Cisco forecast major increases in mobile data traffic through 2017. Faster than previously projected increases in 4G adoption and Wi-Fi offloading bear watching, experts told us. Mobile data traffic will reach 134 exabytes per year -- 11.2 exabytes per month -- by the end of 2017, Cisco said Tuesday in a report. That would be 134 times the total Internet Protocol traffic generated in 2000. It would also be a gain from 2012, when consumers’ global mobile data traffic rose by 70 percent, Cisco said. Traffic reached 885 petabytes per month by the end of 2012 -- up from 520 petabytes per month at the end of 2011, said the maker of equipment for telecom firms to handle data. The monthly mobile data traffic in 2012 was nearly 12 times the total monthly Internet traffic generated in 2000 -- 75 petabytes per month, Cisco said. Global traffic will continue to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 66 percent through 2017, Cisco said. North America will see growth slightly below the global average -- at a 56 percent CAGR -- to 2 exabytes per month in 2017, Cisco said (http://xrl.us/bigzmr).

The FCC should prohibit wireless microphones and other low-power auxiliary service (LPAS) devices from all former TV spectrum that will be sold by the commission in the incentive auction, CTIA commented on a November public notice designed to update and refresh the record on wireless mics. “In 2010, the Commission concluded that wireless microphones and LPAS devices could interfere with commercial base and mobile receivers (and public safety) entering the 700 MHz band and determined that such devices must be cleared from the band,” said the group’s comment filing (http://xrl.us/boc4g3). “Among the lessons learned as part of the digital television transition, the Commission concluded that wireless microphones and other” LPAS “devices in the 700 MHz band ‘pose a significant threat of interference’ to new wireless services entering the band and mandated that such devices be cleared,” the association said. “The risk of interference found in the 700 MHz band applies equally to the 600 MHz spectrum.” The FCC also got comments in response to a notice of proposed rulemaking on proposed rules for an incentive auction of TV spectrum (See separate report above in this issue). The FCC’s proposal “including TV Band repacking, the creation of exclusive use guard bands, and an elimination of reserve channels” are among measures that “would cause significant harm to the wireless microphone community,” Shure said. Wireless mic makers already feel under siege, Shure said (http://xrl.us/boc4bo). “In assessing the impact of its new proposals, the Commission should be aware that the wireless microphone community is still struggling to absorb the significant costs and disruption of the White Spaces and 700 MHz band decisions and any actions that further impair their wireless microphone operations will cause substantial hardship.” Sennheiser said that at a minimum the FCC should leave in place the two TV channels now set aside for wireless mics. “The very high demands that professional users place on wireless microphones as to audio fidelity, reliability, and low latency effectively rule out their operation on frequencies much above or below the TV bands,” Sennheiser said (http://xrl.us/boc4ce). “Motion-picture production, from Hollywood blockbusters with nine-digit budgets down to student work at the local community college, relies heavily on wireless microphones for clear, accurate audio. Live events like outdoor concerts and Broadway productions need wireless microphones to reach the back row. Presenters in large auditoriums, lecture halls, and houses of worship find them indispensable.” The FCC needs to protect wireless mics from interference, the Broadway League said. “The technological reality is that, because of the low power and relatively isolated locations of wireless microphones in near proximity to paired receivers, they do not interfere with other users,” the league said (http://xrl.us/boc4cp). “However, because of the same factors of low power and location, it is easy for other users of the same spectrum to overpower wireless microphones.

The Consumer Electronics Association laid out a set of principles it said would help the FCC hold a successful incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum. Google and Microsoft stressed the importance of maintaining a healthy chunk of the spectrum for unlicensed use. AT&T and Verizon countered small carrier arguments over who should be allowed to participate in the auction.

A broad coalition representing broadcasters and wireless companies Thursday called for changes to the proposed bandplan for an incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum. The call came in a letter to the FCC on the eve of a deadline for initial comments on the much-anticipated auction. As expected (CD Jan 24 p1), the letter objected to a proposal to put some broadcasters in the so-called duplexer gap, surrounded by wireless operations. The letter was signed by NAB, Verizon Wireless, AT&T, T-Mobile, Qualcomm and Intel.

Large and small carriers reiterated their stances on how the FCC should structure a spectrum screen, in replies to a notice of proposed rulemaking in docket 12-269. Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and public interest groups urged the commission to separately evaluate a licensee’s spectrum holdings below 1 GHz. AT&T and Verizon Wireless asked the commission to allow the screen to function as a safe harbor. Replies were due Monday.

Republicans and Democrats on the House Communications Subcommittee are likely to spar Wednesday over two particular issues raised by an FCC September notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM): the allocation of unlicensed spectrum and bidder eligibility requirements, according to planning memos. The subcommittee’s majority memo, published this week, said the FCC runs the risk of “short changing” first responders if the commission decides to give away much of the spectrum that is cleared in connection with the forthcoming broadcast incentive auctions. The memo also urged the commission against “picking winners and losers” by excluding parties from the auction. Subcommittee Democrats shot back Tuesday with a minority memo that said Republicans are seeking to “reopen issues that were resolved in the legislation.”

