Qualcomm will appeal the $271 million European Commission fine for predatory pricing of its 3G baseband chipsets, it said Thursday. The antitrust investigation found the manufacturer held a dominant position in the global market for the chipsets 2009-11, and it abused its position by selling quantities of three of the chipsets below cost to Huawei and ZTE in an effort to eliminate rival Icera. Icera was becoming a viable supplier of the chipsets, posing a threat to Qualcomm's business. The EC based its decision on a price-cost test for the three Qualcomm chipsets, plus qualitative evidence showing the anticompetitive rationale. The fine considers the duration and seriousness and is 1.27 percent of Qualcomm's 2018 revenue. "This is the second antitrust fine that we've imposed on Qualcomm," said Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. In 2018, the company got a $1.2 million fine because it granted exclusivity payments, she said: In both cases, Qualcomm's objective was to protect its dominant position in baseband chipsets to shut out rivals. Qualcomm slammed the "meritless nature" of the decision, saying the EC spent years "investigating sales to two customers, each of whom said that they favored Qualcomm chipsets not because of price but because rival chipsets were technologically inferior." The decision is based on a "novel theory of alleged below-cost pricing over a very short time period and for a very small volume of chips," it said. "There is no precedent for this theory, which is inconsistent with well developed economic analysis of cost recovery, as well as Commission practice."

Driven by smart home and CE demand, the Class D audio amplifier market is projected to grow from $2.3 billion this year to $3.6 billion by 2024, reported MarketsandMarkets Monday. In-vehicle infotainment systems are expected to create “huge growth opportunities” for the category, it said.

Microsoft representatives weighed in on secure handling of asserted information using tokens (Shaken) technology, in meetings with FCC staff. The agency is considering mandating rules if providers don’t come forward to implement Shaken/secure telephone identity revisited (Stir) technology on their own (see 1905150041). "Industry-led efforts [can] improve upon the current iteration of SHAKEN so that legitimate voice calls from a broader set of calling technologies and business models would be eligible for highest level attestation ,” Microsoft said, posted Monday in docket 17-59. “We also raised concerns about the possibility that voice service providers may implement SHAKEN in a non-uniform manner by inextricably commingling attestation values with other analytics.” The commission plans a Shaken/Stir summit on July 11.

Google Fiber's attempt to justify waiver of some audio accessibility set-top box functions because they're supposedly less used "is insultingly dismissive" of the visually impaired, the National Federation of the Blind said in an FCC docket 12-108 posting last week. It doesn't oppose the amended limited waiver petition (see 1905140066) but will watch to see if further waivers are filed in the near future. NFB said the FCC should deny any that ask for further extending the deadlines. The frequency of a particular feature's use is irrelevant when its presence is to ensure everyone can use the program or service, it said. Google Fiber emailed Thursday that accessibility "remains a priority." "Our video product provides accessibility-compliant solutions for most of the critical features our customers most frequently use, and we continue to focus on developing innovative solutions for these few remaining features to provide the most inclusive experience for all of our customers," it said.

Antennas made of carbon nanotube films are as efficient as copper for wireless applications, while being tougher, more flexible and can be “painted onto devices,” reported researchers Monday at Rice University’s Brown School of Engineering. The conductive films can match the performance of copper films while being made thinner to better handle higher frequencies, which could have application in 5G devices, said researchers. At target frequencies of 5, 10 and 14 GHz, the antennas “easily held their own with their metal counterparts,” when extending to frequencies that “aren't even used in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth networks today, but will be used in the upcoming 5G generation of antennas," said Amram Bengio, lead author of the research in the Rice lab. Bengio founded a company to further develop the material. The new antennas could also be suitable for unmanned aerial vehicles where weight is a consideration, as wireless telemetry portals for downhole oil and gas exploration and for future IoT applications, researchers said.

