"[T]he reality is that the consumer internet,…has matured, and its future, unless there is significant investment will constrain economic development in this country.”
Analysis & commentary on America's troubled transition from analog telephone service to digital advanced telecommunications and associated infrastructure deficits.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
HD Net's Cuban calls for broadband infrastructure investment
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Colorado video franchise fight reveals true goal of provider "competition," Comcast's hypocrisy
Cable provider Comcast insists Denver-based telco Qwest be required to provide broadband video service to everyone in the Colorado municipalities it wants to serve, charging Qwest will leave some neighborhoods unserved if local governments don't require it to do so in exchange for granting Qwest a video franchise. (Note however, hypocritical Comcast does exactly what it accuses Qwest of doing, including in my own El Dorado County, California ZIP code where Comcast serves some neighborhoods but refuses to serve others).
If Colorado local governments force Qwest to serve their entire jurisdictions, the Rocky Mountain News reports Qwest may counter by invoking a recently promulgated Federal Communications Commission rule that Qwest sought prohibiting local governments from imposing "unreasonable" build out requirements on telephone companies seeking franchises to offer enhanced broadband-based video services. The rule also requires local governments to make a decision on a video franchise application within 90 days.
If Qwest presses ahead with this reported effort to accelerate local government video franchise applications, it will set the stage for litigation over the meaning of what constitutes an "unreasonable" build out requirement under the FCC rule. Local governments have already gone to federal court to challenge the rule, contending the FCC overstepped its authority.
Qwest's initiative also marks a quick reversal of a strategy announced earlier this month by CEO Richard Notebaert, who told Bloomberg Qwest planned to hold off offering video over phone lines, concentrating instead on accelerating residential broadband Internet access.
Friday, May 11, 2007
California's AB 2987: Market competition in a tightly limited market
The problem is that competition is geographically restricted, playing out in a limited market where both the telco and cable provider have a presence. Consumers not in these proscribed markets don't benefit from the increased competition envisioned by AB 2987.
In California and most states, there exists a de facto duopoly in which the big telcos and cable companies like AT&T and Comcast have the market all to themselves. There are few if any other competitors nipping at their heels and forcing them to provide more and improved services.
Exhibit A is the large number of broadband black holes that exist in California where hapless residents can't get broadband Internet access from their telco (who in AT&T's case tells them to "go suck a satellite") or from the cable provider (upon whose maps these would be customers simply don't exist). Here, AB 2987 fails to spur competition and better services and does nothing to expand broadband services to unserved areas of the Golden State since the legislation allows the telco/cable duopoly to offer services to just half of potential customers by 2012. That effectively locks the providers into the market they presently serve, creating two separate but unequal Californias -- one with broadband Internet access and the other without.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller introduces universal broadband resolution
Rockefeller noted that at the current pace of deployment, "next-generation" broadband networks (which the resolution defines as being capable of 100Mbps) will not be deployed throughout the US for another 20 years. The resolution calls on Congress to work with the President to develop a strategy with the goal of passing legislation by year end, but since a resolution doesn't carry the force of law, there's no guarantee that it will have any tangible results.
Comcast should expand service area as well as access speeds
Roberts went on to demonstrate how wideband can download four gigabytes of data, the entire Encyclopedia Britannica Library--55 million words and more--in just under four minutes. It would take a traditional cable modem about three hours and a dial-up connection two weeks to download the same amount of data, which Roberts said is equivalent to how much the average family consumes online a month.Satellite Internet with triple play? What planet is Roberts living on? Satellite Internet is crippled broadband, with sluggish connections and high latency that can't even support Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP). As for the telcos, the only real threat is Verizon if it continues to speed deployment of Fiber To The Home (FTTN). If Comcast really wants to compete with the telcos and satellite, it should expand its coverage to those areas where residents are stuck with a Hobson's choice of dial up over aging telco copper cable or satellite.
“It’s kind of mind boggling to think what you’d be able to do with that speed,” said Roberts.
In the short term, Roberts and his fellow cable operators plan to use that speed to continue to hammer away at the competitive threat from both the telcos and satellite with their triple-play offering of video, broadband and voice services.
