, but has been limited to data services unless the user wants to use over-the-top alternatives to voice and messaging such as Skype, it said. Carrier Wi-Fi, where operators are involved in deploying and managing the network and which allows roaming between their cellular and carrier Wi-Fi networks, is under development, it said. Traditional consumer repeaters and signal boosters are available in Britain but can’t legally be deployed without operator permission due to possible interference, it said. New, intelligent repeaters are helping to tackle those interference issues, it said, but they are not widely available. Femtocells have been rolled out commercially by all U.K. mobile operators and targeted to particular groups of consumers, it said. Picocells, which cover large areas, target larger small and mid-sized buildings. Distributed antenna systems, an infrastructure of cables, amplifiers and antennas installed inside to distribute mobile signals in analog form, are expensive to plan and install and are suitable only for large high-capacity or corporate buildings, it said. Hybrid solutions using femtocells, picocells and Wi-Fi are also promising, it said. The study looked at areas of concern for Ofcom in in-building solutions. These included: (1) Fully integrating small cell solutions into existing networks. (2) Ensuring that security best practices are set in consumer-accessible small cells. (3) The lack of a centralized security certificates authority to authenticate the identity of small cells, which could lead to a limited supply of vendors and access point products for consumers to choose from. (4) The fact that many in-building solutions are still fairly immature and of limited availability. Among other things, the report recommended that Ofcom give consumers information and help to identify the most appropriate indoor solution, and consider making low-power, shared-access licensed spectrum available for indoor deployment. The regulator should also consider monitoring and reporting on indoor coverage levels across operators, and analyze the U.S. situation with consumer repeaters to see if it might work in Britain, the report said.

The U.S.’s four national wireless carriers remain on track to have text-to-911 services by May, CTIA said in a filing Wednesday. CTIA executives met with a public safety adviser to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Dec. 6 to discuss E911 and cybersecurity issues. The executives noted that the carriers’ progress on text-to-911 “represents an important step toward a comprehensive Next Generation 911 system” that meets the needs of the accessibility community. The wireless industry is also actively participating in the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council’s work to develop a new phase for its Indoor Location Test Bed for E911 technologies, CTIA said. CTIA’s Cybersecurity Working Group is also actively working with federal agencies, Congress and standards bodies on cyber issues, including working with the National Institute of Standards and Technology on the Cybersecurity Framework (http://bit.ly/1cSsdeL).

The FCC should reject an NTCA/Rural Wireless Association proposal to divide the forward auction of 600 MHz spectrum into two phases (CD Jan 9 p2), said AT&T in comments filed Thursday. Dividing the forward auction into one phase for purchasing large lots of urban spectrum and a second phase for smaller chunks of rural spectrum “adds complexity to what has already been widely acknowledged as one of the most complicated proceedings in Commission history,” AT&T said. The telco also argued that the two-phase auction would still expose buyers to aggregation risks, making it difficult for companies to provide coverage over large uninterrupted areas. Though the NTCA/RWA proposal framed the two-phase auction as still allowing carriers like AT&T to purchase large pieces of spectrum, the pieces aren’t big enough, AT&T said. The proposal would still lead to “operational difficulties inherent with such small license areas,” AT&T said.

The FCC Wireless Bureau identified 23 qualified bidders for the Jan. 22 H-block auction. Bidders in Auction 96 include nTelos, CTM Spectrum, Holland Wireless and Atlantic Seawinds Communications, the bureau said in an attachment to a public notice (http://bit.ly/1cBIvvT). The bureau urged the bidders to review the auction rules, procedures and other information available at http://wireless.fcc.gov/auction/96, the public notice said (http://bit.ly/K71xQA). The bureau also identified 11 entities that are not qualified, including Triad 8, Union Telephone Co. and Pure Gold AZ, it said (http://bit.ly/1lQ9GW2).

FirstNet wants comments by Feb. 5 on proposed exclusions from environmental assessment processes typically required under the National Environmental Policy Act. The proposed categorical exclusions “do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment and, thus, should be categorically excluded from the requirement to prepare an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement,” FirstNet said in a Federal Register notice Monday (http://1.usa.gov/1dtz3IL). Its proposed exceptions are based on the processes it completed as part of the billions in grants given through NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). “FirstNet, similar to BTOP, is mandated to plan and construct telecommunication and broadband infrastructure across the United States and its territories,” FirstNet said. “The specific activities anticipated to be undertaken by FirstNet are comparable to BTOP project implementation activities and will primarily include the installation of cables, cell tower, antenna colocations, buildings, and power units.” Several examples were given in the notice.

There will be nearly 2.5 billion shipments of PCs, tablets and mobile phones in 2014, a 7.6 percent increase from 2013, said Gartner’s annual devices forecast released Tuesday (http://gtnr.it/1eEJ08k). Tablets and mobile phones will drive the increase, as PC shipments are expected to drop for the third straight year, said the industry researcher. It said mobile phones will account for just over three-fourths of all devices shipped, a slight drop since 2012, as the tablet market has grown. “Mobile phones are a must have and will continue to grow but at a slower pace, with opportunities moving away from the top-end premium devices to mid-end basic products,” said Research Director Ranjit Atwal. “Users continue to move away from the traditional PC (notebooks and desk-based) as it becomes more of a shared content creation tool.” The Android OS is the leading platform across all devices, expected to reach 1.1 billion users in 2014, 26 percent more than in 2013, said the report. “There’s no doubt that there is a volume versus value equation, with Android users also purchasing lower-cost devices compared to Apple users,” said Annette Zimmerman, principal analyst. Gartner said that by 2017, 75 percent of Android’s volume will come from emerging markets.

AT&T said it’s buying 49 Advanced Wireless Services spectrum licenses from Aloha Partners. AT&T didn’t give the financial terms of the deal, which it said is meant to help the carrier “stay ahead of soaring demand for mobile Internet services.” The AWS licenses being acquired cover 50 million people across 14 states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas. AT&T said Tuesday it anticipates it will complete the deal in the second half of 2014 (http://soc.att.com/1dt21bw). Verizon disclosed Monday a $3.3 billion 700 MHz A block spectrum sale to T-Mobile US (CD Jan 7 p1).