Middle Eastern states were targeted and Iran ordered an emergency review of official computer installations after the discovery of a new virus, known as Flame. Flame can gather data files, remotely change settings on computers, turn on computer microphones to record conversations, take screen shots and copy instant messaging chats. Iran says it has developed tools that can defend against the sophisticated cyber attack.

The virus was discovered by a Russian security firm, Kaspersky Labs, that specialises in targeting malicious computer code. It made the 20 megabyte virus available to other researchers yesterday claiming it did not fully understand its scope and said its code was 100 times the size of the most malicious software.

Experts said the massive malicious software could only have been created by a nation-state.

It is the third cyber attack weapon targeting systems in the Middle East to be exposed in recent years. Stuxnet attacked Iran’s nuclear programme in 2010, while a related programme, Duqu, named after the Star Wars villain, stole data.

Iran has alleged that the West and Israel are orchestrating a secret war of sabotage using cyber warfare and targeted assassinations of its scientists as part of the dispute over its nuclear program.

Related Dailywireless articles include; US and China Coordinate “War Games”, ISPs Adopt Cyber Security Recommendations, Russians Not Controling Springfield Water Pumps, Dueling Cyber Security Bills, SCADA: How Big a Threat?, Stuxnet: Year One, Cyber War: The New Frontier, Satellite Hacked?, Chinese Telecoms Investigated As Security Threat, Wireless Providers Team on AMR and SmartGrid.

Sprint’s LTE plans include four different bands of spectrum; 800MHz (iDEN to CDMA), 1,900MHz (PCS), and the PCS “G-Block” (for FD-LTE), and possibly 2,500MHz (Clearwire) for TD-LTE.

Everywhere Sprint has 3G coverage, it will also have 4G coverage. Sprint claims coverage in many areas will improve dramatically once 4G LTE replaces 3G service. Sprint has three key partners involved with the infrastructure side of its 4G LTE plans: Samsung, Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson.

Once the iDEN network has been decommissioned, the 800MHz spectrum will be freed up for 3G CDMA voice and push to talk service as well as 4G LTE data service. Sprint is confident that it has enough spectrum to maintain capacity through 2015.

Sprint Nextel will launch FD-LTE service on Nextel’s PCS spectrum (1.9GHz) which Nextel acquired (but has not yet used) from Nextel’s Consensus Plan swap.

Nextel gave their interfering 800 MHz frequencies to public safety users in exchange for 10 MHz in the PCS band. That spectrum is still not utilized because Nextel first had to move legacy users – tv remote trucks – to another frequency and buy microwave gear for them. Broadcasters have traditionally received corporate welfare from the FCC in the form of free spectrum.

TV remote trucks made room for the Nextel PCS spectrum by moving up the band and using digital compression. The frequency swap also enabled the FCC to stick in a new AWS band as well as a new 2.1 GHz (MSS) satellite phone band for TerraStar and ICO (which has not been successful).

While Verizon uses 2×10 MHz channels at 700 MHz, Sprint would use 2×5 MHz channels at 1.9 GHz. Their Nextel spectrum at 1.9 GHz would be roughly half the speed at half the range. But Sprint’s G-Block spectrum will be combined with other 1900 MHz spectrum for its LTE service. Sprint currently has an average of 20-25 MHz per market nationwide using their 1900 (PCS) service.

Sprint will reduce tower hardware with multi-mode radios and antennas, lowering maintenance costs. At the top of the tower, in the same radio, Sprint will have 1.9 LTE, 1.9 CDMA, 800 CDMA and in the future 800 LTE.

Meanwhile, Marc Tobias writes in Forbes about a new push-to-talk service called WAVE Connections.

For the past two weeks I have been using a push-to-talk service called WAVE Connections while traveling in Norway, Germany, Spain, and England, and with it I can talk with colleagues in Europe and the United States as if they were in the same city. Before I left America I loaded WAVE on my Android Galaxy SII and iPhone 4S, MacBook Air and iPad.

This software allowed me to have almost-instant cloud-based two-way radio communications that is comparable to traditional radio services that I have been using since I was a kid. Anyone who’s ever used Nextel already know the benefits of push-to-talk services. The company behind the WAVE Connections service is Twisted Pair Solutions in Seattle.

The app works on Blackberries, iPhones, Androids or Windows phones as well as PCs and tablets, and they all can talk to each other wherever there is a data connection to the Internet.

There are three levels of WAVE Connections software: free, paid, and enterprise. The administrator registers on the WAVE site, sets up the number of talk groups and assigns users to each group. An email is sent to each registered user notifying them to download the appropriate software for their specific smartphone, tablet, or computer. A user name and password is assigned for all members of each talk group, which may be changed individually once the system is used by a particular subscriber.