Dialog Semiconductor announced its first Wi-Fi networking SoC for battery-powered IoT devices Tuesday. The FC9000 enables direct connectivity to Wi-Fi networks, said the company. It's said to address pain points for manufacturers and end-users for IoT network compatibility. The chip’s power-saving algorithms operate on a few microamps, increasing overall battery life for end-devices, Dialog said.

America's Communications Association wants the FCC to caution Congress about small MVPDs' resources in the next video description report. The American Council of the Blind is urging the agency to expand video description requirements to more designated market areas. MVPDs have made progress in video-described on-demand programming availability and in their ability to pass through more than two audio tracks, but the FCC "must be realistic" about how quickly small operators can implement new technology, given their market stature and resources, ACA replied in docket 11-43, posted Thursday. ACB said there's clearly consumer demand for video described programming, and the agency should expand video description requirements beyond the current DMAs and phase them in for an additional 10 annually starting in 2020. ACB said the FCC should increase the amount of video-described programming by 75 percent, with a focus on such content as prime time and children's programming. NAB has argued against expanding the requirements beyond the top 60 markets (see 1904020059).

Unit shipments of display driver ICs declined 3 percent globally last year to 7.9 billion, but revenue increased 0.4 percent to $6 billion, said IHS Markit Monday. Lower average unit pricing will cause revenue to decline in 2019 to $5.9 billion, said IHS. It expects unit demand won't rise again until 2022, and lower pricing will keep revenue growth “in negative territory.” Display module demand is “saturated” for LCD TVs, desktop monitors, laptops, tablets and smartphones, and that will suppress unit growth through 2021, it said. “As unit shipments of 8K TV panels rises to 10 million units in 2024, driver IC demand will also start to increase. Even so, driver IC revenue will continue to decline, as Chinese companies invest more aggressively in the market, which will drive prices even lower.” IHS estimates 30 percent of all driver ICs are used in TVs. The higher the TV’s screen resolution, the more driver ICs it will require, it said. Half of all TV panels shipped in 2019 will be 4K panels, rising to 60 percent in 2023, it said: “Consequently, source driver IC demand will also increase this year.”

Local governments should join forces to oppose an FCC NPRM to expand the over-the-air reception devices (OTARDs) rule for 5G (see 1904150035), Best Best attorneys said in a Monday legal alert. “If approved, the Rule would limit localities’ authority to regulate placement of hub and relay antennas of a certain size -- regardless of whether an occupant at the site where the equipment is deployed is using the network,” the local government lawyers wrote. “In doing so, the FCC seeks to extend a Congressional directive that protects consumers’ right to install satellite dishes … to network elements that would otherwise be subject to zoning oversight.” The rule may permit wireless companies to install antennas without notifying local agencies or facing local control, they said. Comments on the FCC NPRM are due 30 days from Federal Register publication. The FCC didn't comment.

Qualcomm announced ecosystem support for its Qualcomm Vision Intelligence platforms for edge and on-device camera processing and machine learning, at the International Security Conference & Exposition in Las Vegas Wednesday. The Vision Intelligence 400 & 300 platforms are geared to AI and machine learning uses such as tracking, identification and classification of people, objects and sounds, Qualcomm said. Built on its QCS605 and QCS603 SOC (see 1804110029), the platforms are targeted to smart security, sports, wearable and body cameras; robotics, inventory management, smart displays and dash cams, said Jeffery Torrance, vice president-business development. The chipsets are well-suited to running machine learning and other edge compute use cases that require video processing and analytics support, with real-time stitching for simultaneous multi-video streams while running concurrent applications, said the company. Companies showing camera products at ISE using Qualcomm Vision Intelligence technology are Altek, AnyVision, Cisco Meraki, eInfochips, Hitron, Intellivix, Intrinsyc Technologies, Linkflow, Lite-On, Microsoft, Motorola, Owlcam, PathPartner Technology, Pilot AI, Poly, Qisda Precision, Ricoh, Thundercomm and Vivotek.