| Editor's Corner:  FirstNet's Fitzgerald provides update on Special Review Committee Also Noted: Spotlight On... Los Angeles councilman pushes for free citywide Wi-Fi
Child-centric MVNO Kajeet introduces content-restricted LTE service; Wireless packet core equipment will double by 2017 and much more... Industry Voices:  Spalter: Spectrum history 101 - When good intentions go wrong
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Best new Android, iOS apps of July 2013
Mobile apps will remain a universal obsession only as long as they continue to captivate, surprise and entertain consumers. Fortunately, the app ecosystem shows no signs of slowing up: Innovative and immersive mobile experiences are entering app stores every day. Each month, FierceMobileContent will look at the best and brightest, spotlighting the new apps that you need to download to your smartphone ASAP. Click here to check out the lists from previous months. Here are July's finest--the best mobile apps of the month. Click here to get started. News From the Fierce Network:
1. With churn low, Sprint and T-Mobile fight to steal switchers from Verizon, AT&T
2. Level 3 does not see demand for 100G services yet
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FirstNet's Fitzgerald provides update on Special Review Committee
A plethora of public news about new hirings, RFIs, spectrum lease agreements and more has rolled out of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) of late, making its Special Review Committee's activities seemingly retreat to the status of background activity. However, the committee is quite active, and the concerns being addressed remain front and center. In May, FirstNet's board approved the creation of the review committee to investigate whether the board has complied with federal rules that apply to its hiring, sourcing and meeting practices in its efforts to set up the LTE-based National Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN). The review committee was proposed at an April 23 meeting by board member Paul Fitzgerald, sheriff of Story County, Iowa, who alleged a number of improprieties and questionable backroom dealings at FirstNet. His request for a review committee was tabled at that meeting. On July 31, Fitzgerald issued a "to whom it may concern" letter to say he has been working with the committee "to assure that all the concerns I raised in my motion are properly addressed." The sheriff noted that in mid-July, he presented to laywers acting as counsel to the review committee a lengthy document as well as supporting evidence related to each of the points he raised on April 23. And Fitzgerald apparently tried to ensure things will not get glossed over at the committee level, as he also presented the same document and evidence to Todd Zinser, who is inspector general of the Department of Commerce, and his staff.  Continue reading this Editor's Corner online
Read more about: Special Review Committee
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* General ad info: Click here | Today's Top News 1. Google lured Starbucks with 100x Wi-Fi speed, unique content
Starbucks' decision to switch its free customer Wi-Fi service to Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) from AT&T (NYSE:T) was predicated on two superior offers from Google: a data speed increase of 100 times in certain locations and innovative content for Starbucks' landing page.  | | (Image source: Starbucks) | The coffee chain announced Google will provide upgraded Wi-Fi service to more than 7,000 company-owned stores in the United States. There will be an 18-month transition period from AT&T to Google, though some Starbucks stores are expected to start getting service via the Google agreement this month. Starbucks recently conducted a request for proposal (RFP) process for improving the Wi-Fi experience, said company spokeswoman Linda Mills. She told FierceBroadbandWireless that the switch from AT&T to Google was "a very thoughtful and considered decision made over many months." She declined to disclose financial terms. An AT&T spokesman said the company was willing to satisfy Starbucks' updated in-store Wi-Fi conditions. "We offered to meet their requirements of a 10 times increase in speed on the network for Wi-Fi, which suggests that the decision was based on criteria other than speeds." Indeed, Mills said Google offered much more than a 10 times speed increase. "Google brought a faster Wi-Fi experience to the table. It is up to 10 times faster in all of our stores and up to 100 times faster in Google Fiber cities, which was very exciting to us because we know our customers' connectivity needs in the future are going to continue to grow," said Mills. Kansas City is the first Google Fiber city, where the company has deployed fiber to deliver data speeds at up to 1 Gbps for downloads and uploads. Numerous other