Wireless Bills Go Up, and Stay Up

As reported by the Wall Street Journal: Competition in the U.S. wireless market has increased over the past year, but so have Americans' overall phone bills.

While carriers have trimmed the price of their plans here and there in recent months, billings per user continue to grow amid a shift to smartphones and a surge in wireless Internet use.

The results call into question the notion of a price war in the U.S. market. Rather than aggressively compete outright on price, carriers are tailoring their moves to accomplish other goals as well, like weaning customers off expensive smartphone subsidies and encouraging them to use more data.

T-Mobile US Inc. raised the cost of its core unlimited data plan on Friday. The carrier says it has been competing more effectively by doing away with subscriber "pain points" like service contracts and international data fees. But its executives have also been signaling that they don't plan to start a price war.

"When you really analyze a lot of the pricing moves that have been made, there has not been a significant repricing," Chief Financial Officer Braxton Carter said at a Morgan Stanley conference last week.

To be sure, subscribers can find deals that weren't available before. AT&T Inc. on Saturday said it will cut the price of plans offering unlimited voice and text with two gigabytes of wireless Internet use by $15. A subscriber who brings or buys his own phone can pay as little as $65 a month, about 19% less than previously.

Last month, Verizon Communications Inc. raised the wireless-data allotments on similar plans, effectively lowering their cost. T-Mobile made that same adjustment to its tiered data plans on Friday, even as it raised the price of its unlimited plan by $10 to $80 a month for a single user.

Still, billings for the industry's lucrative postpaid customers are continuing to rise.

Average monthly revenue per postpaid customer across the industry rose 2.2% to $61.15 in the fourth quarter, according to New Street Research. That is up more than $5 per user from the first quarter of 2010, when the same measure was at $55.80.

New Street's data adjusts for the fact that T-Mobile generally doesn't subsidize phone purchases. In the past, carriers would pay hundreds of dollars of the cost of new phones then recover it over the life of a two-year contract by adding it into subscribers' bills.

With that embedded subsidy gone, monthly service fees are lower. Customers aren't actually turning over less money, however, because they typically now pay off their phones in monthly installments using carrier financing plans. Mr. Carter, the T-Mobile CFO, said in an interview last month that the total amount the carrier is collecting from its customers on average has gone up.

The high cost of smartphones and data plans means Americans are on average spending more every month on their phones.

Drone pilot wins case against FAA

As reported by CNN: In a David vs. Goliath battle that pitted the Federal Aviation Administration against the operator of a small model airplane, a federal administrative judge has sided with the aircraft's pilot.

The judge has dismissed a proposed $10,000 fine against businessman Raphael Pirker, who used a remotely operated 56-inch foam glider to take aerial video for an advertisement for the University of Virginia Medical Center.

The FAA alleged that since Pirker was using the aircraft for profit, he ran afoul of regulations requiring commercial operators of "Unmanned Aircraft Systems" -- sometimes called UAS or drones -- to obtain FAA authorization.

But a judge on Thursday agreed with Pirker that the FAA overreached by applying regulations for aircraft to model aircraft, and said no FAA rule prohibited Pirker's radio-controlled flight.

Thursday's ruling is believed to be the first to address the issue, but it was not immediately clear whether the FAA would appeal, or what impact it would have on others hoping to use drones for profit.

As recently as last week, the FAA had publicized its restrictions on commercial use of drones. In a press release headlined "Busting Myths about the FAA and Unmanned Aircraft," it stressed that UAS enthusiasts could not use drones for commercial purposes.

"A commercial flight requires a certified aircraft, a licensed pilot and operating approval. To date, only one operation has met these criteria, using Insitu's ScanEagle, and authorization was limited to the Arctic," the FAA's Busting Myths release said.

"There are no shades of gray in FAA regulations," the FAA continued. "Anyone who wants to fly an aircraft-manned or unmanned-in U.S. airspace needs some level of FAA approval."

The FAA could not be reached Thursday night for comment on the Pirker ruling.

Pirker's attorney, Brendan Schulman, called it "a tremendously significant decision for model aircraft and commercial drone operators."

"As a general matter, the decision finds that the FAA's 2007 policy statement banning the commercial use of model aircraft is not enforceable. It would appear to me to have a very significant impact on other operators," Schulman said.

Pirker's flight occurred Oct. 17, 2011, when he remotely piloted a $130 RiteWing Zephyr II aircraft at the campus medical center.

The FAA investigated, and the following April it proposed a $10,000 civil penalty, saying that Pirker operated the plane "in a careless or reckless manner so as to endanger the life or property of another."

