“To help our customers connect with loved ones in the wake of the terrible terrorist attacks,” T-Mobile said Tuesday it's offering free calling and texting from the U.S. to Belgium and Turkey following attacks in both places. “I’m speechless,” said John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile, in a news release. “Our hearts are with everyone affected by the horrible acts of terrorism.” The offer applies to all T-Mobile Simple Choice postpaid customers and is in effect from Tuesday through Friday for Belgium. It was in effect Saturday through Tuesday for Turkey. “Customers will see regular charges on their bills with corresponding credits,” T-Mobile said.
Sky is launching a “major new commitment” to original virtual reality content through the creation of Sky VR Studio, a “dedicated in-house VR production unit,” the European entertainment company said in a Thursday announcement. The first pieces of “fully immersive VR content” to be produced by the unit will be released Friday in the form of two films shot during Formula One racing in Barcelona, it said. The footage will “transport viewers to the pit lane, into the team garages, and out onto the track,” it said. The films will be released on Facebook’s 360 Video platform, and also on the Oculus platform, viewable on Samsung Gear VR and Oculus Rift headsets, it said. Sky will look to distribute content through a dedicated Sky VR app later in the year, it said. “Over the coming year, Sky VR Studio will drive the creation of cinematic, fully immersive VR content, producing more than 20 individual films, across a unique range of Sky content -- from major cultural events in news to some of the biggest sporting events on the planet.”
The Dynamic Spectrum Alliance said India has become the latest market to explore use of TV white spaces spectrum with the government there issuing eight experimental licenses in the 470-582 MHz band. “The purpose of these licenses is to carry out experiments at several locations using TV white space-like rules and regulations already adopted (or being adopted) in other countries such as Malawi, Ghana, Singapore, the Philippines, UK, USA and Canada,” DSA said Thursday. “This decision opens up opportunities for the use of sub-1 GHz spectrum in India in either an unlicensed or lightly licensed fashion without the need for spectrum auctions.”
Western European consumers will buy 24.5 million connected fitness trackers and 20.8 million smartwatches in 2020, Parks Associates said in a Tuesday report. “The expansion of mobile device platforms to wearable form factors creates many opportunities for developers to build new services and applications,” it said. “For the smart watch, its location on the body and easy access put it in a great position to act as a remote control for smart home features, a role currently occupied by the smartphone.” Parks estimates that 10 percent of broadband homes in Spain own a smartwatch, followed by 8 percent in the U.K., 7 percent in Germany and 6 percent in France. In the U.S., a third of broadband homes own a digital health and wellness device, and 10 percent plan to buy a smartwatch by midyear 2016, the researcher said.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership will help U.S. technology companies access expanded markets, CompTIA said in a news release Monday. Executive Vice President-Public Advocacy Elizabeth Hyman said TPP will promote “strong and balanced” protections for copyright and related rights, and will protect against locality requirements that direct companies to establish local data storage facilities, which could deplete the efficiency and economic benefits of the Internet. “We understand that this agreement negotiated among twelve countries could not accomplish all the needs of U.S. businesses. Accordingly, we encourage USTR to continue to work to further allow cross-border data flows and defend against data localization requirements for the financial services industry," said Hyman. "We urge Congress to move forward to ratify the TPP.”
Sky invested $6 million in fuboTV, a U.S.-based video streaming service that provides “a premium, over-the-top bundle” of sports TV channels, Sky said in a Thursday announcement. Though it launched just a little more than a year ago, fuboTV “has quickly become the second largest aggregator and distributor of linear OTT sports content in the U.S., growing to more than 40,000 subscribers,” Sky said. The service is available in English, Spanish and Portuguese through a range of platforms and devices, and has landed U.S. distribution deals with TV channels that hold rights to major worldwide sporting events, including live soccer matches from more than half of the leading international leagues and tournaments, Sky said.
Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and Andrus Ansip, the European Commission vice president-digital single market (see 1509240053), will discuss the transatlantic digital economy, including the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield agreement (see 1602290003), Friday. The "armchair discussion" will be at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Danny Weitzner, who heads the MIT Internet Policy Research Initiative, will moderate. The event is scheduled for 12:45 p.m. A Commerce Department spokeswoman said the event may be live streamed.
The classification for the Microsoft Band is based upon the device's ability to connect to a smartphone, ruled Customs and Border Protection, so the band gets duty-free treatment when imported from most countries. Its ability to connect to a user's smartphone over Bluetooth is the essential character for classification purposes, the agency said Jan. 19 in a ruling it recently released. CBP previously made similar rulings on the Apple Watch and on a Samsung smartwatch. When connected to a smartphone, the Microsoft Band can display phone call information, news, weather, heart rate, pedometer measurements and other things, said CBP. When not paired, the wrist band lacks the ability to show much of that information, it said. Although the device allows "some basic sound reproducing functions," and other functions, "the Microsoft Band is primarily designed to display, manipulate, and store data via the use of various applications utilized by a Bluetooth-connected mobile telephone," said CBP. The band is made up of component articles and should be classified based on the component that provides for the essential character, CBP said. "Although each of the Microsoft Band’s component articles (e.g., the microphone, speaker, AMOLED display, heart rate monitor, accelerometer, and gyro sensor) enable important functionality in the operation of the Microsoft Band, it is the Bluetooth transceiver that is indispensable to the core, essential condition of the Microsoft Band, because the radio transceiver facilitates the display, manipulation, and storage of data between the Microsoft Band and paired external devices." Based on the role of each of the component articles "in relation to the use of the merchandise, CBP concluded the Band's essential character is imparted by the Bluetooth transceiver. The band is best classified as a radio transceiver in subheading 8517.62.00, which provides for, 'Other apparatus for transmission or reception of voice, images or other data, including apparatus for communication in a wired or wireless network (such as a local or wide area network): Machines for the reception, conversion and transmission or regeneration of voice, images or other data, including switching and routing apparatus,'” said CBP.
The federal government's interagency End-User Review Committee added Chinese telecom equipment company ZTE and three affiliated firms to the entity list after the ERC determined the trio had cooperated in a "scheme" to re-export controlled items to Iran contrary to U.S. law, the Bureau of Industry and Security said in a notice to appear in Tuesday's Federal Register. ZTE's plan allegedly involved establishing, controlling and using multiple shell companies to illicitly re-export controlled items to Iran in violation of U.S. export control laws, BIS said. ZTE didn't comment Monday.
Gogo wants special temporary authority (STA) to allow up to 200 earth station aboard aircraft (ESAA) terminals to communicate with satellites Intelsat 18 and Yamal 401, it said in an FCC International Bureau filing Thursday. Gogo said it needs the STA to meet customer demand for in-flight connectivity in the South Pacific and over Russia while its application to modify to ESAA is pending before the FCC. Neither satellite will be used in U.S. airspace, Gogo said.