locations in Kansas and Missouri are slated to get the service, as are Austin, Texas, and Provo, Utah. In addition, Mills said Google offered "a unique opportunity to co-develop the next generation of the Starbucks Digital Network," which refers to the landing page customers reach when they log onto Starbucks' Wi-Fi service. The page provides a curated content experience that includes items such as music, news and local events. Google brought "unique ideas and proposals for making that even bigger," Mills said. Google will use its Starbucks partnership as a channel for selling advertising and promotions, said Level 3 CEO and President Jeff Storey, according the Wall Street Journal. "Google will do what it does best in that relationship," Storey told analysts during a call to discuss Level 3's second-quarter financial results. "We will do the network stuff." Specifically, Level 3 will install and activate the high-bandwidth connectivity and in-store switching and routing equipment. "Level 3 will be working with Google to configure, monitor, and maintain the Starbucks Wi-Fi ecosystem, which will serve Starbucks' retail customers and support its store operations," Level 3 spokeswoman Francie Dudrey told FierceBroadbandWireless. Dudrey did not say whether the new Wi-Fi routers will include 802.11ac connectivity--which theoretically enables data speeds up to 1 Gbps--but that is likely given that the equipment has started rolling out. Improved backhaul, beyond the 1.5 Mbps T1 lines currently supporting Starbucks Wi-Fi, will be key to improving data speeds. Level 3 has an extensive fiber-optic backbone, but Dudrey said the company will use a variety of broadband connectivity technologies to bring more bandwidth to Starbucks locations. AT&T was stoic despite losing Starbucks' Wi-Fi business. "Once this 18-month period is over, we will still have 25,000 Wi-Fi hotspots," said AT&T's spokesman. For more:
- see this Starbucks release
- see this Google blog post
- see this Wall Street Journal article (sub. req.) Related articles:
Starbucks ditches AT&T for Google's free Wi-Fi
Google ponies up $600,000 for free Wi-Fi in San Francisco
Google continues shotgun public Wi-Fi initiatives
Google contends Project Loon, balloon-powered broadband, is crazy enough to work
Starbucks to offer free Wi-Fi service
Starbucks snubs T-Mobile, signs Wi-Fi deal with AT&T Read more about: Level 3 Communications, Wi-Fi
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| This week's sponsor is Telecom Council of Silicon Valley. | | 
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2. PureWave making a case for using LTE small cells in public safety
PureWave Networks is deploying a Band Class 14 LTE test network in Silicon Valley to demonstrate small cell performance in various deployment scenarios deemed critical to public-safety networks. The 700 MHz Band Class 14 spectrum is allocated to the First Responders Network Authority (FirstNet), which is charged with building and operating the LTE-based National Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN). Equipment vendors have been busy demonstrating their wares in hopes of winning lucrative NPSBN business from the government. PureWave is supplying its Constellation family of small cell eNodeBs for the test network, which is aimed at deployable networks, multi-tenant small cells and a multi-operator core network (MOCN). The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said it is collaborating with a number of industry partners to evaluate virtualized evolved packet core (EPC) solutions and "EPC-lite" options hosted within the eNodeB itself. "In addition to increasing network capacity, small cells are the only effective solution for providing coverage in indoor public venues where public safety communications are required and for providing deployable, ad-hoc network coverage for incident management and event support," said Ronen Vengosh, PureWave's vice president of marketing and business development. Meanwhile, FirstNet announced the appointment of TJ Kennedy as deputy general manager. Kennedy was formerly Raytheon's director of public safety and security with responsibility for radio interoperability systems. The announcement of Kennedy's hiring came two days after he started with FirstNet. In addition, FirstNet hired Ed Parkinson, a former staff member of the House Homeland Security Committee, as director of government affairs. The FirstNet board also has extended for negotiations over Band 14 spectrum-lease agreements with recipients of stimulus grants from the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and the state of Texas on behalf of Harris County. The six BTOPs that have not yet signed lease agreements with FirstNet now have until Aug. 13 to resolve negotiations, while the state of Texas has until Aug. 29. The lease agreements are necessary for the BTOP projects to move forward using Band 14 spectrum for their public-safety LTE networks. For more:
- see this PureWave release
- see this FirstNet release
- see this Urgent Communications article Related articles:
Motorola Solutions addresses FirstNet allegations, NTIA hands out $13.1M
Oceus demos balloons for public-safety LTE use
FirstNet releases 10 RFIs, prepares for state meetings
FirstNet OKs first spectrum-lease pact, short-term staffing strategy Read more about: FirstNet
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3. Boingo tapped to deploy DAS networks at two universities
Boingo Wireless snagged major DAS contracts from the University of Arizona and University of Nebraska, which are both seeking to improve connectivity for sports fans on campus. Boingo said it will design, build and manage the University of Arizona's first distributed antenna system (DAS), starting with the 56,000-seat Arizona Stadium in Tucson. The DAS, which will also serve Steward Observatory Mirror Laboratory and certain student residence halls, is slated to launch this fall during the UA Wildcat football season. The company is also rolling out a DAS at the University of Nebraska's new Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln. Service in the 15,300-seat arena will be available once the venue opens in September. The arena is the new home of the Cornhuskers men's and women's basketball teams and is expected to host more than 120 major concerts, entertainment and community events annually. "Boingo's success in operating neutral host DAS at SMG's Soldier Field made them an ideal fit with our vision for the modern, technologically advanced Pinnacle Bank Arena," said Tom Lorenz, general manager for the Pinnacle Bank Arena/SMG. Boingo will operate both DAS networks on a neutral-host basis, inviting multiple carriers to lease access. DAS networks are used by mobile operators to extend the voice and data coverage of their macro cellular networks into large venues, such as arenas and stadiums. For more:
- see this Boingo release and this release Special Feature: Sky Dayton, founder of Boingo Wireless- Where are they now? Related articles
AT&T, Boingo ink international Wi-Fi roaming deal
Boingo exec: Enhanced cellular/Wi-Fi roaming to launch commercially in 2014
AT&T, Boingo Wireless will help WBA foster Wi-Fi roaming
Boingo becomes Wi-Fi provider for Dallas airport
Boingo CEO talks Wi-Fi offloading and the company's 'frenemy' status with operators
Boingo adding to Wi-Fi revenues with advertising and DAS Read more about: boingo wireless
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4. Nokia Siemens touts cloud-based VoLTE tests
Nokia Siemens Networks said its recent tests of voice over LTE (VoLTE) services in a virtualized cloud environment verify end-to-end readiness of the technology. NSN's test program implemented end-to-end verification of VoLTE call cases to ensure feature parity with customers' current 2G/3G circuit-switched voice services, Single Radio Voice Call Continuity (SRVCC) functionality, and the reuse of existing billing, lawful interception and intelligent network interfaces. The tests relied upon an industry-standard virtualization and cloud management infrastructure as well as commercial off-the-shelf IT server hardware, said NSN. It added that the test cases were enabled and supported by NSN's OSS portfolio and a cloud application management system that controls VoLTE core applications in an operator's private cloud. "The range of test cases we ran during the pre-deployment verification phase underlines the essential role of the OSS components in the Telco Cloud," said Peter Patomella, vice president, operations support systems at NSN. "We've shown how the complete lifecycle of a network element can be managed remotely via our OSS--including initial network element cloud deployment, monitoring of virtualized VoLTE application resources, and elasticity management," he added. For more:
- see this Nokia Siemens Networks release Related articles:
Nokia Siemens study shows why it's important to get VoLTE right
AT&T will use small cells to strengthen VoLTE coverage
Verizon's Mead reiterates VoLTE launch for 2014, promises more LTE small cells
Verizon exec: VoLTE on track for 2014 rollout
Verizon's Melone: Future rests on VoLTE, FiOS and IP backbone Read more about: VoIP
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5. Spirent adds TD-LTE mobile device testing
