The Augmented Reality Alliance, which is dedicated to “advancing” an “open and interoperable” AR ecosystem and supply chains, is now a division of SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, said a news release Thursday. The alliance “provides a supportive and neutral environment for organizations of all sizes to take an active role in advancing and strengthening the augmented reality hardware development ecosystem,” the release said.
Reallocating spectrum in the U.S. often takes years, which is too long in an era of rapid change, said Iain Gillott, vice president of technology and innovation at the Wireless Infrastructure Association, in a blog post Thursday. 4G LTE could use a 20 MHz channel and was often deployed in 5 or 10 MHz channels, Gillott said, but “5G Advanced and 6G require much larger channel sizes to deliver the benefits promised.” The U.S. needs large and clean “lanes” of midband spectrum, “not leftover fragments.”
Communications platform company Infobip forecast that more than 3.9 billion messages will be exchanged worldwide between brands and customers during the upcoming holiday season, a 15% increase year over year. Rich communication services will be “the fastest-growing channel” this year, with volumes increasing 161% on Black Friday and 269% on Cyber Monday worldwide, the report said. SMS will remain the leading retail channel with almost 2.7 billion interactions.
Representatives for the Association of American Railroads raised concerns during a meeting with FCC Wireless Bureau staff about a proposed voluntary, negotiation-based process to transition 10 MHz in the 900 MHz band to broadband, with 5/5 MHz channels. In 2020, the FCC approved use of 3/3 MHz channels in the band for broadband while retaining 4 MHz for narrowband operations (see 2005130057).
AST SpaceMobile's direct-to-device commercial service agreement with Verizon (see 2510080001) gives AST a formal path to provide D2D cellular broadband to Verizon customers next year, CEO Abel Avellan told analysts in a call this week as the company announced its latest quarterly earnings. A broader commercial rollout of service with Bell Canada also is forthcoming, he said. AST remains on track for intermittent nationwide service in the U.S. in early 2026 and continued service later in the year. Avellan also noted that AST has more than $1 billion in contracted revenue commitments from its commercial partners. The company should finish 2025 with a manufacturing cadence of six satellites a month, he said, adding that its BlueBird 6 satellite should launch in the first half of December and BlueBird 7 "shortly thereafter." AST expects five orbital launches by the end of Q1 2026 and additional launches every month or two to get to 45-60 satellites by the end of 2026.
SpaceX and EchoStar on Wednesday submitted to the FCC updated license purchase agreements and public interest statements regarding SpaceX's proposed spectrum license purchases from EchoStar. The original public interest statements in docket 25-302 covered SpaceX's planned purchase of AWS-4 and AWS-H block spectrum and of EchoStar's authorizations for U.S. market access for 2 GHz mobile satellite service. The updated EchoStar and SpaceX filings also incorporate SpaceX's purchase of EchoStar's unpaired AWS-3 spectrum, a deal that was announced last week (see 2511060004).
CTIA representatives supported an NPRM on an upper C-band auction, which was proposed for the Nov. 20 FCC meeting (see 2510290047), in discussions with aides to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioner Olivia Trusty. Other groups have raised concerns.
A survey commissioned by the Public Safety Broadband Technology Association found widespread support for FirstNet and reauthorizing the FirstNet Authority. The group noted that the FirstNet Authority will sunset at the end of 2027 without action by Congress. The survey, released Monday, found 96% awareness of FirstNet, 94% approval of AT&T’s performance as its operational partner, and 86% support for Congress permanently authorizing the network. “This research makes clear what first responders already know -- FirstNet works,” said Richard Carrizzo, the president of the association. “Congress must act to keep it running.” The survey was based on responses from about 500 first responders nationwide.
Ookla announced Monday the launch of Speedtest Pulse, a solution that offers smartphone-based “validation and troubleshooting” for Wi-Fi networks. Wi-Fi has become “the primary lens” through which consumers judge their ISP, the company noted. “With the explosion of connected devices and the rise of complex Wi-Fi only networks, ensuring a high-quality, consistent experience has become a major operational challenge, especially for large enterprises managing hundreds of sites.”
CNN is working with T-Mobile to provide coverage through a new service called SuperMobile, which offers heightened security and satellite coverage, the carrier said Monday. “Audiences will soon see SuperMobile in action as CNN journalists go live from the field during breaking news moments,” T-Mobile said. The development is part of a wider digital transformation at CNN.