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Andy Seybold’s Public Safety Advocate, May 9, 2019

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Feds, States in Rural Broadband Push. I recently saw a posting on Twitter from the governor of South Dakota announcing her state is requesting proposals to cover “all corners” of the state with broadband. By the time I saw the announcement, the time period for submitting proposals had passed but it started me thinking once again about rural broadband and FirstNet (Built with AT&T).

We all should know that when FirstNet was created by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by the then President in February of 2012, one requirement called for the FirstNet organization to provide coverage to public safety agencies in rural America. When FirstNet the Authority issued its Request for Proposal (RFP), it stated that Band 14, the public safety broadband spectrum, was to be built out in metro and rural areas essentially at the same time. This was to ensure the winning bidder did not build out Band 14 only in metro areas where it could resell unused spectrum to recoup its costs and that Band 14 would be built out everywhere.

As it turned out, AT&T won the RFP and is not only building out Band 14 public safety, it is providing full pre-emptive access for public safety to all AT&T LTE spectrum. As we continue to conduct our drive tests and follow the build-out, it is clear this mandate is being followed by FirstNet (Built with AT&T). However, where Band 14 is available in rural areas, two things are being missed by those offering grants and loans to various organizations wanting to build out rural broadband.

As I have stated before, the number of different grants from different agencies within the federal government is staggering and they are all different. Some are outright grants, some are low-interest loans, and some are a mixture of the two. The grant applications are all different and most do not provide any ongoing funding for continued operation of the broadband services once the build has been completed. To my way of thinking, another issue is that many of these grants focus only on fiber to the business, house, or farm. Repeating myself, farmers would rather have wireless broadband covering their fields so they can continue to automate their machines and other devices.  Read the Entire Column Here .

Here are the articles I have selected with the help of Discovery Patterns artificial intelligence

FirstNet surpasses 600K connections

RCR Wireless News May  7 12:55

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AT&T executives have credited the FirstNet build-out with recent improvements in network performance rankings. CEO Randall Stephenson also said …

More than 600000 connections made under FirstNet platform

Homeland Preparedness News May  8 17:20

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More than 600,000 devices used by more than 7,250 public-safety agencies have connected to the FirstNet communications platform. FirstNet is …

Pai Lays Out Plans for New Spectrum Auction, 5G Rollout

TV Technology May  8 15:25

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In addition, Pai spoke as to why the FCC denied China Mobile USA’s application to provide international telecommunication services in the U.S., citing …

FCC Drone/Unmanned Aircraft Systems Policy

FC Cincinnati May  8 13:15

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In the interest of public safety, privacy and security, please be advised that FCC prohibits any unauthorized media and/or individuals from operating …

CBRS Getting Closer; 800 MHz EB/GB Coordination Update; NIST Privacy Framework; Rural …

Lexology May  7 10:20

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CBRS Getting Closer. On May 1 the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) concluded its testing stage of five Spectrum …

AT and T Adds IP Access to FirstNet Dealer Program

MissionCritical May  7 10:05

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IP Access International joined AT&T’s First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) Dealer Program. As a FirstNet dealer, IP Access International can now sell FirstNet services to eligible public-safety customers. read more

FirstNet Association Changes Name

MissionCritical May  7 10:05

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The FirstNet Association changed its name to the Public Safety Broadband Technology Association (PSBTA) to avoid confusion between the association and the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet). read more

GD e-Bridge Telemedicine App FirstNet Listed in App Catalog

MissionCritical May  2 10:05

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General Devices (GD) announced that its GD e-Bridge application is now certified First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) Listed and available via the FirstNet App Catalog. read more

May 1 Deadline for WEA Improvements

MissionCritical May  2 10:05

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The FCC reminded commercial mobile service providers participating in wireless emergency alerts (WEA) of their obligations beginning May 1. The carriers must now support longer WEA messages, from 90 to 360 characters, for 4G and future networks and support a new class of alerts, called public-safety messages, to convey recommended actions for saving lives or property. read more

KT, Samsung to expand public safety LTE network coverage in South Korea

Telecompaper May  2 08:30

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In addition, the two companies will provide what they call the world’s first narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) service through the PS-LTE network.

