Verizon introduced a global strategy to simplify the IoT and accelerate market adoption, it said in a news release Wednesday. The company is launching an IoT platform called ThingSpace to allow developers to create applications, customers to manage devices, partners to launch market services and Verizon to launch integrated vertical solutions in an open environment, it said. Verizon also said it's creating a dedicated network core and new connectivity options for next-generation IoT use cases, commercializing its big data analytics engine for IoT deployment and introducing three end-to-end smart cities systems -- Intelligent Video, Intelligent Lighting and Intelligent Traffic Management. Verizon is generating "one of the largest amounts of revenue from the IoT of any company in the U.S.," and is engaged in collaborative projects in connected agriculture, manufacturing and connected machines, pharmaceutical supply chain monitoring and electric vehicles, it said.

Adoption of wireless power technology in mobile phones is slowly pushing adoption of wireless power functionality in vehicles and public spaces, said a report from Navigant Research released Wednesday. But low consumer awareness and competing industry standards remain challenges to category growth, said Benjamin Freas, senior research analyst. Inductive coupling, led by the Qi standard, is the predominant wireless power technology in the market, though it's limited in the amount of power and spatial freedom provided, said Navigant. Magnetic resonance addresses these limitations, but commercialization has been delayed, with products expected to hit the market by the end of 2015, it said. More than 100 million mobile phones are expected to ship with wireless charging functionality this year, generating revenue of $1.3 billion, with revenue forecast to reach $17.9 billion in 2024. “The expansion of wearable electronic devices and IoT devices coupled with technological advances are poised to transform the market,” said Freas.

The FCC tried to provide information to carriers and other potential bidders in the forward part of the TV incentive auction during a webinar Wednesday, but it was delayed for half an hour as a result of technical glitches. “These updates, which were adopted by the commission in July of this year, recognize the challenges new entrants face entering the wireless industry, especially into a marketplace in which more than 95 percent of existing customers are served by the four biggest providers,” said Wireless Bureau Chief Roger Sherman, who opened the webinar after the delay. The former designated entity rules were a “byproduct of an earlier time” and hadn't been adjusted since 2006, he said. The rules were approved by the FCC in a 3-2 vote July 16 (see 1507160051). Sherman noted that the filing window for forward auction participants opens on Jan. 14 and closes Jan. 28. “It’s our hope that this webinar will help potential applicants prepare for the world’s first-ever broadcast incentive auction,” he said. The FCC will continue to answer questions as the filing deadlines approach, he said. Wireless Bureau staff offered a quick run-through on the rules and took a handful of questions.

The Competitive Carriers Association, CTIA and the Telecommunications Industry Association jointly proposed hearing aid compatibility (HAC) rules to the FCC as an alternative to a proposed requirement that all devices be HAC ready. “This proposal provides the wireless industry with the flexibility needed to overcome continuing design and other technical challenges, as well as access to handsets for smaller service providers,” the groups said in a Wednesday letter to the agency in docket 10-254. “The wireless industry has significant concerns about the proposal to require HAC of all wireless handsets offered by service providers and manufacturers.” Under the joint industry proposal, the FCC would require that 66 percent of handsets from Tier 1 carriers and manufacturers be HAC compliant. For smaller carriers, the requirement would be 66 percent or at least 10 models, under the proposal. The associations also said the FCC should require service providers to report on their devices on a biannual basis while maintaining manufacturer’s annual reporting requirements. The FCC also should encourage “continued dialogue between the wireless industry and advocates for people who use hearing aid devices about ways to improve education and awareness about the significant availability of HAC wireless handsets, and consider ways to address call clarity concerns and other usability issues for people with hearing loss, including collaboratively reassessing in five years whether these requirements continue to reflect market realities and address the needs of people who use hearing aid devices,” the groups said. In February, groups representing the deaf and hard of hearing said the HAC requirement should apply to all handsets offered by carriers (see 1502230045). The industry associations said they opened a discussion with the Hearing Loss Association of America: “While we recognize that HLAA has and will express support for the proposal to require HAC of all wireless handsets offered by service providers and manufacturers, the wireless industry will continue to seek a consensus-based proposal through an on-going dialogue with HLAA and other stakeholders.”

Nortek announced a health solution to connect seniors with their loved ones through real-time monitoring and notifications. The EverThere solution, which works with a 3G Numera Libris device, is designed to give caretakers visibility into an individual’s daily activities, movements and location via a cloud connection, Nortek said Tuesday. The solution integrates personal safety and emergency response with a monitoring service that is said to allow for proactive engagement and intervention. The Numera Libris GPS-enabled two-way communicator can issue instant, customized notifications to a programmed contact list. Members of a person’s care team can be notified by text or email if a fall occurs, no motion has been detected for a predetermined amount of time or an emergency is reported, Nortek said. EverThere links personal security with Nortek’s home security and control systems using active and passive monitoring, the company said.