Pirker operated the aircraft within about 50 feet of numerous individuals, about 20 feet of a crowded street, and within approximately 100 feet of an active heliport at UVA, the FAA alleged. One person had to take "evasive measures" to avoid being struck by the aircraft, the agency said.

Pirker appealed the case to the National Transportation Safety Board, where Judge Patrick Geraghty ruled Thursday, dismissing the FAA order.

Schulman said Thursday night that his client had not yet learned of the ruling.

"I think he's still asleep. He lives in Hong Kong and they're 12 hours off," Schulman said, adding, "I'm sure he'd be happy about it." 

BP Splitter Refinery Seen Skirting U.S. Oil Export Ban

As reported by Bloomberg: The oil industry is pressuring President Barack Obama to end the 41-year-old ban on most crude exports. BP Plc (BP/) isn’t waiting for a decision.

The British oil giant has signed on to take at least 80 percent of the capacity of a new $360 million mini-refinery in Houston that will process crude just enough to escape restrictions on sales outside the country.

Amid a flood of new U.S. oil, the demand for simple, one-step plants capable of transforming raw crude into exportable products such as propane is feeding a construction boom along the Gulf Coast. If the new processing units continue to multiply, they could render moot the politically sensitive debate over whether to ease the restrictions in place since the Arab oil embargo of 1973.

“It’s a relatively inexpensive way around the export prohibition,” said Judith Dwarkin, chief energy economist for ITG Investment Research Inc. “You can lightly ruffle the hydrocarbons and they are considered processed and then they aren’t subject to the ban.”

BP and other producers will also be able to sell the lightly refined products to a variety of domestic markets.
The first of the units, built by Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) for use by BP, is scheduled to come online in July. Three additional plants have been proposed by other pipeline or trading companies, and refiners including Valero (VLO) Energy Corp. and Phillips 66 said they may follow suit. The plants, built for 1/10 the cost of a complex, full-scale refinery, take advantage of the law that allows products refined from oil to be sold overseas, though not the raw crude itself without rarely granted government permission.

Gasoline Prices

Supporters of the export ban say keeping U.S.-produced oil at home helps lower fuel prices for industry and consumers. Building enough mini-refineries designed for export could have the opposite effect, said Daniel Weiss, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, which supports the limits.

“It could be a way of getting around the oil ban and therefore could have an impact on the price at the pump,” he said.


Kinder Morgan, run by billionaire Chief Executive officer Richard Kinder, expects to open the first phase of its 100,000 barrel-a-day crude processing plant in July, located along the Houston Ship Channel. BP has signed a 10-year contract to use the facility, which is designed for further expansion.

“The export of refined products is increasingly in vogue,” Rich Kinder told analysts on a Jan. 15 conference call for the Houston-based company. “We’ll be able to continue to benefit from what we see is a significant trend.”

Creating Value?

Kinder Morgan’s plant is designed to help BP in “creating more valuable products or getting to where we could export,” said Ronald McClain, the company’s president of products pipelines.

“BP complies with all federal regulations regarding imports and exports,” Scott Dean, a spokesman for BP, said in an e-mail response.

BP’s American depositary receipts fell three cents to $48.79 and shares of Kinder Morgan Inc. rose 0.3 percent to $32.29 at the close in New York.

The company has the ability on its pipeline network to sell products from the Kinder Morgan plant both inside the U.S. and for export. BP lost its access to Gulf Coast markets when it sold its 450,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Texas City, Texas, to Marathon Petroleum Corp. last year. The new plant can help the company serve some of those customers.

Oil Glut

For producers such as BP and ConocoPhillips, the plants help solve one of the more vexing challenges of newly abundant oil in the U.S.: the more they produce, the cheaper it gets. That’s because of energy policies that prevent them from selling their crude to overseas markets, while applying no such limits to products that are processed in refineries, such as gasoline or diesel.

The result is that refiners so far have reaped the greatest rewards of the U.S. oil renaissance, exporting record amounts of gasoline while the drillers who created the boom have been forced to contend with a glut of unrefined oil and depressed prices. New discoveries and advanced drilling techniques helped produce more than 1 million barrels last year of a purer, lightweight oil that’s closer to gasoline than darker, heavier crudes. Production of the light oil, known as condensate, doubled from 2011, according to RBN Energy LLC.

New Splitters

The glut, in turn, is leading producers to turn to the new plants, called splitters because they split off gassy molecules in a distillation process that is far less complex than that of a typical refinery. The tower-like facilities can turn the condensate into liquid fuels such as kerosene, propane, butane, and naphtha, an ingredient in gasoline.

