Worldwide phablet shipments, defined as smartphones with screen sizes from 5.5 to less than 7 inches, will reach 175 million units worldwide this year, passing the 170 million portable PCs expected to ship during the same period, said International Data Corp. (IDC). Next year, phablet shipments of 318 million are forecast to top tablet shipments, projected at 233 million for the year, IDC said. Phablets began picking up volume in 2012, but the category has already put pressure on the smaller end of the tablet market, where growth of 7-inch tablets has slowed, it said. IDC expects consumer replacement cycles to shift to larger-sized tablets, but that trend hasn’t made up for the falloff in shipments of smaller-sized tablets, which has led to lowered expectations for the tablet market in 2014 and beyond, IDC said. Apple’s expected entrance into the phablet space with the iPhone 6 this month is expected to bring more attention to phablets “as larger screen smartphones become the new norm,” said analyst Melissa Chau. IDC expects phablets to grow from 14 percent of the worldwide smartphone market this year to 32 percent in 2018. While consumers in mature markets including the U.S. and Western Europe are likely to own a combination of PCs, tablets and smartphones, “in many places the smartphone -- regardless of size -- will be the one connected device of choice,” IDC said. Falling average selling prices (ASPs) for phablets and smartphones will help drive the trend, it said, noting that in 2013, phablet ASP was $568 versus a regular smartphone at $320. This year, phablet ASP will drop to $397 while smartphone ASP falls to $291, it said. “Consumers are still trying to figure out what mix of [mobile] devices and screen sizes will suit them best,” analyst Tom Mainelli said. “What works well today could very well shift tomorrow as phones gain larger screens, tablets become more powerful replacements for PCs, and even smart watch screens join the fray."

Several U.S. wireless carriers jumped on Samsung’s worldwide Galaxy Note 4 announcements Wednesday in hopes of winning new subscribers in the hotly competitive market. Sprint said it will be the only wireless carrier to offer the U.S. version of the Galaxy Note 4 and the Note Edge capable of running on its high-speed Sprint Spark network (http://on.mktw.net/1rMO8SP). Sprint also told customers it will offer the Gear VR virtual reality headset, also launched Wednesday, that’s designed to use the Galaxy Note 4 as the screen. US Cellular issued an email statement that it could confirm it will carry the Galaxy Note 4 in October and that it will follow up with details later. Verizon Wireless’s landing page led with the Galaxy Note 4 and Edge on Wednesday under the banner “The Next Big Thing is Coming Soon.” Verizon extended an invitation for customers to sign up for email updates on availability with the lure to “Be the first to get product, pre-order and launch details.” AT&T, meanwhile, didn’t show either of the new Samsung Notes, featuring instead on its launch page a free 8 GB iPhone 4s, with contract, along with a smattering of refurbished phones from other carriers. T-Mobile also pushed refurbished phones on its landing page. When we typed Note 4 into the search field, a chat box appeared asking if we needed help.

Data roaming shouldn’t be controversial, but the market by itself won’t fix problems, said T-Mobile Vice President-Federal Regulatory Affairs Kathleen Ham in a blog post (http://t-mo.co/1sZPPrL). In May, the carrier asked the FCC for a declaratory ruling providing guidance and “predictable” enforcement criteria for determining whether the terms of data roaming agreements meet the “commercially reasonable” standard adopted in the commission’s 2011 data roaming order (CD May 28 p9). Comments on the petition are in and the verdict was nearly unanimous, Ham said. “Except for AT&T and Verizon, of course, virtually every party weighing in at the FCC supports T-Mobile’s proposed benchmarks, as well as the other necessary minor clarifications,” she wrote Tuesday. “Consumers should not have to forgo T-Mobile’s ‘Un-carrier’ benefits simply because they work in or travel through coverage gaps or hard-to-build areas. Nor should local and regional carriers be unable to attract customers who aren’t content to stay always within their home markets."

U.S. wireless development could be “constrained and America’s mobile broadband leadership put at risk” over the next 10 years if carriers don’t have access to spectrum “of sufficient quantity or quality,” says a paper posted by consulting firm Deloitte Wednesday. “A decline in leadership would not only hurt the U.S. mobile industry and the U.S. mobile ecosystem, but could create a chilling effect on the broader U.S. economy, which increasingly relies on mobile services for both consumer and business use,” the paper argues (http://bit.ly/1w6TMxd). The paper says the U.S. is the world’s leader in deployment of LTE. U.S. companies also provide 96 percent of smartphone operating systems worldwide and 17 percent of smartphones. “It is clear that the mobile broadband industry is having favorable effects on America’s economy,” Deloitte said. “What is less clear is whether the United States is maintaining a leadership position in the face of global competition and how it may protect or strengthen its position for the coming decade.”

