Broadband providers’ consumer Internet access policies would be the subject of an FCC study, according to those familiar with a draft bill proposed by House Telecom Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey, D-Mass., and retiring Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Miss. The FCC would also have to hold eight conferences throughout the country to assess competition in broadband Internet service. The summits would collect information from state and local governments, consumer groups, companies, schools and labor groups and technology industry experts.
Motorola, via Motorola Ventures, said it’s investing in DesignArt Networks, a supplier of silicon system-on-chip (SoC) solutions for WiMAX radio access network infrastructure. “Globally, mobile operators are recognizing the need for increased cell density to provide wireless broadband and multi-media services and meet performance needs,” Motorola said. “But in most cases deployment and operational costs are staggering. DesignArt Networks has developed an advanced and cost-effective SoC silicon platform for the WiMAX infrastructure to drastically lower deployment and operational costs of WiMAX networks.” The announcement was one of several by Motorola at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The company is introducing several devices, including the TV DH01n, a personal media player with advanced navigation capabilities, and the Moto Z6w, a Wi-Fi enabled handset.
Qualcomm added LTE to its device and base station roadmap, announcing Thursday that three chipsets support the technology. Qualcomm expects to sample the chips in Q2 2009, it said. The chips are backward compatible with existing 3G UMTS and CDMA2000 networks, and two support UMB. No major U.S. carrier has announced plans to use UMB, but many in the industry see the Qualcomm-developed UMB as an LTE rival. Not so, a Qualcomm spokeswoman said. Qualcomm strives to be “technology agnostic,” supporting “as many technologies as possible,” she said. UMB is still on the Qualcomm roadmap, but the chipmaker also sees a “market need” for LTE, she said. Also Thursday, Qualcomm said international operators Hutchison 3G, Telecom Italia, Telefonica and Telstra will trial HSPA+ technology this year. HSPA+ is an upgrade to HSPA technology, increasing mobile broadband speeds up to 28 Mbps. Qualcomm expects to se HSPA+ to appear commercially in 2009, it said.
WiMedia Alliance certified seven ultra-wideband platforms from members Artimi, LucidPort, NEC and NXP Semiconductors, it said Tuesday. WiMedia has certified 19 platforms as interoperable with UWB Common Radio Platform standards.
The International Trade Commission is studying Broadcom evidence related to Qualcomm workarounds, Chief Financial Officer Eric Brandt said at the Thomas Wiesel Conference in San Francisco. The ITC must decide if an injunction won by Broadcom against Qualcomm also applies to chips designed to work around infringement. Brandt also spoke of a potential Motorola mobile division spinoff and the macro-economic environment. On Motorola, Brandt said he’s “not sure that it’s good or bad at this point,” noting that a Motorola split could “create opportunities for us.” Broadcom and Motorola’s relationship “remains strong,” he added. On the economy, Broadcom sees “storm clouds on the horizon but it’s just not raining here yet,” Brandt said. Due to the semiconductor maker’s “end of the whip” industry position, Broadcom won’t see impact before customers do, he said. Meantime, Broadcom will keep inventories “as lean as possible,” he said.
EchoStar infringed software elements of TiVo’s PVR patents, but not those applying to hardware, the U.S. Appeals Court for the Federal Circuit said, partly upholding a lower- court ruling. The appeals court’s ruling, issued Thursday, said the patent violations were sufficient to uphold the $89.6 million a federal court jury awarded TiVo following a trial in April 2006.
New tools and parental controls that can weed out or block inappropriate Internet video programming from sites such as MySpace.com should be discussed between regulators and businesses, but the government shouldn’t rush to force a single solution upon the industry, panelists at the State of the Net conference said Wednesday. “A discussion about the types of technologies is helpful,” said Rick Lane, senior vice president of government affairs for News Corp., which owns MySpace: “The concern is that all of a sudden one technology becomes a cure-all.”
Airlines will install more than 4,000 picocell base stations for passenger GSM and Wi-Fi services through 2011, Freesky Research said. The cost to supply wireless services on airplanes is falling, it said. “Airborne picocells have dropped in price along with their terrestrial counterparts, in spite of additional R&D investments in aeronautical systems to ensure that their logic and memory chips function properly at cruise altitudes,” the analyst firm said. “This has improved the economics, and reduced the weight requirements, of deploying passenger wireless systems on commercial airliners.” But most airlines won’t install wireless throughout their fleets in the next four years, it said. “For all the reductions in equipment costs, airlines are still reluctant to invest in systems that they cannot amortize over at least five years of flying,” said Freesky’s David Gross.
Rim Semiconductor acquired Broadband Distance Systems from UTEK in a deal to help BDS commercialize a technology designed to reduce transmission errors. BDS has an exclusive license to an algorithm developed by University of Illinois researchers. The algorithm can enhance power allocation in systems using multicarrier modulation protocol, improving the achievable data rate. Rim will use the algorithm to improve their Internet protocol subscriber line (IPSL) technology and provide new video and data services.
The Parents Television Council asked CBS to cancel plans to air Dexter starting Feb. 17. The group said the violent show should stay only on CBS’s Showtime cable channel, its home the past two seasons. “No amount of editing can get around” Dexter’s “celebrating graphic, premeditated murder,” Council President Tim Winter said in a news release Wednesday. He asked members to call their CBS affiliates to request it not be aired. CBS will air the show at 10 p.m., when stations are exempted from FCC indecency rules (CD Jan 8 p8). CBS will edit Dexter the way it has films it has broadcast, said a network spokesman. The show will “comply with all network television standards, be edited with respect for artistic integrity and scheduled responsibly in the last hour of prime time,” he added. “Audiences will be well informed with an appropriate V-chip rating and parental advisories in advance and during the broadcast.”