Chinese telecom carriers to conduct massive 5G tests

NEWS-DETAIL-CCTVPLUS May  9 05:25

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Various of official from China Mobile making announcement about 5G planning 4. Officials of telecom carriers at 5G exhibition 5. Official from China …

China leads 5G patent race

Chinadaily USA May  9 05:25

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Chinese companies lead in global 5G patent applications with Huawei …

A retrospective look at the future of communications: Dave George

The Internet Of All Things May  9 03:25

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… primarily driven by the advent of FirstNet and other LTE networks. …

DNA Finand Tests Fixed 5G Broadband Service using 3.5GHz Frequency

The Fast Mode May  9 02:45

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DNA Finand said it has been testing fixed 5G broadband service in Vantaa in a residential area with detached houses using the actual 3.5GHz 5G …

Waymo CTO: 5G will be a self-driving car ‘accelerator and enabler’

VentureBeat May  9 01:25

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Waymo CTO Dmitri Dolgov thinks that 5G and next-generation cellular networks will be an enabler of the company’s autonomous car fleets, he told …

FCC Commissioner O’Rielly condemns government-led wholesale 5G proposal

FierceWireless May  8 22:00

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Over the last few months, various ideas have been floated about the offering of 5G wireless services via a government-sponsored network, O’Rielly …

Telus CTO: 5G is Letting Us Down

Light Reading May  8 17:15

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Above all, if the edge means deploying the telco cloud and IT resources at customer premises, such as a sports stadium, then where is what Gedeon …

Service Providers Look to Enterprises for 5G ROI

Light Reading May  8 16:55

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But panelists said customized enterprise services offer a greater potential for revenue from 5G. These may include wireless control of robots on factory …

NIST is preparing recommendations for power companies to protect IIoT devices

HACKER NEWS May  8 16:10

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Public discussion of the project will last until June 5 of this year. The National Cyber Center of Excellence (NCCoE) of the US National Institute of …

How Smart Cities Will Be Transformed by 5G Technology

Innovation & Tech Today May  8 16:00

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While this may be tolerable for consumers, dropped signals are unacceptable for the mission-critical data in smart city IoT deployments.

Virgin Mobile invites customers to experience the power 5G

Tahawul Tech May  8 13:15

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Virgin Mobile has announced that it is offering its customers the chance to be amongst the first to get connected on the new 5G network via a …

Wi-Fi 6 and 5G explained

Cisco Newsroom May  8 13:00

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What you need to know about the new wireless technology from Cisco’s Matt MacPherson and Greg Dorai. To learn more, check out how Wi-Fi 6 and …

Andy Seybold’s Public Safety Advocate, May 2, 2019

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FirstNet Gains, Some Throttling Broadband, More. The latest numbers are out for FirstNet (Built with AT&T) and as expected, they are really good. At the end of the first quarter of 2019, FirstNet reports its Band 14 buildout is at 53-percent of the total coverage called out in the contract. And the balance of AT&T’s LTE assets are being used daily by FirstNet customers. FirstNet also states more than 7,000 agencies representing 570,000 public safety personnel are onboard (a 33-percent growth over Q4 2018).

It seems every week in the news and on allthingsfirstnet.com there are announcements of more agencies joining FirstNet. These include Anchorage police Department, Alaska, the Navy and Marines, Brazos County, TX Sheriffs Department, Elmore County, Idaho, and more. This bodes well for FirstNet. These agencies are now recognizing the value of FirstNet when they are engaged in multi-agency incidents and rely on FirstNet as the common interoperability network during the event. This is precisely what public safety sought when it went to Congress to carve out this broadband spectrum.