Refiners including Valero and pipeline operators including Magellan Midstream Partners LP have so far discussed plans for a dozen such plants, with the total potential to process more than 460,000 barrels of condensate a day -- almost half last year’s production, according to a Feb. 5 note from analysts at RBC Capital Markets led by Leo Mariani.


“The international buyers of these products will likely need to refine them further, so this is basically a veiled form of condensate exports,” wrote Mariani, who’s based in Austin, Texas. 

Traffic Congestion Is Growing Three Times As Fast As U.S. Economy; Situation Worst In Los Angeles

As reported by the Car Connection: When it comes to predicting and tracking traffic trends, INRIX is the go-to authority. The company says that traffic congestion surged in 2013, growing over three times as fast as the U.S. economy.

According to INRIX, traffic in the U.S. reversed two consecutive years of declines with a six percent increase in 2013. The country's GDP, by comparison, grew 1.9 percent last year. INRIX suggests that continued economic growth will result in more traffic congestion, longer commutes, and more productivity losses. (We're not so sure: see below.)

Not surprisingly, INRIX found the country's worst traffic in Los Angeles, California. There, drivers lost 64 hours to traffic jams last year. Rounding out the ten most congested metro areas were Honolulu, HI; San Francisco, CA; Austin, TX; New York, NY; Bridgeport, CT; San Jose, CA; Seattle, WA, Boston, MA; and Washington, DC.

INRIX also identified some future trouble spots. Traffic in Colorado Springs, CO is up a whopping 58 percent from last year. It's trailed by Charleston, SC; Grand Rapids, MI; Little Rock, AR; Providence, RI; Salt Lake City, UT; Riverside, CA; Boston, MA; Denver, CO; and New Haven, CT.

Traffic is worsening in Europe, too, where stats have also ticked up after two years of decline. Commuters have it roughest in Belgium, where they wasted 58 hours of their lives in traffic last year. The Netherlands, Germany, France, and Luxembourg round out the top five.

INRIX's Bryan Mistele believes that the figures are actually cause for optimism, implying that increased traffic stems from economic improvement, as more people join the workforce. However, he cautions that the situation could get much, much worse in the future, and it's time to take action: "“If we’re to avoid traffic congestion becoming a further drain on our economies, we must invest in intelligent transportation systems and connected car technologies now."

WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN?
INRIX theorizes a direct link between economic growth and traffic congestion, which makes sense on the surface. After all, as the economy improves, more jobs are created, meaning more commuters on the roads, right?

Maybe, maybe not.

Yes, the worst traffic tends to be in areas with strong job growth. That's why places like San Jose and Boston are on INRIX's worst-congestion list and Toledo, OH and Scranton, PA aren't.

But INRIX's theory creates as many questions as it answers. For example, the U.S. GDP has been steadily growing since 2009. So, why did congestion decline in 2011 and 2012? Surely it's not because of vast improvements to the country's crumbling infrastructure of roads and bridges, because getting money for that is like pulling teeth.

Also, at least two major studies have shown that driving peaked in the U.S. in 2004. In other words, the number of miles that each American drives each year is on the decline. Granted, our population continues to grow, meaning more cars on the roads, but if individuals are driving less during both boom years and bust, wouldn't that indicate that the economy isn't the sole factor behind congestion?

Then there's the question of urbanization. As even INRIX points out, more of the world's residents are living in urban areas. In fact, by 2050, 70 percent of us will. On the one hand, this seems to explain why cities are experiencing gridlock. On the other hand, numerous studies have shown that many people -- especially younger people -- are forgoing cars altogether, often because they can get around using mass transit and other means. If that's the case, why the congestion?

Bottom line: roadways are complex ecosystems, and congestion results from jobs, commuters, road work, mass transit, and countless other factors. While it's encouraging to see traffic jams as symbolic of economic growth, that's not an accurate or complete picture.

Until someone is able to paint that picture for us, check out INRIX's Traffic Congestion Scorecard for 2013. (Be sure to click the "Scorecard Country" tab toward the top.) At least you'll know how your city stacks up.

Hyundai Reveals Hydrogen Fuel Cell SUV

As reported by InvestorPlace: The 2014 Geneva Auto Show has opened its doors to the public press and Hyundai (HYMLF) is already making waves.  

The Korean automaker revealed the Hyundai Intrado Concept, an SUV that runs on hydrogen fuel cell technology. The SUV is powered by hydrogen and it has a reported ranged of up to 600 km (370+mi).

The Hyundai Intrado Concept also has a respectable 0-100km/h (62 mph) acceleration of 12.5 seconds. This vehicle is one of this year’s best surprises in the Geneva Auto Show.

While the Geneva Auto Show’s already open to the press, it did not open its doors to the general public until March 6.

