Marriott released a statement further explaining its position on controlling Wi-Fi at its hotels. In August, Marriott, joined by the American Hospitality and Lodging Association and Ryman Hospitality Properties, asked the FCC to clarify the extent to which companies can manage networks on their properties without violating FCC rules, and the FCC sought comment. CTIA, Google, NCTA and other commenters said such network management is a clear violation of FCC rules (see 1412220055). “To set the record straight it has never been nor will it ever be Marriott's policy to limit our guests' ability to access the Internet by all available means, including through the use of personal Mi-Fi and/or Wi-Fi devices,” Marriott said in a statement. “As a matter of fact, we invite and encourage our guests to use these Internet connectivity devices in our hotels. To be clear, this matter does not involve in any way Wi-Fi access in hotel guestrooms or lobby spaces.” The question is merely “what measures a network operator can take to detect and contain rogue and imposter Wi-Fi hotspots” in meeting rooms and otherwise on hotel property, Marriott said. The company cited the growing use of wireless technology to launch cyberattacks and “purposefully disrupt hotel networks.” That's why it and others are seeking clarity, the company said: “We feel this is extremely important as we are increasingly being asked what measures we take to protect our conference and meeting guests and the conference groups that are using Wi-Fi technology in our hotels.”

More than six of 10 U.S. broadband homes never back up their data to an online storage service, despite the many options available, Parks Associates said Thursday in a report. The finding suggests there’s “a huge addressable market for cloud-based storage in 2015, as consumer consumption of digital content is on the rise,” Parks said. In U.S. broadband homes, smartphone users alone spend 18 minutes on average per session when streaming music apps, it said. That exceeds the time they spend on average on gaming, social media or video apps, it said. “As the connected consumer achieves greater mobility, device storage becomes a limiting factor for consumer content, prompting a shift to cloud-enabled storage and access," the firm said. Starting at CES and throughout 2015, the firm expects to see CE makers and online technology companies “leverage cloud-based storage as a value-added feature,” it said. “CE companies and cloud-based storage providers are struggling to differentiate in the market, prompting device and service providers like Amazon, with its Fire Phone, and Kodak, with its upcoming Android devices, to rely on cloud-enabled storage and functionality to attract new customers." Wearables in particular stand ready “to form a large chunk of the personal cloud in the new year as consumers store their health and fitness data in the cloud,” Parks said.

CEA, CTIA and the Telecommunications Industry Association asked the FCC to delay comment deadlines on the TV incentive auction procedures public notice for 30 days. Comments are currently due Jan. 30, replies Feb. 27. The FCC approved the PN on a 3-2 vote at the December open meeting (see 1412110065). Interested parties need time to “examine the novel issues raised by this auction and to develop a meaningful record in this proceeding,” the groups said. The AWS-3 auction is still in progress and several likely incentive auction bidders also are bidding in that auction, they said. “Key personnel for these companies are currently sequestered and may be unavailable to assist with comments and/or reply comments until bidding is complete.” Even after the auction is complete, there's a prohibition of certain communications between bidders for another 10 days, the groups reminded the FCC. “The requested extension will permit individual Auction 97 bidders to fully dedicate the resources of their auction experts to comments filed in this proceeding, and it will also permit industry associations such as Petitioners to engage in greater discussion with their member companies regarding comments and reply comments.” The Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition filed in support of the delay. "This request is in the public interest and will provide interested parties an adequate opportunity to analyze the highly technical proposals in the Comment PN and address, in a meaningful manner, the important questions regarding the implementation of this complex and novel auction," the group said.

DirecTV launched Yaveo, a Spanish-language over-the-top streaming entertainment service available to anyone in the U.S. with an Internet connection. Yaveo features programming from the U.S., Latin America and Spain, DirecTV said Monday in a news release. Customers will have the ability to stream live sports and entertainment channels, like beIN Sports en Español and Hola! TV, it said.

Six tech companies completed the first successful interoperability test of the latest super-fast broadband specification, said CableLabs, developer of the DOCSIS 3.1 spec. Such products can deliver up to 10 Gbps on hybrid fiber-coax networks, CableLabs said in a Tuesday news release. The interop event included providers of cable modems, it said. "To keep up with the rate of development and accelerate product maturity, CableLabs will be facilitating a series of interop events building up to the certification program that will be open for submissions in 2015." Names of participating companies weren't disclosed. "Since this was CableLabs first interop for DOCSIS 3.1," emailed a spokesman Tuesday, "we wanted to respect vendor neutrality and so have not named the companies which participated."

Comcast agreed to authenticate the HBO GO and Showtime Anytime apps on Roku streaming devices for Comcast subscribers who qualify, Roku representatives told the FCC in an ex parte filing Monday in dockets 14-28 and 14-57. Comcast and Roku have been in talks for "several months" on "a number of issues" and signed the HBO GO and Showtime Anytime agreement Nov. 25, the filing said.

Netflix wants to rest open Internet policy on a solid legal foundation, it said in an FCC ex parte filing. Netflix’s Open Connect content delivery network brings data to the locations of an ISP’s choice, “usually at common Internet exchange points or through localized caches,” it said. The filing pertains to a response to a query from Commissioner Ajit Pai (see 1412020044). Under the Open Connect program, “Netflix bears all of the costs of providing Open Connect equipment to any ISP that chooses to participate in Open Connect,” it said. “Open Connect does not prioritize Netflix data.” It helps ISPs reduce costs and better manage congestion, “which results in a better Internet experience for all end users,” it said. Netflix hasn’t impeded the use of proxy caches by changing protocols, it said. It has obscured certain URL structures “to protect our members from deep packet inspection tools deployed to gather data about what they watch online,” it said. Netflix discussed the points made in its response during an ex parte meeting last week with Pai and his staff, it said.

It likely will take longer to reach 100 million 5G subscribers than it did to reach that many 4G subscribers, an ABI Research study said. It will take more than five years for 5G to hit that mark, which is two years longer than for 4G, ABI said Thursday in a news release. The growth of 4G was fueled by the capabilities of “increasingly powerful smartphones and the availability of 4G devices,” it said. Subscriber growth of 5G likely will be a bit more muted at first due to the increased complexity of 5G cells and networks, but will pick up in 2023, it said. The countries that will lead 5G subscriber volumes are the U.S., China, Japan, South Korea and the U.K., it said. A 5G network will be a network of small cells and it will be practical in urban and industrialized environments “for the population density and the reflections in urban canyons,” it said. But “expect a scaled down version of 5G to use existing spectrum for macrocells as well in the longer term,” ABI said.

Netflix reached 5 million subscribers in Latin America, MoffettNathanson analysts said. It took 36 months to reach about 9 percent penetration of the broadband population, they said Wednesday in a research note. Despite the higher level of penetration, that market was "spooked" by the low number of Q3 international subscribers and Q4 guidance, they said. Netflix previously said Latin America has been the slowest region to penetrate due to several issues specific to the region, including lower broadband Internet penetration, the analysts said. Netflix's difficulties could come from their most recent market entrances, like Germany, they said. "As Netflix expands into Australia, we see similarities to the German market as competition in Australia is already in place before its March launch."

Mobile Future released a video Thursday on the wireless year in review, saying worldwide mobile data traffic grew 81 percent in 2014. Another sign of the explosion of wireless is that 19 million connected wearable devices are expected to ship by the end of the year, the group said. Carriers invested a record $33 billion in wireless infrastructure in 2014 and the Brazil vs. Germany World Cup game was the most tweeted sports event in history, Mobile Future said.