Britain’s communications sector compares favorably with that of 16 other nations around the world, the Office of Communications (Ofcom) said in its 2012 international communications report (http://xrl.us/bqaaxs). The study benchmarks the U.K. communications sector against other countries to see how it’s doing -- France, Germany, Italy, the U.S., Canada, Japan, Australia, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, Poland, Brazil, Russia, India and China. The survey found that the sector’s total global revenue, including telecom, TV, radio and post, was around $2 trillion last year, up 2.5 percent from 2011, it said. TV subscriptions generated the biggest and fastest-growing proportion of the total revenue, it said. Fixed-line connections continued to fall, but were most resilient in the U.K., where many customers still get broadband services over fixed lines, it said. Mobile takeup continued to exceed population size in all the countries surveyed except China, it said. Excluding Japan, which has a very high takeup of advanced feature phones not readily available in other countries, the U.S. was the only one to report a smartphone adoption level of less than 50 percent in Ofcom’s online survey, it said. People in the U.K. are most likely to trust online retailers than those in the other countries, it said. In the TV and audiovisual area, Brazil, Russia, India and China continued to have the largest annual growth, it said. The U.K. leads the way in digital conversion and was one of only three countries to have 100 percent of all main TV sets switched to digital in 2012, it said. U.K. consumers are embracing value-added services, with HDTV and digital video recording penetration the highest among the European nations included in the research, Ofcom said. British consumers are more likely to watch catch-up TV on smart TVs, mobile phones and tablets, but scheduled linear TV is also still popular, with Britons watching four hours per day, the regulator said. Other findings included: (1) U.K. residents are the most frequent online shoppers and the most likely to access TV content over the Internet. (2) Social networks are still among the most searched-for terms on the Internet, with Facebook the most searched-for term for 14 of the 17 comparison countries. (3) Mobile Internet users in the U.S. and U.K. are the most active social networkers. (4) Radio revenue was up for the third consecutive year in the 17 countries analyzed. (5) The U.K. had the second-lowest proportion of total telecom revenue generated by data services in 2012, with Japan leading the way.

The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment on a proposal to license TV incentive auction spectrum in smaller blocks than Economic Area licenses, which was proposed by the Competitive Carriers Association. CCA proposed use of Partial Economic Area licenses, bigger than Cellular Market Area licenses, but smaller than EAs. “Although a number of commenters support the Commission’s proposal to license the 600 MHz band on an EA basis, some commenters argue that EA licenses are too large for small and rural operators to obtain at auction or deploy,” the bureau said (http://bit.ly/IRKmC0). “Larger carriers express concern that it is more difficult to acquire a national or regional footprint using smaller geographic area licenses.” There are 734 U.S. CMAs, with much smaller geographic areas than the 176 EAs. Comments are due Jan. 9, replies Jan. 23.

Carriers that have already adopted IP technology, but that will continue to be required to interconnect with others that are still transitioning, should not “be penalized” by being “forced to bear excessive interconnect costs” to connect to TDM circuits, YMax told the FCC (http://bit.ly/1byJLvV). It’s “crucial” the commission “continue to regulate inter-carrier interconnection terms,” and work with states to ensure disputes can be arbitrated quickly, the VoIP provider said in a letter to the commission.

Getting information needed for effective sharing of spectrum between government and commercial users “will be more difficult in some cases then others,” said the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee’s Spectrum Management via Databases Working Group in an interim report posted by NTIA. The report is to be discussed by CSMAC Friday. The working group found that the information that will be needed to protect federal agencies is “likely substantially less” than that required to protect secondary users. “Protecting Federal users via a database system likely means we only need receive (Rx) information not information on transit (Tx) characteristics,” the report said (http://1.usa.gov/1bzW1j6). “Rx information is often less sensitive then Tx information.” The report concluded that all sharing scenarios are not the same. “There is no one size fits all solution for what information needs to be shared,” it said. “In fact for some systems, it will be difficult to share at all due to nature of systems. ... We should focus on the most solvable scenarios first.” The key question the working group is considering is: “How can sensitive and government classified operations be included and protected using a database-driven sharing approach, particularly one that strives toward real-time responses?” the report said. “The group agreed to address this question in general to the extent possible but also look at this in context specifically of the 3.5 GHz band.” CSMAC will also get an update from its Bi-Directional Sharing Working Group. The group needs “more specific NTIA instruction (on time period, size of area, demographics, spectrum required, and nature of use) to recommend best possible options,” said a document posted by NTIA (http://1.usa.gov/18FJxpR). “Bi-directional sharing is likely to increase in visibility as the commercial auctions are completed, the opportunities will require a comprehensive ruleset based on best practices."

Prometheus Radio Project urged the FCC to delay opening an FM translator filing window for AM stations until all LPFM applications have been resolved. Limited signal coverage remains a significant threat to the success of the low-power FM service, said the LPFM advocate in an ex parte filing in docket 99-25 (http://bit.ly/1kDklm5). Raising the maximum effective radiated power from 100 watts to 250 watts for LPFMs and holding an FM translator window exclusively for LPFM licensees “would significantly unburden LPFM stations while remaining faithful to the word and intention of the Local Community Radio Act,” it said. The filing recounted meetings with Peter Doyle, Media Bureau Audio Division chief, and staff from the offices of commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel.

Global mobile data traffic almost doubled in 2013, and 88 percent of Americans now watch TV on their phones, while 21 U.S. carriers offer 4G service, Mobile Future said in its year-in-review posted Thursday. “Tweet” was added to the dictionary in 2013, the group noted (http://bit.ly/1dtCGzX). It said “spectrum is now the hottest word in wireless” and tablets for the first time will outsell laptop and desktop computers.

