Quick news from around the Web.
Auction Watch: After 191 rounds, the last of which included 28 new bids, the FCC's AWS-3 auction has raised a total of $44.669 billion in provisionally winning bids. Page. AWS-3 auction primer.
Why ZTE and Alcatel are smartphone makers to watch out for http://t.co/iTIMqcY8Js via @CNET
— FierceWireless (@FierceWireless) January 12, 2015
> SmartThings' CEO promised an inexpensive premium smart home service. Article
> Samsung will likely announce its next Galaxy S6 this year. Article
> Samsung is now offering its new Galaxy A7, with a 5.5-inch screen. Article
> C Spire Wireless said it will use a service assurance platform from Centina Systems that will provide a real-time view into its network performance, helping with network troubleshooting. Article
> Chip maker Silicon Image is reportedly considering a sale of the company. Article
> President Barak Obama is preparing to announce new proposals aimed at protecting users' digital data. Article
> Verizon Wireless said it did not dump Windows Phone devices, it sold out. Article
Wireless Tech News
> Huawei released a dual-beam antenna solution that it says improves on the shortcomings of the traditional 6-sector solution, and it's already deployed it with Advanced Info Service (AIS) in Thailand, which improved capacity by 70 percent. Article
> Citing a faulty UHF amplifier card in its corporate distributed antenna system (DAS) network, the FCC's Enforcement Bureau issued a Notice of Violation to Nike. Article
Telecom News
> Vonage may still be a relative newcomer in the business services space, but the service provider is seeing a number of untapped opportunities to appeal to the small to medium business (SMB) customer with unified communications as a service (UCaaS) products. Article
> Equinix has tapped Apigee to provide it with application provider interfaces (API) for its Cloud Exchange platform, which gives application developers on-demand access to multiple clouds from multiple networks. Article
Cable News
> Broadband-only homes in U.S. are at around 2.7 percent, according to new Nielsen stats. Article
> Dish Network's splashy debut of its over-the-top programming service, Sling Television, won the Consumer Electronics Show's equivalent of top Oscars Sunday, winning several major "Best of CES" awards. Article
European Wireless News
> Three Austria's acquisition of local rival Orange in August 2013 has helped drive up consumer prices significantly for mobile services in the country, as indicated by latest figures from the Arbeiterkammer Wien (AK)--the Vienna Chamber of Labour. Article
> Vodafone UK said its LTE network now covers around 50 per cent of the UK population, meaning that the operator is moving closer to its goal of achieving indoor LTE coverage of 98 per cent of the population by the end of 2015. Article
And finally… North Korea is testing its own Web browser. Article