Push-To-Talk—LMR, FirstNet, and Interoperability. The vision of FirstNet was to provide a nationwide network to which all first responders could connect. It started as data and video-centric, but after FirstNet was formed by the federal government, Push-To-Talk (PTT), text, and dial-up voice were added into the mix. This, of course, makes FirstNet a perfect fit to augment Land Mobile Radio (LMR) systems. As I have mentioned before, now that push-to-talk over FirstNet is available from three vendors—Motorola (Kodiak), ESChat, and Orion Labs—public safety agencies can continue to use the flavor of PTT they already use or choose to implement another PTT flavor they deem best suited for their needs. Read the Entire Column Here

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Andy Seybold’s Public Safety Advocate, April 25, 2019

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Waiting on Mission Critical Push-To-Talk (Data, Video). According to Motorola, its Kodiak Networks has developed the first Push-To-Talk (PTT) application for on-network use. On-network means the network hosts the application as opposed to an over-the-top application such as ESChat or Orion Labs, the other FirstNet-approved options. Motorola’s claim is that the Kodiak PTT solution as deployed in both the AT&T and Verizon networks (though not compatible across the two, I am told) is close to meeting the Mission Critical Push-To-Talk specification released by the 3GPP standards organization.

All that is needed, claims Motorola, is for companies to start producing Proximity Services (ProSe) chipsets, which Motorola claims remains the greatest hurdle to being fully MCPTT-compliant. I am using Motorola as an example here since it recently stated its PTT solution for FirstNet (Built with AT&T) works and is embedded in the FirstNet network. ESChat and Orion Labs are also certified on FirstNet. I find Motorola’s comments about ProSe to be peculiar coming from one of the premier Land Mobile Radio (LMR) companies in the world that for many years has built mobile and handheld radios that provide push-to-talk on public safety and business radio networks and further provides the capability for off-network push-to-talk.

Off-network push-to-talk, which I have written about over the years, is critical to the ability of those in the field to communicate with others even when a network is not available—either because they are out of network range or because they are deep inside a structure and cannot reach the network that may be available on the street. Simplex, talk-around, or whatever you want to call it is vital to the operation of the public safety community. It is used every day by police, fire, and EMS personnel. Simplex provides one-to-one and one-to-many communications to any unit in range of the transmitting unit. Read the Entire Column Here .
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FCC Grants T-Band Waiver

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The Policy and Licensing Division of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau released an order today in file 0006440207 conditionally granting a waiver to the Rose Tree (Pa.) Fire Company allowing it to modify a public safety radio station by raising the antenna height of a base station using the 470-512 megahertz T-band.

Courtesy TRDaily

FCC Grants 800 MHz Band Waiver

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The Policy and Licensing Division of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau released an order today granting the Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corp.’s request for a waiver to share use of the Tennessee Advanced Communications Network (TACN), a statewide radio system. “Based on the record, and for the reasons stated below, we (1) grant the request for a waiver of Section 90.179 with regard to MTEMC’s proposed use of TACN’s 800 MHz facilities, and (2) find that no waiver is necessary for MTEMC’s proposed use of TACN’s 700 MHz facilities because MTEMC has committed to abide by conditions that satisfy the eligibility criteria in Section 337 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, and Section 90.523(b) of the Commission rules,” the order said.

Courtesy TRDaily

 

FCC Announces 800 MHz Band Application Procedures

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The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security and Wireless Telecommunications bureaus issued a public notice today announcing dates and procedures for submitting applications for 800 megahertz expansion band and guard band channels, and channels in the interleaved segment vacated by Sprint Corp., in three National Public Safety Planning Advisory Committee (NPSPAC) regions. The public notice in WT docket 02-55 also announced dates and procedures for submitting expansion and guard band applications for 21 NPSPAC regions where such licensing had been deferred. The procedures were established pursuant to an 800 MHz band report and order and order released last year (TR Daily, Oct. 22, 2018).

The three additional NPSPAC regions are Florida, Ohio, and Washington state. “Beginning on July 18, 2019, Commission-certified frequency coordinators may file applications, in the Universal Licensing System (ULS), on behalf of eligible applicants for the channels released by this Public Notice,” the bureaus announced. “From July 18, 2019, to July 17, 2022, the interleaved channels made available by this Public Notice will be available exclusively for licensing to public safety eligible entities. From July 18, 2022, to July 17, 2024, the channels made available by the records released by this Public Notice will be available exclusively for licensing to public safety eligible entities and critical infrastructure industry eligible entities.”

