FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is circulating to the commission a proposal to increase the broadband benchmark speed to 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload, from the current 4 Mbps download/1 Mbps upload standard, said an agency fact sheet made available to us Wednesday. Wheeler is also circulating a Notice of Inquiry asking what additional actions the agency should take to accelerate broadband deployment, the fact sheet said.
The 55-inch 4K TV that TCL launched last month in China with quantum dot technology sourced from QD Vision (see 1412150034) will now debut in North America, TCL CEO Hao Yi told a CES news conference Monday. He brought QD Vision CEO Jason Carlson onstage to trumpet his company’s quantum-dot-based Color IQ technology as providing TVs everywhere with “the world’s best color.” Color IQ is the only technology that delivers 110 percent of the NTSC color gamut, Carlson said. “That’s better” than OLED’s 100 percent, “for a fraction of the price, and a fraction of the energy consumption,” he said. Statements like that in the past have landed QD Vision in hot water with OLED TV market leader LG, which has defended OLED as the best TV technology money can buy, including for its color performance (see 1403050056). LG at CES is introducing its own Ultra HD LCD TV with quantum dot technology sourced from Dow Chemical (see 1412150034), but is positioning that product on a tier below that of its top-of-the-line OLED TV offerings. “We’re actively looking to partner with other industry leaders to bring this exciting new technology to the market,” Carlson said of Color IQ. TCL didn’t release North American pricing or distribution details on the set, which bears the model designation “H9700.”
Republicans will have more House Commerce Committee muscle as they attempt a Communications Act overhaul this year, with new members from both parties eager to dig into the issues and showing telecom expertise. Net neutrality also will be a major political focal point, with legislation likely on deck at least in the Senate (see 1412310033) and House lawmakers planning an FCC oversight hearing on net neutrality early in 2015.
Republicans will have more House Commerce Committee muscle as they attempt a Communications Act overhaul this year, with new members from both parties eager to dig into the issues and showing telecom expertise. Net neutrality also will be a major political focal point, with legislation likely on deck at least in the Senate (see 1412310033) and House lawmakers planning an FCC oversight hearing on net neutrality early in 2015.
FirstNet highlighted recent tests of the Hybrid Public Safety Microphone, or Turtle Mike, which potentially allows first responders to merge traditional land mobile radio and broadband communications. The tests were conducted in Nebraska, a Tuesday news release said. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate funded the device. “The Turtle Mike takes the conversation off the frequencies and bridges them together,” said Tom Chirhart, a DHS telecom specialist. “You can talk radio-to-radio or broadband-to-broadband or radio-to-broadband. It connects everyone together.”
China’s Konka Group “committed” to Stream TV’s glasses-free 3D technology for its 2015 TV product lineup, Stream TV said Monday in an announcement. Konka will showcase the technology on a 65-inch screen at CES, said Stream TV, which called Konka the world’s ninth-largest TV brand. Stream TV for years has been promising that the world’s biggest TV brands would adopt its glasses-free 3D technology, but none has. Konka representatives couldn’t be reached to confirm their commitment to Stream TV and whether that commitment extends to selling glasses-free 3D TVs with Stream TV technology built in, or whether the agreement is just to showcase the technology on the CES floor.
The FCC can't legally reclassify mobile broadband as a Title II service, Verizon said in a letter filed at the FCC last week, just before the start of the two-day federal Christmas holiday. CTIA made similar arguments in a white paper also released last week (see 1412230048). Verizon brought the initial challenge that led to parts of the 2010 net neutrality rules being scrapped by a federal court in January and the current FCC push to rewrite the rules (see 1401150062).
The FCC can't legally reclassify mobile broadband as a Title II service, Verizon said in a letter filed at the FCC last week, just before the start of the two-day federal Christmas holiday. CTIA made similar arguments in a white paper also released last week (see 1412230048). Verizon brought the initial challenge that led to parts of the 2010 net neutrality rules being scrapped by a federal court in January and the current FCC push to rewrite the rules (see 1401150062).
The Indian government is increasingly slashing barriers to foreign trade and investment, but U.S. companies continue to face burdensome customs processing and inconsistent, relatively high duties, said the International Trade Commission in a report to Congress, published on Dec. 22 (here). Although the Indian customs regime is improving, customs delays, unreliable valuation and problems with online documentation affect all industries, especially intellectual property-intensive businesses and logistics services, said the ITC.
CEA again said it remains “gravely concerned” with the Sept. 30 effective date of the new Version 7.0 of the Energy Star TV spec and wants it pushed back three months to Dec. 31, 2015, it told the EPA in its final round of comments posted Friday at the Energy Star website before the agency formally publishes the spec within the next 10 days.