Rather than 47,844 satellites, OneWeb's second phase of its broadband mega constellation plans might require 6,372, the company said Tuesday in an FCC International Bureau amendment to its pending application to modify its U.S. market grant (see 2005270010). It said a lower maximum number of Phase 2 satellites won't raise the risk for interference to other authorized non-geostationary orbit fixed satellite systems but will mean lower funding requirements. It said it doesn't plan changes to its Phase 1 deployment proposal of 716 satellites.
Qualcomm agreed to buy CPU supplier Nuvia for $1.4 billion, said the chipmaker Wednesday. Qualcomm expects to embed Nuvia CPUs across its “broad portfolio,” including Snapdragon processors for smartphones. “5G, the convergence of computing and mobile architectures, and the expansion of mobile technologies into other industries are significant opportunities for Qualcomm,” said President Cristiano Amon, who succeeds Steve Mollenkopf as CEO June 30. The combined companies are “very well positioned to redefine computing and enable our ecosystem of partners to drive innovation and deliver a new class of products and experiences for the 5G era,” Amon said.
Sonos announced new artist channels and genre stations for Sonos Radio and Sonos Radio HD Wednesday. It’s adding stations from D’Angelo, FKA twigs, Bjork and The Chemical Brothers, including select songs and commentary, and new radio shows from Dolly Parton, Brittany Howard, Thom Yorke and Third Man Records. The Sonos Sound System station will launch new shows, including a podcast about music that’s shaping culture, it said. The first artist station to launch, D’Angelo’s Feverish Fantazmagoria, began streaming Wednesday, with others scheduled to come online over the next few weeks. Sonos Radio is included with Sonos subscriptions globally, preloaded in the Sonos app. Sonos Radio HD offers original content that streams ad-free in CD-quality audio, with skip and repeat capability, for $7.99 per month in the U.S. and U.K.
Riding COVID-19 stay-at-home trends, U.S. consumer drone sales rose 114% year on year March-November, while virtual- and augmented reality hardware and accessories sales grew 53%, NPD reported. Average prices more than doubled, said analyst Ben Arnold, saying trends will continue into Q1. He highlighted DJI drones and Oculus VR/AR gear as category leaders.
Webcams became an unexpected product scarcity resulting from a computer trickle-down phenomenon during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Best Buy CEO Corie Barry in a Tuesday CES keynote. Home office shortages abounded when families suddenly began looking for computing solutions last spring, she said. After setting up a PC, households realized they needed webcams to look clearer on the other side and mics for better audio quality, said Barry. “As you had more time to think about what the best experience might be at home, then you started bolting on the ancillary products," she said. “Nobody knew there’d be a run on webcams at the pace we saw, yet suddenly it became the hottest item.” Best Buy’s “overnight” enabling of curbside fulfillment in response to safety concerns required employees to work differently and outside of familiar structured roles, she said: All employees had to pitch in to get tech gear to customers in the way they wanted to receive it, and that has become more important. E-commerce sales exploded -- Best Buy's online sales were up 175% year on year as of Q3 -- Barry said, with 40% of sales still being picked up in stores or curbside.
FuboTV is an “interesting opportunity, but we’re not banking on it yet,” Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter wrote investors Tuesday after the streaming media service announced a second planned acquisition in sports wagering. FuboTV is buying sportsbook technology company Vigtory. The sports-focused TV service plans to complete the deal this quarter and make inroads in the sports betting business by year-end. Before integrating wagering, fuboTV plans to launch a stand-alone, free-to-play app from Balto Sports, which it bought in December, that will eventually be integrated into its platform. “We expect the introduction of sports wagering to drive engagement in sporting events, new subscriber growth, and the company’s monetization capabilities,” Pachter said, noting sports betting adds another layer of customer monetization beyond premium subscription plans and valuable advertising inventory. “For new and existing subscribers looking to wager, fuboTV’s platform will be a compelling choice as the company currently maintains over 6.3 million billing relationships with former, existing, and trial subscribers.” It has an active subscriber base of 455,000 as of Q3, he noted. “Leveraging these billing relationships means eliminating the dreaded pain for many customers of ‘pulling out the wallet,'" he said,
Smartphone shipments will increase 4% to 161 million units this year, for $73 billion, a 5% dollar-value increase after a year of “slight declines,” CTA reported Monday. Over 67 million 5G smartphones are expected to ship, with 298% growth over last year as the technology continues to build out. 5G revenue is projected at $39 billion, up 218%, as consumer awareness grows and network coverage expands. U.S. retail tech industry sales revenue will reach $461 billion in 2021, up 4.3%, CTA said, noting the pandemic will continue to keep Americans at home using tech to stay connected and entertained. “While the road to a full economic recovery is long and intertwined with a complex vaccine rollout, the tech industry’s ability to meet the moment during this crisis has been critical,” said CTA CEO Gary Shapiro. Spending on streaming services and software is projected to grow 11%, to $112 billion, after 2019-20 growth of 31%. Exclusive content and cord cutting are driving households to take on multiple subscriptions. Video spending is seen rising 15% to $41 billion in 2021, and audio revenue for the year is estimated at $10 billion, rising 19% from last year. In gaming, spending on videogame software is projected to reach $47 billion in 2021, up 8%.
FCBA said 19 employers are in its inaugural diversity pipeline program, which will facilitate technology, media and telecom internship placements for law students. It said Monday that participating law firms are Davis Wright, Harris Wiltshire, Hogan Lovells, Kellogg Hansen, Kelley Drye, Lerman Senter, Mintz, Wilkinson Barker, Wiley and Willkie Farr. Also participating are ACA Connects, CTIA, NCTA, USTelecom, AT&T, Charter Communications, Comcast/NBCUniversal, T-Mobile and Verizon. The program remains open to employers in the Washington area through Jan. 18, said FCBA. Students may apply until Friday. “As the Tech Bar, the FCBA has real power to drive meaningful diversity, inclusion, and equity, and it is our responsibility to do so,” said President Natalie Roisman. Such efforts were discussed in our recent Special Report on diversity (see here and here).
The Competitive Carrier Association’s spring show March 30-31 will be virtual because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the group said Monday. President Steve Berry said, “Panel discussions will cover topics including carrier needs, fixed wireless access, Open [radio access networks], network security and supply chain issues, spectrum access and uses, next generation technologies, closing the digital divide for rural America, and more.”
Equifax agreed to buy Kount, a supplier of artificial intelligence-based fraud prevention and digital identity solutions, for $640 million. “Businesses require new ways to establish digital identity trust in real time to fight the growing problem of online fraud while reducing customer friction,” said Equifax Friday. This will expand its global “footprint” in fraud prevention and “identity trust,” it said. The transaction is expected to close this quarter.