Courtesy TRDaily

CTIA: Carriers Waiting on FEMA to Test WEA Upgrades

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Wireless carriers have taken the needed steps to deploy wireless emergency alert (WEA) upgrades required by a May 1 FCC deadline, but they can’t do so until the Federal Emergency Management Agency facilitates the necessary testing, CTIA told the FCC yesterday in an ex parte filing in PS dockets 15-91 and 15-94.

“Per the Commission’s rules, by May 1, 2019, participating commercial mobile service providers (CMSPs) are required to support (1) 360-character WEA messages, (2) Spanish-language WEA messages, (3) Public Safety WEA messages, (4) Alert Message prioritization, and (5) consumer opt-in capabilities for receiving State/Local WEA test messages (collectively WEA 2.0). CTIA respectfully submits this letter to update the Commission that participating CMSP member companies have taken the necessary steps to meet the May 1, 2019 deadline, but cannot deploy the new WEA 2.0 capabilities until Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) has the capability in place to support and complete its required testing for these new features,” CTIA said in its filing.

“Participating CMSPs and handset manufacturers have taken the steps within their control to support WEA 2.0 features by the May 1, 2019 deadline, including updating the relevant standards, implementing WEA 2.0 capabilities into their networks and deploying WEA-capable wireless handsets utilizing both Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS that support WEA 2.0,” CTIA added. “However, CTIA has recently confirmed that FEMA’s IPAWS gateway will not be ready to test WEA 2.0 by May 1, 2019. Once FEMA’s IPAWS gateway is capable of testing WEA 2.0, CTIA’s participating member companies are ready to test as soon as practicable and deploy the capability in coordination with FEMA. In the meantime, the Commission and FEMA should coordinate efforts to inform federal, state and local alert originators about the status of WEA 2.0 enhancements and effective utilization of WEA’s existing capabilities, including geotargeting and embedded links.”- Paul Kirby, paul.kirby@wolterskluwer.com

Courtesy TRDaily

Andy Seybold’s Public Safety Advocate, April 18, 2019

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Updates on What Public Safety Needs from Congress. This week APCO sent out an email asking for all of us to support the 9-1-1 Saves Act. This bill will upgrade 9-1-1 professionals and reclassify them as Protective Service employees. This should have been done years ago and I hope the re-designation will carry forward to non-sworn public safety dispatchers. There is a link for this important bill and a guide for you to follow on how to notify your U.S. Senators and Representatives, so please do so.

This is only one of the significant pieces of legislation that should be passed by Congress and signed into law. The issues I am concerned about include the T-Band, NG911, and 4.9 GHz if the FCC doesn’t leave it alone. The most recent bill introduced in the House replaces H.R.3994, which was passed in 2018 but died in the Senate where no vote was taken. This year it is back as H.R.1328 and must once again make the rounds.

I believe H.R.1328 is of vital interest to the public safety community. It is the Access Broadband Act that would create a single organization for tracking and helping implement rural and poverty-level broadband. Today there are numerous federal and state agencies involved in grants and loans, but there seems to be a serious lack of coordination. The Access Broadband Act is extremely important to rural broadband coverage and as such should be supported by the public safety community. Currently, its odds of gaining passage are slight unless more sponsors from both parties join the effort.
Read the Entire Column Here. 

Here are the articles I have selected with the help of Discovery Patterns artificial intelligence
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Andy Seybold’s Public Safety Advocate, April 4, 2019

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Milestones and More.  Last week marks the two-year anniversary of the FirstNet award to AT&T. It also marks a full year since the Public Safety core (heart of the network) was turned on. If you map this two-year anniversary against the FirstNet Authority Operational Capability (IOC) description of the project, last week also marked the end of IOC-3, which was expected to be completed by the end of twenty-four months.