As the TD-LTE ecosystem ramps up, test and measurement companies are hustling to get in on the action as evidenced by the latest announcement from Spirent Communications, which is offering TD-LTE support on its CS8 mobile device tester. The company said the CS8 is now able to perform data throughput, voice quality, location based services and mobility testing for chipsets and mobile devices that support TD-LTE. The tester can emulate MIMO-enabled cells for both the TDD and FDD flavors of LTE networks simultaneously within a single instrument. Spirent also integrated its DatumLab solution--a lab-based evolution of the Datum measurement tool--with the CS8 for data performance measurement of LTE devices using FDD and TDD. The company said its CS8 also integrates Spirent's Nomad HD measurement system to enable voice quality performance analysis of HD Voice services in TD-LTE networks. The system is certified under the Perceptual Objective Listening Quality Assessment (POLQA), also known as ITU-T Rec. P.863. Further, the CS8 enables support for TD-LTE A-GPS over-the-air testing to provide validation of GPS performance in mobile devices. In early July, Anritsu announced that the Global Certification Forum (GCF) had confirmed that the company's ME7834 mobile device test platform offers the highest number of validated protocol conformance test cases for TD-LTE, including interworking with TD-SCDMA and GSM. In June, the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) announced that nearly 950 LTE-enabled devices have been announced for use on LTE networks, including 200 that can operate using the TD-LTE mode. The most popular TD-LTE bands in terms of number of devices are 38 (2.6 GHz) and 40 (2.3 GHz), said the group. For more:
- see this Spirent release
- see this Anritsu release Related articles:
GSA: 200 TD-LTE devices already announced
When it comes to LTE TDD, June has been a big month
Europe's vendors jostle for slice of massive China TD-LTE tender Read more about: TD-LTE
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Also Noted SPOTLIGHT ON... Los Angeles councilman pushes for free citywide Wi-Fi If Councilman Bob Blumenfield has his way, Los Angeles could become the largest U.S. city to provide free Wi-Fi. Blumenfield, chair of the city's Innovation, Technology and General Services Committee, filed a motion touting the benefits of the service--to visitors, residents, people who can't afford other methods of broadband access, and the city government itself--and asked Information Technology Agency staffers to prepare a report on setting up free Wi-Fi services. Los Angeles currently offers free public Wi-Fi only at its libraries. More Broadband wireless news from around the Web. > Telefonica O2 UK is deploying Ruckus Wireless' Smart Wi-Fi in London's Canary Wharf. Release > Child-centric MVNO Kajeet introduced a content-restricted LTE service. Article > SK Telecom has already signed up 300,000 LTE-Advanced subscribers. Article > The market for wireless packet core equipment should nearly double by 2017. Release > CNN Airport Network launched live streaming to Wi-Fi users in Miami International Airport. Release > Aicent is providing LTE roaming services to South Korea's KT. Release > Almost 600,000 base stations will be upgraded to LTE-A by 2018. Release And finally… Drowned seagulls may have been drunk on ants. Article
Spalter: Spectrum history 101 - When good intentions go wrong
| | Jonathan Spalter | With the arrival of Prince George in Great Britain, the world is momentarily punch drunk on the great traditions of history. Of course, not all history paints such a bright and optimistic picture. As the saying goes, those who don't learn its lessons are doomed to repeat them. These are wise words for the Federal Communications Commission to take to heart as it wades into the deep waters of the most high-stakes wireless spectrum auctions in U.S. history. The commissioners understand the sense of urgency around this effort. The FCC itself has warned that the ongoing surge in consumer demand for mobile connectivity threatens to overwhelm existing U.S. wireless capacity. There also is broad agreement on the public-spirited outcomes desired: Strong, agile U.S. mobile networks; seamless, innovative consumer wireless experiences and choices, as well as a rock-solid foundation for the growth and competitiveness of our information economy. The debate turns up several degrees, however, when it comes to precisely how these goals are best achieved. In a throwback to the more hands-on regulatory role of the pre-Internet era, some argue that the government's rules should overtly discriminate against certain competitors, excluding them from full participation in spectrum auctions for the express purpose of offering their rivals a leg up. It's not a new idea. In fact, it's been pursued many times around the world. Now, a paper by the Analysis Group's Robert Earle and David Sosa, in conjunction with Mobile Future, explores the outcomes of these real-life case studies. The results offer a sobering account of good policy intentions gone wrong, and the resulting high costs to consumers and innovation economies around the world. Continue reading this Industry Voices column online Read more about: FCC
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