The FCC is scheduled to publish a notice in the Federal Register Thursday offering details on the partial economic area (PEA) licenses to be sold by the agency in the TV incentive auction (http://bit.ly/1rN0ryc). The notice provides a list of the 416 PEAs with their corresponding economic area and a list of counties in each PEA. The license size is a new one for the FCC. Some of the PEAs are large, with PEA 1 including New York City and covering a population of 25.2 million.

The FCC rejected a request by the Competitive Carriers Association for a 30-day extension of the reply comment deadline on the FCC’s June 10 Connect America Fund further NPRM. Replies are due Monday. CCA asked for more time so it could study the first round of comments as well as comments on the commission’s 10th Broadband Progress Notice of Inquiry. “Extensions of time are not routinely granted and we do not believe that circumstances cited by CCA warrant a grant of additional time,” the agency said Wednesday (http://bit.ly/Z7ruaL).

T-Mobile wants to sell senior notes due in 2023 and 2025 to raise money, including funds for November’s AWS-3 auction, said a prospectus filed Wednesday by the carrier at the SEC (http://1.usa.gov/1A6W8fO). “We intend to participate in the FCC’s upcoming auction of AWS-3 spectrum, and if we are successful in the auction process, we anticipate that a portion of the net proceeds of this offering would be used to acquire such spectrum.” The filing doesn’t say how much T-Mobile hopes to raise through the offering.

ZENS added the PuK wireless charger, a Qi-based inductive charger designed to be built into furniture for living and working environments. Applications include desks, counters and bedside tables for use in offices, hotels, restaurants, kitchens and homes worldwide, the company said. Installations can be built-on or built-in to existing or new furniture, the company said. The ZENS PuK has seven induction coils that continually detect a device’s signal so that a charging phone doesn’t have to be placed in a precise location but can be “freely positioned,” ZENS said. Foreign Object Detection software automatically shuts down the charging process if metal comes between the Qi phone and the charger, ZENS said, preventing objects from absorbing energy from the wireless power supply field and creating a heat hazard.

The FCC’s former defaulter rule waiver (CD Sept 2 p1) toughens slightly changes originally proposed by wireless carrier associations. The text was released after our deadline (http://bit.ly/1q8rS36). The waiver applies only to the AWS-3 auction. It provides a waiver only for cases when the notice of the final payment deadline or delinquency was received more than seven years before the AWS-3 short-form application deadline and the amount of the default or delinquency falls below $100,000. The waiver also requires that the default or delinquency was paid within two quarters after receiving the notice of the final payment deadline or delinquency and that it was the subject of a legal or arbitration proceeding “cured upon resolution of the proceeding.”

The U.S. experience demonstrates that spectrum auctions, when done right, are a successful mechanism for maximizing the use of spectrum, FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai said in a speech Monday to the IX International Regulatory Workshop in Cartagena De Indias, Colombia. Pai released his written remarks Tuesday (http://bit.ly/W7gxUx). “Auctions are more successful when they are kept simple, transparent, and market-driven,” he said. “That means setting clear rules in advance and sticking with them. That means avoiding onerous conditions on particular spectrum. That means giving everyone a fair opportunity to bid. These are the best ways to promote network construction, to raise money for the treasury, and to give consumers the benefits of innovative new services.” Pai also said flexible use policies and a robust secondary market have been critical to the rollout of wireless. The FCC is committed to reviewing deals in the transfer of spectrum from one company to another within 180 days of applications being filed, he said. “This is a good thing. By providing procedural certainty, the FCC has enabled spectrum to flow more freely to its highest value use.” The FCC also allows licensees to sell off part of their holdings, Pai noted. “We have found that these secondary market policies have encouraged spectrum efficiency and reduced transaction costs,” he said. “Indeed, there have been thousands of secondary-market transactions involving mobile broadband licenses over the past several years.” The FCC has also authorized local experiments to examine the aftereffects of the IP transition, he noted. “We are going to see what happens when aging infrastructure is turned off,” he said. “These tests will give us valuable data. And we will then use that data to make a successful national transition to all-IP networks. Once that happens, companies will be able to focus their investments exclusively on high-speed networks.”