Wilson Electronics executives met with Chairman Ajit Pai and adviser Rachael Bender on the company’s December request that the FCC eliminate the personal-use restriction on consumer cell-signal boosters (see 1703240041). “Signal booster rules had proved to be a success, as evidenced by the fact that Wilson had shipped 750,000 consumer boosters under the rules and not one has caused interference to a wireless network,” said a filing in docket 10-4. “The personal-use restriction, which was not part of the compromise that the industry hammered out, has worked to defeat the purposes of the signal booster rules.”

LG launched a warranty program called Second Year Promise, a no-cost, one-year add-on beyond the first year of coverage for owners of its G6 smartphone. The warranty fills the gap between the first year of warranty coverage and the third year that kicks in with a third-party extended warranty, said the company, citing longer use cycles as the catalyst for the program.

Sixty percent of global smartphone users check their devices every 30 minutes, and more than 22 percent tap into their phones every 5 minutes, said an Interactive Advertising Bureau study of smartphone users compiled from 18 countries. Most users in the survey reported accessing the internet via mobile web (88 percent) and apps (84 percent) at least once a day, and they had a high awareness of advertising on both mobile web and mobile apps. Half of respondents said they took action after seeing mobile advertising. Searching the internet, buying a product or service, or booking a service online are predominantly mobile web functions, the survey found, and mobile apps are favored for experiencing videos, movies, music, games, communications and social networking. The April 21–May 8 survey was done by OnDevice Research in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Ecuador, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Norway, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, the U.K., the U.S. and Uruguay, with 200 adults, ages 18 and older, in each market.

The wireless industry now serves more than 5 billion unique mobile subscribers, said GSMA Intelligence, and it has "taken four years to add the latest 1 billion subscribers.” Projections are industry will hit 5.7 billion by the end of the decade. The most penetrated region is Europe, where 86 percent subscribe, and sub-Saharan Africa is the least-penetrated region at 44 percent, GSMA said. China has more than a billion subscribers, India 730 million.

Motorola Solutions will provide mobile apps, software and services for the FirstNet network as part of its role on the AT&T team, it said Tuesday. “We’ll work hand-in-hand with AT&T and first responders to help provide a new generation of voice, data and messaging capabilities for U.S. public safety,” said Bruce Brda, executive vice president-products and services at Motorola Solutions. Motorola Solutions’ LEX F10 device, designed for public safety, was certified for use on AT&T LTE network, Motorola Solutions said.

The estimated 30 million U.S. consumers who own unlocked mobile phones are “less loyal” to wireless carriers and device brands than American mobile phone owners as a whole, an NPD survey found. NPD estimates unlocked handsets make up about 12.5 percent of the U.S. mobile phone market, it said in a Tuesday report. NPD canvassed more than 1,000 adult owners of unlocked phones, in addition to 4,100 adult consumers it surveyed as part of a broadband adoption study, it said. It found that 30 percent of unlocked phone users switched carriers when buying a new device, versus 24 percent of locked phone users, it said: “In fact, the number one motivator for purchasing an unlocked phone was freedom to choose a future network.” Unlocked users also were also more likely than those with locked devices (45 versus 34 percent) to cite lower costs as a reason for switching carriers, it said. Unlocked users also were more likely than locked-phone users (48 versus 37 percent) to switch device brands when upgrading, it said. Forty-eight percent of unlocked phone users switched brands when upgrading devices, compared with 37 percent of locked phone users. Among unlocked users brand loyalty increases with price paid. Online and physical retailers are responding to the increasing popularity of unlocked phones by widening their product selection, NPD said. “As the unlocked phone market grows, differentiation will be key” for OEMs, it said. Though price is the main “competitive component” of unlocked phones, “devices will need compelling features/functionality to appeal to consumers and retailers alike,” it said.

The FCC need not issue another NPRM before eliminating the personal-use restriction on consumer cell-signal boosters, Wilson officials said in a meeting with Wireless Bureau staff. The company requested the change in December and the FCC took comment (see 1703240041). The FCC already has a record, Wilson said in a filing in docket 10-4. “Comments supporting the elimination of the restriction on wideband signal boosters were filed in response to the Commission’s further notice of proposed rulemaking that was issued in 2014,” the company said. “The public notice that was issued this year gave notice of the rule change that Wilson proposed and solicited comments on whether the restriction should be lifted for wideband boosters, as well as for Provider-Specific Consumer Signal Boosters.” Wilson officials said in December, with more people working from home, it's tough for many to differentiate whether they’re using a booster only for personal calls or for business as well (see 1612200061).

AT&T praised a Texas ban on texting while driving. It became the 47th state with a ban when it enacted the law Tuesday. Violators will be fined when the law takes effect Sept. 1. “The law signals another step toward safer driving and putting an end to this deadly behavior,” AT&T said in a Thursday news release.

Apple had the highest average share of U.S. smartphone subscribers ages 13 and older in the three months ended April 30, comScore said in rankings. Apple’s 43.9 percent share beat Samsung’s 28.9 percent and LG’s 9.9 percent. Apple’s share slipped 0.7 percentage points from the 44.6 percent average share it held in the three months ended Jan. 31, said Thursday's report. LG’s share slipped 0.4 percentage points from the January rankings, but Samsung’s share was 0.9 percentage points higher. Android’s 54 percent average share of platforms in the three months ended April 30 beat Apple’s 43.9 percent.

Global smartphone unit shipments are expected to rise 3 percent in 2017, a slight improvement over the 2.5 percent growth rate recorded in 2016, IDC said in a Tuesday report. “With several major devices entering the market this year, IDC anticipates shipment volumes will grow to 1.52 billion in 2017.” IDC expects that momentum to carry into 2018, when smartphone shipments are forecast to grow 4.5 percent, “fueled by improved economic conditions in many emerging markets and a full year of new iPhone shipments from Apple,” it said. One “big topic” in the smartphone industry is “the intense fight for the high end of the market,” IDC said. Samsung “made a lot of noise” with its recent Galaxy S8 and S8+ device launches, and “all signs point to late 2017 being one of Apple's biggest, if not the biggest, product announcements with the highly anticipated next round of iPhones,” it said.