Industry welcomed two video proposals introduced in the House Thursday, both expected. House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., introduced the Video Consumers Have Options In Choosing Entertainment Act, to address retransmission blackouts, with Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif. And Reps. Steve Scalise, R-La., and Cory Gardner, R-Colo., introduced the Next Generation Television Marketplace Act. American Cable Association President Matthew Polka released a statement saying the Eshoo bill “will provide relief to consumers harmed by outdated retransmission consent rules that broadcasters’ [sic] relentlessly abuse, highlighted by a record number of TV signal blackouts and escalating price demands well in excess of inflation.” Public Knowledge praised Eshoo’s bill because it “puts forward a number of creative ideas that, if implemented, would move the video marketplace in a good direction,” Senior Staff Attorney John Bergmayer said in a statement. “Under the provisions of this bill, not only would viewers be protected from the effects of corporate contract disputes that black out channels from their TV lineups, but they would get more choice in what channels they subscribe to, and could see their monthly fees go down.” The Western Telecommunications Alliance also welcomed Eshoo’s bill, in a statement citing the high video programming prices rural video distributors face. The American Television Alliance, Dish and CenturyLink praised both bills. “While the bills reflect different approaches to reform, they show the ever-growing bipartisan support for immediate action to fix retransmission consent,” ATVA said. CenturyLink supports the efforts of all members behind the bills “to reform the 1992 Cable Act and to make sure consumers aren’t caught in the middle of video retransmission consent disputes,” it said. Dish Deputy General Counsel Jeff Blum pointed to different virtues of the bills, in his statements. The Scalise bill “recognizes that the video laws passed in 1992 no longer reflect the marketplace and are in dire need of reform,” he said. The Eshoo bill “proposes concrete legislative ideas to give consumers greater choice over their programming, tackles the growing problem of bundling of cable channels with network channels, and empowers the FCC with significant authority to curtail blackouts."

EU law requiring storage of e-communications traffic data seriously interferes with citizens’ fundamental right to privacy and should be suspended until it’s fixed, said European Court of Justice (ECJ) Advocate General (AG) Pedro Cruz Villalón Thursday in an opinion (http://bit.ly/18nKR2G). The ECJ isn’t bound by its advisors’ opinions but generally follows them. The case involves challenges in Ireland and Austria to those countries’ versions of the EU data retention directive, which their respective high courts referred to the ECJ. Taken as whole, the measure is incompatible with the requirement in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights that any limitation on the exercise of such a right must be provided for by law, the AG said. Use of retained data could make it possible to create a faithful map of much of a person’s conduct or even a complete picture of his private identity, and it could also increase the risk that the data may be used for unlawful purposes, he said. The directive doesn’t require that the data be retained in the territory of an EU country, so it could be held anywhere in cyberspace, he said. Given its serious impact on privacy rights, the legislation should have defined the fundamental principles on which access to the data collected and held would be based, instead of leaving that task to each individual country, he said. Another problem is that the law requires EU members to ensure that data is kept for up to two years when evidence showed here’s insufficient justification for such a long period, the AG said. Instead of advising the ECJ to strike down the law, however, he recommended that it be suspended until the EU remedies the problems. Digital Rights Ireland (DRI), which brought one of the challenges, said it’s happy with the opinion but would have preferred that the AG find the directive unlawful in principle, which he didn’t do, Chairman TJ McIntyre told us. If the ECJ upholds the opinion, it will strike down the directive, he said. The AG wants governments to have a grace period in which to change their laws, but DRI hopes that, given the political climate surrounding former U.S. NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s revelations, there’s enough political opposition to data retention for the law to die, he said. When DRI launched its challenge seven years ago data storage wasn’t a big issue, but the political scene is different now, he said.

Broadband customer premise equipment (CPE) shipments are expected to surpass 147 million at the end of 2013, said ABI Research Thursday (http://bit.ly/1hP9tVi). CPE shipments are expected to grow to 150 million in 2014, said the industry research firm. These devices include modems, wired routers and gateways, it said. In 2014, DOCSIS 3.0 CPE devices will account for more than 89 percent of cable CPE shipments at 50 million, but total DSL CPE shipments are likely to be around 2 percent lower than total shipments in 2012 due to slower subscriber net additions in DSL broadband service, said ABI. Higher speed VDSL shipments are growing stronger, and ABI said it expects these shipments to account for more than 25 percent of DSL CPE device shipments in 2014. ZTE topped the broadband CPE shipments list in Q3 with a 13 percent market share, said ABI. Arris jumped to second place in the market share after acquiring from Google Motorola’s Home Division in April, and combined shipments of Arris and Motorola now represent 12 percent of the market compared to Huawei’s 11 percent market share, said ABI.

A workshop to be convened by NTIA Friday on lessons learned from developing a process for sharing the 1755 MHz band will hopefully “produce ideas for even greater collaboration that can be incorporated into ongoing work across the Federal agencies,” said White House Deputy Chief Technology Officer Tom Power Thursday in a blog post. “Balancing the growing needs of both commercial and Federal spectrum users presents opportunities for increased efficiency and economic growth, but also poses challenges,” Power wrote (http://1.usa.gov/18odb53). “Commercial wireless providers must learn how to operate their systems in spectrum bands that will be shared by Federal agencies using that same spectrum for operations such as conducting military training exercises, maintaining air safety, or tracking criminal activity."