WCA November 2019

From the Americas

regulation will include a modest boost in annual efficiency requirements, but far less than that set by the Obama administration in 2012. The move suggests the beginning of a lengthy legal battle to determine the future of US vehicle emissions, and California’s role in setting the rules.

Telecoms Amazon to expand its mid-band testing In a filing to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), asking for permission to conduct additional tests, Amazon said it plans to carry out preliminary tests near its facilities in Sunnyvale, California. The company wants to collect enough data to determine whether or not to continue and expand its research into CBRS technologies at other locations. Amazon’s tests may be related to its plans to offer cloud-native, private mobile networks in the CBRS band to developers, telecom operators, public sector operators, enterprises and others “for quick deployment of industrial IoT applications, such as real-time surveillance, smart meters and worker safety monitoring.” This prospect, in collaboration with partners Athonet, CommScope’s Ruckus and Federated Wireless, was announced at its AWS re:Invent event in 2018. A number of wireless players are looking into private wireless network opportunities in the 3.5GHz and other spectrum bands. Such networks would offer dedicated mobile services to utilities, mining companies and others, independent of public wireless networks. The FCC is expected to approve initial commercial deployments in the CBRS band before long. The 3.5GHz band is sometimes referred to as the “Goldilocks” spectrum because of the balance it offers it offers between coverage and capacity: due to the propagation characteristics of transmissions in mid-band spectrum, such as the CBRS band, signals can travel over long distances while also carrying a significant amount of data. This is in contrast to transmissions in low-band spectrum, which can cover large areas but without much data, or high-band spectrum, which can transmit large amounts of data but only over a limited distance. The CBRS band will be opened first to unlicensed uses, but the FCC will be holding 3.5GHz spectrum auctions from June 2020, in preparation for 70MHz of licensed operations. Other companies looking at CBRS operations include Ericsson and Sercomm.

Manufacturing

US steel production takes a fall The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported on crude steel production for the first week in September 2019. Compared with the same week in 2018 the sector dropped 1.7 per cent. AISI estimated that steel production totalled 1.84 million net tons at a capacity utilisation rate of 78.8 per cent. The production total showed a decline, compared with the 1.87 million net tons produced during the same week of 2018 at a capacity utilisation rate of 79.6 per cent. Production for the week was down 0.8 per cent from the previous week, when production reached 1.85 million net tons at a capacity utilisation rate of 79.5 per cent. Production for the year to 7 th September 2019 was 67.15 million net tons at a capacity utilisation rate of 80.8 per cent, which showed a four per cent increase on the same period in 2018. Citing the Commerce Department’s most recent Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data, AISI reported August steel import permit applications totalled 2.13 million net tons, down 40.8 per cent from the 3.61 million permit tons recorded in July. For the first eight months of 2019, total and finished steel imports were 20.8 million net tons and 15.3 million net tons, which marked declines of 13 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively, compared with the first eight months of 2018. According to the SIMA data, finished steel import market share in August reached an estimated 19 per cent, just under the 20 per cent market share recorded during the year to date. Weapons sector boosted by jet sale The US State Department has approved the proposed sale to Poland of fighter jets worth $6.5 billion. The Pentagon told Congress in April that it was considering selling 32 Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jets to Poland, so reducing Poland’s dependence on Russian equipment. Under President Trump the US has instituted a “Buy American” plan, that relaxes the restrictions on sales and encourages US officials to be proactive in finding overseas business for the American weapons sector. Turkey, however, is removed from the multinational F-35 programme since the country ordered a Russian S-400 missile defence system that NATO officials say is not compatible with the F-35.

Shipments of Bluetooth powered IoT devices could exceed sales of smartphones by 2024

The global technology market advisory agency ABI Research has compared the smartphone market with the potential of Bluetooth powered Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The company’s report, “Wireless connectivity technology segmentation and addressable markets” reveals that projected growth across many areas, including the smart home, wearables, smart cities, automotive, and automation of commercial buildings, is helping to accelerate Wi-Fi and Bluetooth’s share of shipments, “away from smartphones and consumer electronics.” According to ABI, by 2024 the IoT end market will represent 31 per cent of

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Wire & Cable ASIA – November/December 2019