CTA’s new security requirement for head shots on CES badges (see 1709070066) will have a future LinkedIn component, said Karen Chupka, CTA senior vice president-events and conferences. “One of the ways that you can upload your photo [for registration] is through your LinkedIn profile,” Chupka said. CTA will try to build that into the show app, she said. “If your registration is now linked to your LinkedIn network, you would then have the ability to turn on or basically activate a switch within our app. If you walked into a conference session, and some of your connections from LinkedIn were in that room, it would pop that up as long as they gave consent.” She’s not sure “how much we’ll be able to activate” for CES 2018.

T-Mobile will launch a narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT) network in 2018, starting in Las Vegas, then going nationwide, it said Monday. T-Mobile said it completed tests of the NB-IoT with Qualcomm and Ericsson earlier this year. “Because NB-IoT uses very little spectrum to carry data with greater efficiency and performance, it is already the globally-preferred standard to power the rapidly expanding world of IoT applications,” said a news release. “With extended battery life and increased connectivity in hard to reach places, NB-IoT lights up new capabilities for businesses and cities to connect massive numbers of devices at lower cost with small and steady streams of data.”

The Trump administration should pay close attention to a blog by FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly last week proposing a spectrum-for-cash swap for federal agencies, Peter Pitsch, Intel executive director-federal relations, blogged Monday. “As demand for mobile broadband continues to grow and with the new applications that can be supported by 5G, the need for additional spectrum to provide these services becomes crucial,” Pitsch wrote. “Let’s hope that Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney (or some folks close to them) read this insightful blog by Commissioner O’Rielly. Cracking the code on how to reform federal spectrum policy has not been easy for the reasons he lays out. Just rolling the federal agencies (read DoD) is not likely and probably not a good idea. So let’s try carrots.” DOD didn't comment.

T-Mobile, working with Nokia and Qualcomm Technologies, said it exceeded gigabit speeds using commercially available 4G LTE technology. In tests at T-Mobile’s lab, the carrier said it hit download speeds of 1.175 Gbps using Nokia’s 4.9G network and its AirScale Base Station, with the Snapdragon X20 LTE modem. “T-Mobile customers have a lot more speed to look forward to from our LTE network as we evolve to 5G,” said Neville Ray, T-Mobile chief technology officer.

FirstNet representatives said they updated aides to Commissioners Brendan Carr and Jessica Rosenworcel on the network. FirstNet officials “highlighted the important role that the Commission will play in ensuring the interoperability of the nationwide public safety broadband network,” said a filing in docket 16-269. “We also discussed the release of State Plans, FirstNet’s public-private partnership with AT&T, first responder priorities, and the interoperability compliance matrix that FirstNet submitted to the Commission on June 16.”

TracFone is proposing an alternative to the minimum standards for Lifeline service set to take effect Dec. 1, it told an aide to Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, according to a filing in docket 11-42. Consumers enrolled in wireless Lifeline services would receive 1,000 units per month. “A unit would be either one minute of wireless voice service or 1 MB of mobile broadband service,” the carrier said. “TracFone would provide consumers with up to 1,000 minutes of mobile voice service … or up to 1 GB of mobile broadband data.” The proposal “would afford Lifeline customers flexibility to utilize their wireless Lifeline service as they choose rather than as prescribed by Commission regulation,” the wireless company said.

The effectiveness date for the challenge process for the $4.53 billion, 10-year Mobility Fund II program is expected to be Oct. 6, following the publication of the order, expected in Friday's Federal Register. Commissioners approved the challenge process 3-0 Aug. 3 (see 1708030026). “The challenge process will begin with a new, one-time collection of standardized, up-to-date 4G LTE coverage data from mobile wireless providers,” said the notice regarding docket 10-90. “Interested parties will then have an opportunity to contest an initial determination that an area is ineligible for MF-II support, and providers will then have an opportunity to response to challenges.”

The Edison Electric Institute filed in support of a request by Florida electric utility FirstEnergy for extension of time or waiver of the FCC’s substantial service requirement for 700 MHz guard band A-block licenses (see 1708170019). FirstEnergy proposes to use the spectrum to deploy a private utility communications network for monitoring and control of electrical equipment across its territories, said EEI, which represents investor-owned utilities. “The network will promote security, reliability, and efficiency of the electric grid,” EEI said in a filing in docket 17-201. “The deployment is being made in response to plans by commercial carriers to retire copper line service as part of the IP transition. EEI commends FirstEnergy’s proactive approach to addressing the IP transition." The Utilities Technology Council also endorsed the waiver. “Utilities rely on these private internal communications systems because they provide greater reliability, availability and resiliency than commercial communications systems,” the group said. “Utilities operate across large multi-state service territories and much of their critical assets are located in remote areas, where commercial communications networks are not available.”

FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said rules for the TV incentive auction may have led to a less successful auction. O’Rielly in a speech Thursday in Bogota, Colombia, criticized the decision to enact a spectrum reserve, open to carriers with little low-band spectrum, and to offer the best licenses also to the more spectrum deprived (see 1508060028). When the auction was over, T-Mobile, which benefitted from the reserve, won the most licenses and only AT&T won any among the three other major national carriers (see 1704130056). “Social engineering of auctions has never worked in the U.S. and it certainly didn’t work here,” he said. “Of the two smaller nationwide providers, which these policies were meant to help, one [Sprint] didn’t even participate. And, of the two companies that some claimed could foreclose spectrum opportunities, one [Verizon] never placed a bid and the other [AT&T] won only 23 licenses out of the 2912 offered. In analyzing the auction data, it appears that the provider who did win licenses was actually trying to get out of the auction altogether.” O’Rielly spoke at the Latin America Spectrum Management Conference and his remarks were posted by the FCC.

T-Mobile is adding a free Netflix subscription to its One family plan packages, it said Wednesday. Calling mobile video "the new frontier for carrier bundles," T-Mobile contrasted its strategy with other wireless carriers', saying their focus is on purchase of content and MVPDs "all so they can sell it to you in bigger, more expensive carrier bundles."