Marc Tobias interviewed James Mustarde of Twisted Pair about how their push to talk software works. It uses IP on a data network, so you need a data connection (but not a voice channel).

Many believe Mission-Critical Voice Over LTE is now a better use of the Public Safety Narrow-Band channels.

Voice Over LTE could make the 700-MHz nationwide IWN network obsolete.

Consultant Andrew Seybold thinks replacing the Narrowband channels with Voice Over LTE is not realistic. He thinks narrowband voice for public safety will be around for a decade or more.

IWN has been repeatedly scaled back. Funding was cut in fiscal 2010 and then again in fiscal 2011, and has been suspended altogether for fiscal 2012. Further, the Department of Homeland Security is no longer participating in the effort, cutting the total number of projected users to about 30,000, and, according to the inspector general report, future participation of the Department of the Treasury appears unlikely.

New legislation will give the 700 MHz D block to Public Safety for a full 10X10 MHz swath of nationwide spectrum to establish a Public Safety Broadband network. Some $7 Billion of federal funding will assist in the building the network plus some R and D funds for future work. Motorola Solutions “is likely to be a critical supplier”, since Motorola controls more than two-thirds of the public safety communications market.

The Public Safety Spectrum Trust currently holds the license for Public Safety Broad Band spectrum in the 700 MHz band, but it has been restricted to a 5X5 MHz swath for LTE. The adjoining Public Service Narrow Band channel remains for voice communications using interoperable P-25 radios (at $5K a pop).

However, the 2012 Inspector General’s report on the Integrated Wireless Network (pdf), concluded the expense and limitations of P-25 radio networks is likely to bring the narrowband effort to a virtual halt, in favor of an integrated approach with both push-to-talk voice and broadband.

Taxpayers are funding a dedicated LTE network, exclusively for use by first responders. The $7 billion set aside for constructing the network won’t come close to funding the tens of thousands of $5,000 push to talk radios that will be required, not to mention building and maintaining the infrastructure. It will never reach citizens in many rural areas.

After extensive study, the FCC determined that a shared public/private partnership between first responders and cellular operators delivered better service at less cost. Technologies like WAVE appear poised to make $3,000 P-25 radios largely obsolete (as long as there is a data connection).

Skeptics might wonder if the same lawmakers who lobbied for a dedicated, nationwide LTE network, will be the first to cut funding when the cost overruns and jurisdictional disputes inevitably surface. With taxpayers funding a $25 billion dedicated network, we all have the right to ask whether or not lawmakers funded a white elephant.

The number of VoLTE users worldwide will stand at 74 million by 2016. That’s one in every ten LTE subscribers around the globe, according to an analysis conducted by Arc Chart.

Voice over LTE (VoLTE) infrastructure revenues doubled in the first quarter, according to Dell’Oro Group. “We expect multiple operators will launch VoLTE services by the end of 2012 after they have tested their networks when affordable handsets are available,” said Chris DePuy, Analyst at Dell’Oro Group. “Just as important, there are signs that operators will be launching revenue-generating services such as video conferencing, location services, messaging and file sharing in the coming year. These new communication services will represent the first major wireless operator responses to the threats posed by “over-the-top” services, enabled by smartphones” said DePuy.

Related Dailywireless articles include; FCC Gets Unlicensed White Spaces in Payroll Tax Bill, FCC Gets Autonomy in Payroll Tax Bill, FCC Plans Improved Rural Wireless Broadband, Municipal Networks: Good for Cities?, Spectrum Legislation: Democracy Now!, SF Approves Dedicated LTE Network for First Responders, FCC Plans Improved Rural Wireless Broadband, FCC Autonomy Under Fire, AT&T Competitors: No 700MHz Roaming, Universal Service Reform Passed, FCC Reforms $4.3B USF Fund, White House: D-Block to Police/Fire, State of the Spectrum

Reuters reports that customers lined up a day ahead of store openings in Berlin. European and Asian network operators are pitched the device heavily and are offering attractive pricing (varies by operator and country) for the device.

Its predecessor, the Galaxy SII, was a big hit worldwide, selling more than 20 million units. The Galaxy S III will go head-to-head on store shelves with the HTC One X and Galaxy Nexus, iPhone 4S (a 3G phone), the HTC One X and One S, the Nokia Lumia 900, and other top-tier phones, many with quad core processors and LTE.

Features of the SIII include:

• Android Ice Cream Sandwich
• 4.8-inch 720p AMOLED screen with 1280×720 pixels (306 ppi)
• Quad-core processor (1.4 GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 and 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm S-4)
• Slot for microSD card
• LTE

Reviews of the SIII from Engadget, The Verge, C/Net, Slash Gear and Phone Arena have been positive. You can preorder one from Amazon for $799.