OC-3 contains many milestones in and of itself. For example, by the end of IOC-3, the local control application (portal) should be complete, the core should be complete, devices Phase 3 should be complete, and achievement of 50-percent of contractor’s IOC-5 public safety device connection target should be attained. This last point is not discernable from the outside since FirstNet the Authority did not specify the number of connections, rather the number was determined by each bidder. However, it appears to me, like with most of the IOC-3 requirements, FirstNet (Built with AT&T) has already blown past IOC-5 in addition to most of the IOC-3 requirements.

There still remain issues, especially concerning coverage as public safety agencies continue to monitor FirstNet progress. Once more, I need to remind people that had AT&T not offered up all of its existing LTE spectrum and then begun augmenting it with public safety Band 14 spectrum, and a bidder had simply planned on building out the entire network on Band 14, we would not yet have attained today’s level of coverage nor would we have pre-emption except on Band 14. So, while there are still some issues with coverage, much of what we have today was not even planned to be available until one, two, or even three years further down the road. Read the Entire Column Here .

here are the articles I have selected with the help of Discovery Patterns artificial intelligence

Florida’s Riviera Beach Police, Fire Rescue Deploy Smartphones via FirstNet

MissionCritical Apr  4 10:05

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Riviera Beach Police and Fire Rescue in Florida announced it is transitioning to the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) public-safety broadband network. read more

Utility’s In-Car Video System Certified as FirstNet Ready

MissionCritical Apr  4 10:05

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Utility, a law enforcement technology company, announced that its Rocket IoT XLE is an AT&T FirstNet Ready certified device on the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) network. read more

FCC Sets Stage for Next Spectrum Incentive Auction at April Open Meeting

JD Supra Mar 28 10:15

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The FCC anticipates retaining OTARD rule exceptions for state, local, and private restrictions on antennas based on public safety issues or historic …

Fixed wireless and mobile hotspots lead first wave of 5G

RCR Wireless News Mar 28 10:15

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Fixed wireless and mobile hotspots lead first wave of 5G …

  1. Korea launches 5G smartphone networks ahead of schedule

Federal News Radio 1500AM Apr  4 11:00

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South Korea’s telecommunications carriers have turned on super-fast 5G mobile internet networks abruptly ahead of schedule in an attempt to ensure the country becomes the first in the world to launch the services The post S. Korea launches 5G smartphone networks ahead of schedule appeared first on Federal News Network .

Samsung’s Multi-Mode Exynos Chipsets Help Bring the 5G Era to Mobile Consumers

Yahoo News Apr  4 10:55

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Exynos Modem 5100 is Samsung’s first 5G modem solution that had …

Verizon launches its mobile 5G network in parts of Chicago and Minneapolis, with a 5G-enabled

Techmeme Apr  4 10:55

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#5G availability starts today in Chicago & Minneapolis from @verizon. 1st phone is Motorola z3 with 5G moto mod…

AT&T and Sprint’s 5G Legal Dispute Illustrates the Ways of Wireless

D Magazine Apr  4 10:50

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Let’s take first things first: Regardless of what your phone might be telling you, you aren’t on 5G yet. It’s not possible. Most of the equipment isn’t up, …

DSA brings together leaders at 2019 Summit

BusinessGhana Apr  4 10:35

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… and high-band spectrum available on a shared and dynamic basis to address accelerating demand for the full range of next generation narrowband …

Motorola is preparing a smartphone with quad rear cameras and a 48MP sensor

XDA Developers Apr  4 10:35

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Considering Motorola just became the first company to allow its consumers to connect to a commercial 5G network, it would be wrong to call it lagging …

Virtual RANs Simplify Administration and Increase Flexibility

Dataconomy Apr  4 10:30

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Test environments for 5G mobile networks exist already. …

Keysight’s 5G Test Solutions and Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 5G Modem Establish Mobile …

EE Journal Apr  4 10:15

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This industry milestone was achieved using Qualcomm Technologies’ second-generation Snapdragon X55 5G modem with integrated multi-mode …