Federal Bill Could Require Kill Switches For New Smartphones

As reported by NY Daily News: This legislation would hit “Apple pickers” at their core.

City and state officials on Monday announced new federal legislation that would require smart phone manufacturers to add a "kill switch" to new phones to deter the rising crime of cellphone robberies.

  Bronx Congressman José Serrano was joined by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton to unveil the bill introduced in the House of Representatives. It mirrors a bill already introduced in the Senate last month.

In New York City alone, 20% of robbers went after smartphones, a 40% increase from a year ago, authorities said. The crime has become known as "Apple picking."

  "These crimes are often accompanied by violence,” Schneiderman said. “People are assaulted and in more than a few cases, killed."

New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (center) announces federal legislation for smartphone manufacturers to install a kill switches on smartphone, which could protect users' data and help them avoid violent confrontations with thieves. 

The leaders said the phone companies could either make the move on their own or the law will be enforced by the FCC, Serrano said.

"It would make sure that if a phone is stolen, it would render it inoperative,” Serrano said.

Bratton said corporate greed is to blame for not having the kill switch in the phones already in existence. Manufacturers came through when the city saw a wave of car robberies in the 1990s and Bratton would like to see them same happen with phones, he said.

Paul Boken said his daughter, Megan Boken, was killed by violent thieves 18 months ago in St. Louis during a cellphone robbery.

"She was targeted because she was talking on her smartphone. At the time she was talking to her mother, just checking in," Boken said.

"She paid the ultimate price," said Megan’s sister, Annie Palazzolo, who lives in New York. "Because someone wanted to steal her brand new iPhone, Megan lost her life at age 23."

U.S. Air Force’s 2015 Budget Request Funds Fewer GPS 3 Satellites

As reported by Space News: The U.S. Air Force is proposing to scale back its planned procurement of rockets and GPS navigation satellites in 2015 while beginning long-deferred work on a new weather satellite system, the service said in budget request documents for the upcoming fiscal year.

At this time last year, the Air Force was planning on buying two additional next-generation GPS 3 navigation satellites next year from prime contractor Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver. Now the service plans on buying just one, according to the budget documents, which were released March 4.

Currently Lockheed Martin is under contract to build eight GPS 3 satellites, which are designed to be more accurate and less vulnerable to enemy jamming than previous generations of GPS craft. With most of its investment in development of the new craft behind it, the Air Force expected to pay about $223 million apiece for two additional satellites in 2015, according to documents that accompanied the 2014 request.
The Air Force currently has 31 earlier-generation GPS satellites active on orbit and has launched five of the 12 satellites in the current series of satellites, called GPS 2F. The first GPS 3 satellite is scheduled to launch in late 2015.

The Air Force’s 2015 budget request also includes money to begin development of a new generation of polar-orbiting weather satellites. Known as the Weather System Follow-On (WSF), the program would replace the long-running Defense Meteorological Satellite Program.

Gen. William Shelton, commander of Air Force Space Command, said in January the new military weather satellites could be a showcase for disaggregation, an emerging vision for space that favors smaller, less complex satellites, hosted payloads and other deployment schemes versus the large, complex systems that have been the standard for decades.

“WSF will take a disaggregated system-of-systems approach to meet specific Department of Defense needs while leveraging near-term civilian and international partnerships,” the Air Force’s 2015 budget documents said. “WSF will be comprised of a group of systems to provide timely, reliable, and high quality space-based remote sensing capabilities that meet global environmental observations of atmospheric, terrestrial, oceanographic, solar-geophysical and other validated requirements.”

The Air Force’s second-to-last Defense Meteorological Satellite Program satellite, Flight 19, is scheduled to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket in April. The Air Force has been studying options for a follow-on system ever since the cancellation in 2010 of an over-budget civil-military system.

Shelton had said the first of the new-generation weather satellite platforms could launch around 2020.

Meanwhile, the Air Force plans to purchase two fewer launches than expected in 2015 under  its Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. The service’s 2014 budget request outlined plans to buy five rockets at a cost of approximately $883 million in 2015. The documents accompanying the 2015 request indicate that the Air Force now plans to buy three launches during the year.

“The EELV program has been aligned with satellite launch schedules in FY 2015,” the documents said.

The difference reflects “newly negotiated contract savings,” budget documents said. In December, United Launch Alliance and the Air Force announced they had reached terms for the first batch of rockets in a long-awaited block buy of EELV rockets and claimed they saved as much as $4.4 billion.

Further details of U.S. President Barack Obama’s 2015 Pentagon budget request, including military space programs, are expected to be released the week of March 10.