The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has declared “broadband access internet service is now considered a basic telecommunications service for all Canadians.”

The Commission set a speed target of 50 Mbps download/10 Mbps upload for fixed broadband internet access services, as well as an unlimited data option for fixed broadband access services. It also said the latest mobile wireless technology must be available not only in homes and businesses, but also along major Canadian roads. Additionally, the CRTC said all wireless service providers will have six months to offer and publicize “mobile service packages that meet the needs of Canadians with disabilities.”

More on this news at our sister site, CED, here.

EON Reality and Lehman College, which is part of the City University of New York (CUNY), established a new Interactive Digital Center (IDC) as part of Lehman College’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies. The center’s aim is to train new virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) professionals as well support the development of VR and AR applications that will assist in teaching Lehman’s students. The new program will be housed in the college’s satellite campus, CUNY on the Concourse, and is slated to open in the second quarter of 2017.

The first phase of the IDC is a VR and AR training facility and development lab. Students will reportedly engage in a yearlong program that involves three months of classroom training followed by seven months of project-based learning that includes work done for real customers. Additionally, the facility will include an Icube Mobile from EON Reality and a four-wall immersive VR room.

Again, more on that over at CED.

IHS Markit said Chinese panel manufacturers shipped more than one million AMOLED smartphone displays for the first time in the third quarter 2016. The firm noted though Chinese suppliers make up less than 2 percent of the AMOLED smartphone panel market in terms of shipments, the one million figure shows “significant improvements in their manufacturing technology.”

The leading manufacturer was Samsung Display, with 99.7 million units, with EverDisplay Optronics (EDO), Tianma Micro-electronics, and Govisionox Optoelectronics shipped an additional combined 1.4 million units in the period, IHS said.

“Chinese panel makers are still too small to threaten Samsung’s dominant position, but they still play an important role as a second or third source for major smartphone brands in China,” Terry Yu, principal analyst of small and medium displays for IHS Markit, observed. “Furthermore, as Samsung Display shifts its focus to the flexible OLED, Chinese panel makers are expected to expand their shares in the rigid OLED panel market.”

Hand-in-Hand Program, a global telecom partnership platform, has launched a multilateral roaming quality enhancement project with 14 leading mobile network operators to jointly optimize network performance for the purpose of improving customer roaming experience. 

A multilateral memorandum of understanding was signed by 14 telecom providers, including China Mobile Hong Kong, China Mobile International, Companhia de Telecomunicacoes de Macau, S.A.R.L. (CTM), Chunghwa Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, FarEasTone, KT Corporation, Orange, StarHub Mobile, Telenor, True Corporation, Turk Telekom International, and Vimpel-Communications Public Joint Stock Company.

In order to improve the roaming experience of their respective end customers, the parties to the agreement have already defined a framework for enhancing international roaming quality of voice, data, and SMS services. In these three core areas, the providers will cooperate to optimize routing solutions for high-quality voice services, establish direct or optimal connections for Diameter/SCCP signaling and S8/GRX traffic, and provide customers with fast, stable, and reliable transmission of SMS services.

Virtual teams will also be formed to monitor and verify the roaming experience of their end customers on a regular basis by establishing proper communication channels for responding to roaming quality issues. Regular reviews on roaming paths for voice, data, and SMS among the parties will be conducted to ensure the realization of best practices.