The FCC will soon release industry data relevant to special-access business services, subject to a protective order safeguarding sensitive business information, an agency release said Thursday. In its special-access rulemaking, the commission pushed back deadlines for comments and replies to Nov. 20 and Dec. 11. The FCC said the market is worth $40 billion.

Cooperation among government entities and public safety officials, as well as interconnectivity between devices and programs, are critical for the success of IoT technology used in the development of smart cities, speakers said during a panel Tuesday at the Smart Cities Week conference. Interoperable sensors are one of the main IoT devices used by cities, panelists said, and their uses range from identifying traffic patterns to predicting earthquakes and aiding in disaster recovery. Jimmy Chou, Geographic Information Systems Research Center director at Feng Chia University in Taiwan, said several systems of integrated sensors are used in Taiwan to measure earthquakes and coordinate disaster preparedness protocols, and to predict areas most in danger of flooding during typhoons. But when using IoT technology, such as connected sensors that are operated by several separate entities, Chou said, the information gained from the devices won't be as effective unless the groups are able to share data and ensure their systems are interoperable. "Every bureau and sensor has to be smart enough to communicate with each other," Chou said. "Every member has to be connected ... [and] I think that's [really] the focus of the IoT." Gaurav Garg, Santa Clara, California, chief information officer, said he and his team use the IoT, through interconnected sensors and connected devices, to aid public safety officials in high-density areas during professional sporting events. Sensor data is accessible by several city departments, and select traffic information gleaned from sensors is made available to the public, Garg said. Certain social media data is also collected by the city and the results of an analysis are sent to mobile connected devices used by public safety officials to anticipate and address potential hazards, he said. The success of IoT technology used to enhance and develop smart cities hinges nearly entirely on interdepartmental cooperation and the availability of data across multiple sets of platforms and stakeholders, Garg said. "Collaboration is [often] the biggest accomplishment." Monday, the White House said it will make $160 million in grants for smart cities (see 1509150025 and 1509140054).

Correction: The Connect America Fund Phase II is the reverse auction an FCC official said the agency is still working on details for (see 1509150068).

The FCC Office of Communications Business Opportunities (OCBO) is putting on a technology fair from 9 a.m. to 4 pm. Oct. 16 at MIST Harlem, 46 W. 116th St., New York. The fair will be alongside Silicon Harlem's annual Tech Conference and will be free and open to the public. OCBO Director Thomas Reed will participate in a Silicon Harlem panel on issues technology start-ups face, and specific issues faced by minority- and women-owned tech start-ups. The tech fair will showcase start-ups. OCBO also will host a "fast pitch" program, where tech entrepreneurs will be able to present their ideas to business experts. To register, email the OCBO at TechFair@fcc.gov. To register a start-up firm for the tech fair or to take part in the "fast pitch," contact Karen.Beverly@fcc.gov.

Former FTC Commissioner Josh Wright will reflect on his recently concluded tenure at the trade commission (see 1508170051) Sept. 22 at Covington & Burling in Washington, the Federalist Society said Wednesday. Wright will be interviewed by Covington & Burling’s Deborah Garza during the Federalist Society’s first live in-person teleforum, which starts at noon, and the luncheon begins at 11:30 a.m.

The FCC extended comment deadlines on CTIA's petition for reconsideration of the commission's June Lifeline order, the Wireline Bureau said in an order Wednesday in docket 11-42. Responding to public-interest groups seeking more time, the bureau moved the due date for oppositions to Oct. 8 and for replies to Oct. 19, from Sept. 17 and Sept. 28, respectively. The groups had sought an extension of a month (see 1509100077).

