Correction: The International Trade Commission is the target of opposition from public interest groups over what those groups call regulation of Internet information (see 1510190052).

Tech and cable heavyweights said they don't oppose LTE in unlicensed bands, but the standards-setting process "is the path to protecting consumers and supporting innovation." Reporting on Thursday and Monday lobbying meetings with aides to all regular FCC members by executives from Cablevision, Comcast, Google and NCTA, and in some meetings Microsoft, a lawyer at Harris Wiltshire said the LTE-U Forum isn't a standards organization. The forum has restricted membership and doesn't "engage in the type of coordination needed to protect consumers," said the filing posted Tuesday in docket 15-105. "CableLabs and Google testing demonstrates that LTE-U specification-compliant devices would substantially undermine Wi-Fi consumers." Qualcomm, an LTE-U backer and according to the group's website a forum member, has said that LTE-U and Wi-Fi can coexist. The LTE-U Forum agreed to coexistence protocols to ensure LTE-U is "polite" to other wireless spectrum users, an executive at Verizon, which the forum says started the organization, recently said (see 1510060010). "Qualcomm and all the other companies involved in developing and deploying LTE-U, which is based on the 3GPP [3rd Generation Partnership Project] Release 10-11-12 global standards, are also strong supporters of Wi-Fi, and we have a strong vested interest in ensuring that LTE-U will not have any adverse impact on Wi-Fi," emailed Qualcomm Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Dean Brenner Tuesday. "A mountain of test results on file at the FCC proves that, in fact, LTE-U will not interfere with or harm Wi-Fi, and in fact, LTE-U will in many cases be a better neighbor to Wi-Fi than Wi-Fi is to itself. We are continuing our constant technical collaboration with our colleagues in the Wi-Fi community to answer questions, address issues, and ease concerns.” The LTE-U Forum itself couldn't be reached for comment.

The FCC's public notice on prohibited communications during the TV incentive auction was published in Monday's Federal Register. The notice covers both the forward and reverse auctions.

Correction: The thing that should be considered a bad practice only if it distorts the market through quality of service or pricing is zero rating, said Vishal Misra, Columbia University computer science professor (see 1510150075).

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is among speakers lined up for an Oct. 28 FCC summit on the telecom needs of people with cognitive disabilities. The agency released a working agenda Monday. The opening speaker is Emily Shea Tanis, associate director of the Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities. The summit starts at 9 a.m. at FCC headquarters.

The FCC will temporarily waive its Form 740 certification requirements for RF devices imported after Customs and Border Protection's automated commercial environment (ACE) filing system becomes mandatory for FCC-regulated products July 1, the full commission said in a Monday order. The waiver, which will remain in effect until Dec. 31, 2016, allows time for the FCC to consider its proposal to eliminate importer declaration requirements entirely (see 1507210072), without imposing “significant burdens” on importers that would otherwise be forced to file on paper once ACE is required, the FCC said. Given the complexity of the FCC rulemaking, it’s possible the commission will be “unable to reach and publish a final determination” by July 1, when CBP will no longer accept electronic filing of FCC Form 740 via its legacy Automated Commercial System, it said.

LSSi Data ended its legal fight against Comcast Phone over access to customer data. The two filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Atlanta last week asking for dismissal of the case, and the FCC Enforcement Bureau in a filing posted Monday in docket 14-211 said that in light of that agreement, it was terminating the proceeding. Comcast Phone had provided access to its directory assistance listing data to LSSi in exchange for help processing and distributing that data, but Comcast Phone ended its contract with LSSi in 2011 and entered a similar relationship instead with an LSSi competitor, Targus Info. LSSi sued Comcast Phone in 2011, arguing that the Communications Act requires it to have access to the data on a non-discriminatory basis. Comcast Phone argued the case should be referred to the FCC, and U.S. District Court Judge Charles Pannell of Atlanta agreed in 2013, citing its "novel regulatory questions that are within the FCC’s specialized area of expertise." Neither the court paperwork nor the bureau filing gave any details on the out-of-court settlement terms.

Net neutrality has been key to Internet and telecom startups, said EarthLink CEO Joe Eazor and AngelList Chief Operating Officer Kevin Laws at the Sunday opening session of ComptelPlus in San Francisco. “It's hard to overstate the importance,” Eazor said, responding to a question about net neutrality and “interconnection at the edge” from moderator Chip Pickering, Comptel president (the group changed its name to Incompas Monday). Laws said net neutrality has been critical for most of the startups on AngelList, which helps new companies obtain seed money from “angel investors.” Laws said one of his startups is constantly opening new stores, all of which need Internet connections: “The open Internet is essential for our customers to serve their customers better.” Pickering lauded the FCC net neutrality and IP/tech transition orders, which he said were part of a competition agenda that Comptel wants to sustain and strengthen. He welcomed agency efforts to address concerns about Bell rates and practices in special-access business services, including the investigation the Wireline Bureau announced Friday into terms and conditions that rivals say “lock up” competition (see 1510160060). Pickering said he's hopeful the commission will act on special access within six to 12 months. Eazor said EarthLink is riding a new wave of Internet growth that he said tripled IP traffic over the past four years and is expected to triple it again during the next three years. EarthLink is in various lines of business, but its core is managing “network services,” often in the cloud, including to retailers with diffuse locations, he said. Laws said AngelList already has helped various startups, including Pinterest and Uber, gain access to more than $200 million in initial funding.

The FCC is getting a new open Internet ombudsperson. Michael Janson of the Wireless Bureau is replacing Parul Desai, who was named to the new post four months ago (see 1506150057). The ombudsperson serves as the public’s “primary point of contact within the agency for formal and informal questions and complaint,” the FCC said in a Friday news release. Desai, formerly of Consumers Union, will stay at the FCC as an attorney adviser in the Media Bureau Audio Division. She was an assistant chief in the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau before taking the net neutrality job. Janson has “a demonstrated expertise in Open Internet policy in helping lead the bureau’s work related to the Open Internet Order,” the news release said. He will work under CGB Chief Alison Kutler.

Petitions for reconsideration of the FCC incentive auction procedures public notice are due Nov. 13, the Wireless Bureau said in a public notice in docket 15-146 posted online Wednesday and included in Thursday's Daily Digest.