Samsung’s new music service, Music Hub, plans to take on virtually every music service currently available. Two variants of the service are available; a free one, which stores any purchased music in the cloud for easy playback, and a 9.99-per-month alternative that allows customers to upload their own songs for unlimited streaming. It will initially only be available on the Galaxy S III in Germany, Spain, Italy, France and the U.K., but will “soon” be offered on a wider selection of devices, Samsung said in a press release.

The Financial Times quoted unidentified EU officials and executives as saying that the commission had been gathering evidence in a case against China-based Huawei and ZTE Corp.

“Huawei has not received any communication from the European Commission regarding an investigation, but we are aware of media reports on this matter,” said in an emailed statement.

“We deny claims made in the media that Huawei employs dumping practices and has benefited from illegal state subsidies. Huawei also objects to the investigation that the European Commission is reportedly launching on the basis of these claims.”

The final report is expected next month, and if the two firms are found to have benefited from “significant Chinese government support”, then the EU may impose punitive tariffs on their imports into Europe.

Huawei is the world’s second-biggest maker of telecoms equipment, with annual sales of $28 billion—not far behind the leader, Ericsson, which had $35 billion in revenues in 2011. Over 40 percent of mobile traffic worldwide uses Ericsson networks. Huawei employs 110,000 people.

ZTE and Huawei, both among the world’s top five telecom gear makers, also want to challenge the dominant positions of Apple and Samsung in the global high-end smartphone market. Smartphone sales in May accounted for 71 percent of overall mobile handset sales in the US, with basic phones representing just 28 percent of sales, according to a survey from iGR.

ZTE has said it could be shipping 100 million smartphones a year by 2015, according to Reuters. Huawei expects to ship more than 100 million mobile phones this year, including 60 million smartphones, as it aims to increase its global market share.

Amazon.com has reportedly been in acquisition talks with several mobile advertising companies, says GeekWire, including mobile ad network Jumptap which has more than two dozen patents. Amazon has sold about 5.5 million tablets since the Kindle Fire made its debut during the holiday quarter, according to research firm IDC.

“Reaching 107 million mobile users in the U.S. and 156 million mobile users worldwide, Jumptap uses its extensive technology portfolio, as well as industry-first partnerships with third- party data providers, to understand mobile audiences better than any other ad network and provide intelligent targeting with scale,” according to a description on its Web site.

Two years ago, Apple snapped up mobile-ad network Quattro Wireless and launched a mobile-ad format called iAd. Google bought AdMob which was under scrutiny by the FTC.

Of the 152.3 million smartphones shipped in the first quarter ending in March, 59 percent had Android on them and 23 percent ran Apple iOS, according to a report released Thursday by International Data Corporation.

Mobile advertising uses a combination of an opted-in user’s location, browsing activity and purchasing habits, to deliver “relevant” ads and offers.

The Asus 7-inch Google Nexus slate is reported to be powered by an Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, and could cost less than $200 to rival the Amazon Kindle Fire. The new Google+ update was released to iOS a couple of weeks ago has finally arrived on Android. It features big images, improved Hangouts and quick shortcuts.

Some researcher believe Google+ will have 293 million people by the end of 2012, even 400 million users, although that number is still less than the 900 million people that Facebook claims. Facebook has 300 million mobile app users compared to Apple and Android, which each have around 225 million active mobile users.

Gartner says mobile ads generated close to $3.3 billion worldwide in 2011 and projects they will top $20 billion annually by the end of 2015.

ESPN also used dual-path technology for the first time, permitting views from two onboard cameras on the same car at the same time. ESPN deployed 11 Robovision systems for its coverage at the 100th running of the Indy 500. Robovision’s remote pan-bar system allows a camera operator to remotely control the wall-mounted robotic camera via a traditional pan-bar system.

Rich Feinberg, ESPN vice president, motorsports production said that ESPN will use its “Batcam,” a camera that runs on a cable over pit road and the frontstretch and can move at more than 80 mph. “We can use it for beauty shots, crowd shots… we can also use it for coverage as the cars are coming down the frontstretch headed towards turn one,” Feinberg said. “It’s an exciting shot, unique to that racetrack, and offers some glorious views of the pageantry of the Indianapolis 500.”

Views and replays were enhanced by the first Indianapolis 500 use of NAC Hi-Motion II ultra-slo-mo cameras that shoot at a frame rate of 1000 fps, and located in the short chutes at each end of the 2.5 mile track as well as at the fourth turn and exit.

In another Indy 500 first, viewers of the ABC telecast will be able to choose live streaming video from the onboard cameras on ESPN3, ESPN’s multiscreen live sports network. ESPN3 will carry the feeds exclusively through WatchESPN, Indycar.com to fans who receive their Internet or video subscription from an affiliated provider. Viewers will be able to choose which driver’s onboard cameras they want to watch. ESPN3 will also have replays of the ABC telecast following the event, and on You Tube.