MetroPCS is “solely focused” on its proposed combination with T-Mobile USA for now, though it remains open to other offers, CEO Roger Linquist said Wednesday at the UBS investor conference in New York.

DirecTV Latin America’s (DLA) Sky Brazil postponed launch of a 4G LTE wireless broadband service to 2013, as it works to resolve software issues and improve coverage, DLA President Bruce Churchill said Monday at the UBS conference in New York.

The U.K. will back international calls for a harmonized release of 700 MHz spectrum for mobile broadband services while trying to ensure that the 600 MHz band is made available for digital terrestrial TV (DTT), the Office of Communications said Friday in a UHF strategy statement (http://xrl.us/bnzy4d). The 700 MHz band, now used in the U.K. for DTT, wireless microphones and white space technology, could help meet the burgeoning demand for mobile data, it said. But changing the use of the band risks preventing DTT from fulfilling its role of providing nearly universal, low-cost access to public broadcasting services and of maintaining viewers’ choice of platforms, services and equipment, it said. Mobile operators have several ways to boost the capacity of their networks, such as using more high and low frequency spectrum, upgrading mobile networks to more efficient mobile broadband technologies such as LTE, and offloading mobile data on Wi-Fi and femtocells, Ofcom said. But even if they do all that, additional mobile spectrum will be needed to meet the anticipated growth in demand, it said. Only international harmonized spectrum is likely to be used for mobile broadband because of economies of scale, it said. There will be a potentially significant increase in harmonized spectrum resulting from the U.K.’s planned 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz spectrum awards; refarming of existing 2G and 3G mobile bands to LTE; government plans to release 500 MHz of public spectrum; and other emerging higher frequency spectrum options such as the 3.6-3.8 GHz bands, it said. But the 700 MHz band “represents the most attractive option for providing additional lower frequency spectrum because there is now momentum behind it being allocated for mobile broadband use on a global scale,” it said. Among other things, a 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference resolution paved the way for the band to be used for mobile services after the next WRC. The earliest it could be made available is 2018, provided there’s sufficient agreement in Europe, Ofcom said. Shifting the 700 MHz band to mobile broadband use could affect multiplex operators running the DTT platform, wireless microphones and white space applications, it said. Some say Ofcom may have underestimated the role broadband Internet Protocol TV-delivered services could play in offering a viable substitute to the DTT platform, it said. But over the time-scale of a future release of the 700 MHz band, perhaps as early as 2018, there’s a major risk that IPTV won’t be able to substitute for DTT because it’s unclear whether broadband connections with enough speed and data capacity limits will be universally available, it said. Moreover, there’s a strong likelihood that consumers won’t have universally taken up high speed broadband connections and IPTV-compatible receivers by 2018, and there is currently a complete absence of stand-alone IPTV service that provide the range of linear TV services available on the DTT platform, it said. Two factors could help ensure there’s enough DTT broadcast capacity for ongoing delivery of its important benefits, Ofcom said. One is further improvements in digital television compression and transmission technology that will allow DTT spectrum to be used more efficiently; the other is the potential use of the 600 MHz band released by digital switchover for DTT and the other services that share spectrum with it, Ofcom said. Most respondents to an earlier consultation said alternative spectrum at 600 MHz should be made available for DTT if the 700 MHz band is switched to mobile broadband, it said. One consequence of that approach is that no long-term rights in the 600 MHz band can be granted, given international development around the 700 MHz band, it said. Ofcom considered two options for shorter-term use of the band -- shared use by DTT, wireless mics and white space devices, and exclusive reservation of an innovation space for white space devices -- and decided that the former solution is better. The regulator stressed that its statement doesn’t reach any final decisions about the process and timeline of any future release of the 700 MHz band. For now, it said, it will engage internationally on the 700 MHz band, and study how and when a change in its use could be achieved. Ofcom also said it will look at ways to reduce or avoid costs and disruptions to consumers and work with current users of the 700 MHz band to safeguard DTT and help them plan for a potential move. The regulator will publish as soon as practicable a document laying out how best to award 600 MHz spectrum, and do more work on the actual arrangements for coexistence of wireless microphones and white space devices in the band, it said.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said the FCC has made significant progress on addressing the spectrum “crunch” during his watch as chairman. His comments came in remarks Thursday at the University Of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. There has not been a major spectrum auction since Genachowski became chairman and none have been formally scheduled, but he told the Wharton students that auctions are on the way. Genachowski includes in his calculations spectrum that won’t be cleared out right away but must be shared with federal government users, regarded by many as a tough task. (See related story, this issue.)