CCA Partners with Parallel Wireless to Provide End-to-End Network Solutions for Mobile Operators

PR Newswire Apr  4 10:10

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World’s First Virtualized Open RAN to Deliver Profitability and Cost-effectively Enable 4G Expansion and Migration to 5G NASHUA, N.H. and WASHINGTON, April 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Parallel Wireless, Inc., the leader in providing the world’s first software-based unified end-to-end ALL G…

CTIA Report Says U.S. Catches China in 5G Readiness

MissionCritical Apr  4 10:05

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A new 5G summary by CTIA said that the United States is tied with China in 5G readiness, moving up from a year ago when the U.S. lagged behind China and South Korea. read more

New Intel CEO dishes on 5G, more acquisitions and moving his 50-year-old company forward

MassHighTech Apr  4 10:05

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Bob Swan was promoted to the California semiconductor giant’s top role in February after serving as executive vice president and CFO since October 2016. He told a Phoenix audience that Intel can no longer take an ‘insular’ market approach.

Report: Intel will miss its deadline to deliver a 5G modem to Apple, putting 5G iPhone in jeopardy

MassHighTech Apr  4 10:05

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Santa Clara-based Intel Corp. is racing to develop a 5G-capable mobile modem chip this year, but will likely miss a key deadline to get the chip to Apple Inc. in time, putting the company’s 5G iPhone in jeopardy, Fast Company reports, citing an unnamed source. Meanwhile, Apple has reportedly assembled a team of between 1,000 and 1,200 engineers to design its own 5G modem. That effort is still in its early stages, which means Apple might enter the 2020 holiday sales season without a 5G-capable…

5G era for smartphones has begun

Seeking Alpha Apr  4 09:55

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It’s unclear which country struck first, but Verizon has launched 5G wireless service in parts of Chicago and Minneapolis, while carriers in South Korea …

4×4 mimo the performance boost for lte

Creutz coaching and consulting Apr  4 09:40

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MIMO system enables 5G performance on LTE networks. …

Motorola Wins the Race to First 5G Smartphone in the World

Gizmodo UK Apr  4 09:30

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The 5G version of the Samsung Galaxy S10 goes on sale in South Korea tomorrow, but Motorola has just pipped it to the post by making the Moto Mod …

Samsung begins mass production of its 5G chipsets

SamMobile Apr  4 09:15

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Samsung has begun the mass production of its 5G multi-mode chipsets for next-generation 5G smartphones. The company’s latest 5G communication …

5G Broadcast Solution to Transmit Media Content Directly to Smartphone Users

everything RF Apr  4 08:55

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Reaching billions of smartphones will be the future of broadcasting in line with ATSC and 3GPP. As a part of the Bavarian research project ‘5G …

Norway offers to postpone 5G frequency payments to boost investment

Reuters Apr  4 07:45

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Norway will offer telecoms operators to postpone payments for mobile phone frequencies, including 5G networks, in return for investment commitments, the government said on Thursday.

Samsung Galalxy A50 review: Premium experience at a mid-range price point

Economic Times Apr  4 07:40

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… Galaxy S10 phones, 5G smartphone, Galaxy buds and smartwatches. …

China Mobile Hong Kong and Sino Group Jointly Present Hong Kong’s First In-Mall 5G Experience …

ACROFAN USA Mar 28 10:25

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Dr Li Feng, Chairman of China Mobile Hong Kong (CMHK), said, ‘We are very pleased to work with Sino Group in developing the first 5G showcase, …

Senate Panel Schedules Robocall Hearing

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The Senate communications, technology, innovation, and the Internet subcommittee has scheduled an April 11 hearing to examine the FCC’s first report on robocalls and to “review the steps Congress is currently taking to provide consumers relief from illegal robocalls.”  Scheduled witnesses are Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson; Kevin Rupy, a partner in law firm of Wiley Rein LLP, representing the U.S. Telecom Association; and Margot Saunders, counsel for the National Consumer Law Center.  The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. in Room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building.

Courtesy TRDaily