Verizon expects its first LTE-U products -- small cells for enterprise indoor uses -- to roll out next year, said Patrick Welsh, assistant vice president-federal regulatory affairs. Field tests this fall will use different LTE-U configurations alongside existing Wi-Fi in a pair of office buildings, Welsh said. LTE-U has become an increasingly heated battleground between wireless carriers and Wi-Fi advocates such as the cable industry over concerns of LTE-U interference with Wi-Fi (see 1509100035). At the CTIA conference this month in Las Vegas, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler urged the industries to jointly create their own interference standards. "We expected folks to have questions about new technology," Welsh said Wednesday at a Verizon briefing and demo for reporters on LTE-U. The pushback "is part of the process," he said. But Welsh said he was surprised by the level of opposition in the face of test data and LTE-U specifications. Cable companies "are asking ... to be essentially the gatekeepers of unlicensed spectrum," Welsh said. Some LTE-U interference criticism has involved lack of "listen before talk" access features such as in Europe and Japan. There's nothing stopping Qualcomm and Verizon from adding "listen before talk" to its LTE-U, except that it would delay rollout, said Tamer Kadous, Qualcomm director-engineering. "It's wrong to think LTE-U is inferior to Wi-Fi because it doesn't have 'listen before talk,'" Welsh said, saying the European and Japanese standard exists because of government radar installations, not Wi-Fi. "We don't have those government radar systems here, so we don't have those government regulations," Welsh said. Qualcomm and Verizon demonstrated their LTE-U/Wi-Fi interoperability testing, with a Qualcomm test room lined with multiple Wi-Fi access points and an LTE-U access point that was switched on as the company measured throughput -- which remained unchanged. "This is a very extreme case, a harsh interference environment," said Dean Brenner, Qualcomm senior vice president-government affairs. In the second part of the testing, an array of smartphones all streamed YouTube video, while one conducted a Skype call, in the same room. "What matters is not paper specifications -- what matters is the consumer experience," Brenner said.

Cable companies losing video customers isn't as dire an issue as it seems, with broadband revenue per user picking up the slack, New Street Research said Wednesday in an analysis of 2015 cable trends. Despite the dropping video numbers, "We are bullish on U.S. cable because we believe investors are underestimating long-term broadband penetration, the broadband repricing opportunity, the enterprise opportunity and the wireless opportunity," the firm said in the 60-page report, saying those factors will drive cable companies' free cash flows. It also called concerns about regulation and over-the-top competition "overblown." In the most recent quarter, 1.8 million households dropped pay-TV services in favor of OTT -- or nothing -- meaning about 17.6 percent of total households are without a pay-TV service, New Street said. Multichannel video programing distributors have lost roughly 4.6 million customers over the past six years, a trend that's picking up speed, New Street said, but when those customers drop pay TV, the $10-per-customer each represented in free cash flow is replaced by the roughly same amount their broadband bills typically go up, New Street said. In fact, households that opt for OTT service "are more likely to take a cable service than a competing telco offering (given faster speeds), and they are more likely to opt for a higher speed tier," New Street said. Meanwhile, worries that the FCC will use its Communications Act Title II authority to regulate broadband prices are incorrect because the agency doesn't have "either the desire or the ability" to do so, the firm said, noting the agency passed on any price regulation in the AT&T/DirecTV merger. The FCC also likely won't respond as Comcast goes further into testing usage-based pricing, it said. Pay-TV penetration should "stabilize and even grow, despite OTT pressures" because of its growing broadband business, New Street said.

Twenty-four of the 26 federal agencies participating in Office of Management and Budget IT reform initiatives reported achieving an estimated total of $3.6 billion in cost savings and avoidances between FY 2011 and 2014, a GAO report released Tuesday said. More than half of the savings, about $2 billion, were from data center consolidation and optimization efforts, it said. Almost 70 percent of the savings, $2.5 billion, were savings and avoidances from the departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Treasury and the Social Security Administration, it said. The goal of the report was to determine how savings from OMB’s IT reform efforts were being invested, but most agencies didn’t fully meet OMB requirements to submit reinvestment plan information for varied reasons, the report said. GAO recommended agencies complete their IT savings reinvestment plans and improve tracking, and that OMB clearly “define targets for agency reinvestment and require that agencies complete their plans and track actual reinvestment performance.” OMB and 12 agencies agreed with the GAO recommendations, one agency didn't say whether it agreed or disagreed, three agencies had no comments, and one agency partially agreed.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has asked computer scientists and network engineers to sign a statement supporting Internet openness and neutrality that the group intends to attach to its amicus brief defending the FCC's net neutrality order against legal challenges. In addition to explaining the technical underpinnings of the Internet, "We want the court to understand that there is a wide consensus among network engineers, protocol developers, and Internet-based service providers that openness and neutrality are key to the proper functioning of the Internet -- and striking down the FCC’s Open Internet Order could put that proper function in danger," the EFF said Monday in a web post.