Smartwatches will drive the integration of wearables into smart homes, even though fitness trackers were two-thirds of all wearable device shipments in 2014, ABI Research said in a report released Tuesday. The smart home market is expected to reach $34 billion in 2020, said ABI, and wearables integration will be a catalyst for more smart home proximal network communications. The integration is beginning to occur as device vendors open up their application programming interfaces and increasingly share data between wearables and devices such as thermostats or connected appliances, the researcher said. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi "are likely to gain significant traction with wearables penetration in the smart home market," said ABI.

To assure a successful launch of the new 3.5 GHz shared spectrum band, C-band satellite operations must be protected from harmful interference, Federated Wireless said in FCC comments in docket 12-354. Federated Wireless, which plans to offer a spectrum access system (SAS) in the band, said it understands the concerns of C-band licensees expressed in an August filing. “The success of the Citizens Band will largely rise and fall on how effectively new users in the band can be accommodated without degrading the performance of incumbent systems,” the company said. While the August comments “repeatedly raise concern regarding the complexity of aggregate interference calculations, we do not find that extending aggregate interference-based protection to Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) earth station sites will be unreasonably complex or in any way impracticable,” Federated said. The SAS must ensure that aggregate interference at priority access license boundaries doesn't exceed -80 dBm, the company said: “FSS protection will be simpler than PAL protection because of the need to protect a discrete site rather than a contour.” Federated also said projections in the filing are “overly conservative and, while theoretically possible, in no way do they reflect expected operating conditions for either FSS or Citizens Band operations.”

Rights-of-way issues and finding affordable fronthaul and backhaul remain the biggest concerns of communications infrastructure companies, PCIA President Jonathan Adelstein said Tuesday at the group’s HetNet (heterogeneous networks) Expo in Los Angeles. The IoT is expected to add $1.7 trillion to the world economy and connect more than 50 billion “things” by 2020, Adelstein said, according to a news release. “PCIA continues working closely at the federal, state, and local levels of government to address all obstacles in an effort to streamline wireless deployments,” he said. Regulation is moving in the right direction, said Adelstein, a former FCC commissioner. The FCC has agreed to exclude some facilities from the federal environmental and historic review process and recognizes that “subjecting a small cell facility to excessively burdensome regulatory processes makes little sense,” he said. “With investments taking place on both the vendor and carrier sides, HetNet opportunities are opening up. From smart city ventures, in-building and hospitals, to public safety mandates and mid-tier market opportunities -- it’s now at the point where many wireless businesses are probably searching for the right opportunities to pursue.”

The North American region is outperforming the rest of the world in the mobile economy, but carriers here need to be sure they maintain their dominance, GSMA said in a report released Tuesday. “The region has seen substantial subscriber growth, early adoption of new technologies (such as smartphones and 4G/LTE) and strong revenue trends,” GSMA said. “The region continues to lead innovation in all areas of the mobile ecosystem, including hardware, access technologies, operating systems and new apps and services that are scaling rapidly and changing how individuals live and work.” The U.S. market could see more growth in the number of subscribers, GSMA said. The North American region had more than 250 million unique subscribers in Q2, equivalent to a penetration rate of 70 percent, GSMA said. That's below the developed market average of 79 percent, “which is closer to the level at which subscriber growth tends to stall in developed markets,” the report said. Penetration in Canada trails the U.S. and offers even more room for growth, the association said. GSMA also took a shot at the FCC for its February net neutrality rules. “There remains considerable uncertainty as to the impact that the ruling will have on the development of new services and applications, particularly in the area of the Internet of Things,” GSMA said. Some services “may require a degree of network prioritization,” while many continue to argue the order will mean less network investment, the group said.

The Federal Aviation Administration and Transportation Department should publicize the identities of members of the new drone task force that was announced last week (see 1510190039), said an Electronic Privacy Information Center letter to the agencies Tuesday. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx had said the task force would have 25 to 30 members, but it was unclear if privacy and safety advocates would be included (see 1510210063). “Given the very real concerns of the American public about the privacy and civil liberties threats drones pose, the task force should include representatives with privacy and civil liberties expertise,” EPIC’s letter said. EPIC said it contacted the Transportation Department’s press office Oct. 20 asking for the final list of task force members, but the agency hasn’t responded, so the group submitted a Freedom of Information Act request Oct. 21 to obtain the information. “With the Task Force set to deliver its final report on November 20, the public has less than one month to weigh in on the organizations and entities providing key input on drone registration,” the letter said. “Given the very real concerns on the part of the American public about drones and the threats they potentially pose to privacy and safety, it is imperative that you make immediately public the members of the Task Force.”