Dario Franchitti won his third Indianapolis 500 race yesterday. The Nielsen TV ratings have been down recently for the Indianapolis 500 and the interactive components are hoped to increase viewership. The final broadcast ratings may be delayed until Wednesday.

According to the National Post, Vancouver BC’s downtown is filled with more than 100 cellphone towers from five competing carriers.

The V-Pole stands for “Vancouver pole,” as it’s currently being considered by Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson.

The core of the V-Pole is Alcatel-Lucent lightRadio, which compresses all the wires and circuit boards of a cellphone tower into a single Rubik’s cube-sized block. “You can stack them inside a pole like Lego,” said novelist Douglas Coupland, the technology’s creator.

As wireless traffic climbs — and infrastructure expands in response — Mr. Coupland predicts that poorly-managed cities could become “as cluttered as a kitchen junk drawer.” “I like to get rid of as much crap as possible from the visual environment,” he said.

The V-Pole project is entirely open source, says the National Post, which means Mr. Coupland receives no royalties or consulting fees for the design. V-Poles, still in the conceptual stage, are all-white save for a band of multicoloured rings clustered near the top.

HDTV pictures today have the equivalent of between 1-2 megapixels. The 4K standard (3840×2160) results in a resolution of eight megapixels while the 8K version (7680 x4320) is 32 megapixels.

Christoph Dosch, Chairman of ITU’s R Study Group 6 said in a statement that “This is clearly a major achievement for ITU-R Study Group 6 of which we can be proud. The Recommendation means that organizations around the world can safely begin work to make UHDTV a reality.”

Squeezing a UHDTV broadcast into one 6 MHz, 19 Mbps terrestrial channel might be a challenge since UHDTV may require around 24 Mbps.

The timeframe for UHDTV to be available in domestic homes is estimated between 2015 to 2020 but Japan and China may get it in the 2013-2014 time frame. The BBC will trial UHDTV during the 2012 Summer Olympics, erecting 15 m display screens at three locations. The Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 was the first to use HDTV cameras.

Now India’s Telecom Commission will ask regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the equivalent to the US FCC, to analyse the potential impact of a proposed higher base price for 2G spectrum that has drawn protests from carriers.

The Telecom Commission, the highest decision-making body in India, feels there is need of a detailed analysis of the impact of the proposed auction price before a decision is taken.

Regulator TRAI said last month the (re)auction price would be nearly 10 times that paid by carriers in a 2008.

The industry criticized the high base price and limited number of slots for spectrum. They say the regulatory changes will cost them billions of dollars and force them to increase tariffs for customers.

The Commission said it wants a higher number of slots to be auctioned and lower prices than what was suggested by regulator TRAI.

Mobile network operators of India have more subscribers than the United States, but the average revenue is less. India’s mobile operators include:

• Airtel: 181.3 million subs (March 2012)
• Reliance Communications: 148.11 million subs (October 2011)
• Vodafone India 147.74 million subs (December 2011)
• Idea: 106.38 million subs (December 2011)
• BSNL: 92.56 (December 2011)

The auction is the last chance for carriers including Norway’s Telenor and Russia’s Sistema to win back their licenses that are set to be revoked after the court order. Telenor and Sistema have threatened to pull out of India if the government goes ahead with the proposed rules. A panel of ministers has the final say on the auction rules including pricing.

Older carriers such as Bharti and Vodafone are also fighting another regulatory proposal to switch their superior-quality airwaves in the 900 MHz band with relatively-inferior 1800 MHz at the time of renewal of their permits starting in 2014.

The carriers have the option to buy back in a separate auction the superior quality 900 MHz airwaves, although the proposed starting price for it is twice that of the lower-quality band. If they switch to the 1800 MHz band, network costs will increase significantly.

The Telecom Commission had agreed with the sector regulator’s proposals to conduct an auction of the airwaves in the 900 MHz band by June 2013, although will decide the price and other details later.

In other news, Bharti Airtel has extended its 4G reach in India with a US$165 million investment in Qualcomm’s TD-LTE operation. In 2010, Qualcomm paid $888 million USD to win spectrum in four key “circles” (service areas); Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala. But Qualcomm never intended to be a service provider. Now Bharti has bought a 49 percent stake in Qualcomm’s BWA operation in India, says Light Reading.

Related Dailywireless articles include; China Mobile + Apple: Getting Closer?, Intel Joins with Huawei on TD-LTE, USA: 332 Million Mobiles, India’s Broadband Auction: It’s Done, Qualcomm Gets Indian Partners, Vendors Scramble for Indian Backhaul, TD-LTE: It’s Alive!,