San Jose Mercury News: Time for action on national broadband policy
The federal government’s lack of leadership in this area is a disgrace. Despite a 2004 promise by President Bush to deliver “universal, affordable access to broadband technology by the year 2007,” his administration has done nothing to advance that goal.
Last month, the Federal Communications Commission, chaired by Bush appointee Kevin Martin, launched yet another study of the sorry state of broadband service in this country.
The U.S. needs action, not another study.
Inadequate telco infrastructure drives cities to build fiber networks
Lafayette's Fiber to the Home project is expected to provide residents and businesses with Internet, cable and telephone services at a low cost.
Salter said cities with fiber networks have experienced economic growth as a result.
"We just think that the ability to move information is where everything is going," he said.
Huval said telecommunications companies have infrastructure with limited capacity.
Fiber will not artificially limit capacity, he said. Residents will be able to choose how they want their fiber.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Satellilte Internet customers condemned to broadband purgatory
Their customers face a purgatory of sluggish connections slowed by the 46,000 mile round trip from their computers to satellites that they must share with thousands of other customers, unlike the commercial and military users of the technology.
"If you look at this industry ten years from now, there's still a good chance consumers will still be unhappy. And the reason is that satellite bandwidth is extremely expensive," said Randy Scott, manager at VSAT U.S., a Monument, Colo., company that installs satellite dishes for commercial customers. HughesNet is one of the companies he works with.
Monday, May 07, 2007
Broadband franchise legislation or not, AT&T not expected to deploy broadband to Tennessee small towns
A lobbyist for local governments opposing the measure however says even if it were enacted, AT&T would continue to concentrate on large metro areas of the state and leave smaller towns on the dark side of the digital divide.
Which is likely true because similar statewide franchise bills such as California's Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006 (AB 2987) -- which was also sought by AT&T -- requires big providers to deploy broadband to just half of their service areas by 2012, leaving non-urban areas out in the cold.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Will Comcast seek California state charter?
But if they do, will Comcast and other cable providers tell California local governments to take a hike and opt to obtain a statewide franchise under legislation that took effect earlier this year, the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006?
Enacted last year as AB 2987, the law allows both cable and telephone companies to bypass local governments and instead obtain authority to offer video-capable broadband through franchises issued by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). But AB 2987 also allows cable companies to operate under existing local government franchise agreements if they choose. So far, Comcast is doing just that and has not applied for a statewide franchise from the CPUC. (To date, only one cable provider, Cox Communications, has applied for a statewide franchise.)
If enough California local governments pressure Comcast to build out its cable plant to provide service to more neighborhoods, Comcast could well opt for a state charter under AB 2987. The reason: the law has very limited build out requirements that require providers serve only half of their regional service areas by 2012. Opting for a statewide franchise would provide Comcast and other cable providers an easy exit from local political pressure to expand broadband access.
U.S. senator secures federal funding for Vermont open access fiber network
Designed by Northern Enterprises, the network will be "vendor neutral," meaning private companies offering high-speed Internet access, telephone service or other telecommunications services will be able to use it for a fee, instead of building their own infrastructure, officials said.
Leahy, D-Vt., helped secure $500,000 in federal funding for the first phase of the project and $3 million in economic development grants for the network.
Friday, May 04, 2007
Broadband "number one" priority for FCC, Chairman Martin tells forum
"I think broadband is the number one priority for the commission and the additional deployment of it," said Martin. Broadband technology can drive economic growth and impacts areas such as health care delivery and education, he said. The FCC has done work to try to foster additional infrastructure investment and some increased competition in broadband, he said.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Sorry, wrong number: AT&T tells would be residential broadband customers to go suck a satellite
AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet
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The satellite service is from satellite Internet provider WildBlue. AT&T entered into a reseller deal with WildBlue about a year ago to sell the inferior (compared to what AT&T could offer if it chose to seriously invest in its wire line infrastructure), costly satellite service in areas it has written off over the foreseeable for wire line broadband.
Keep in mind this is from the same AT&T that boasts "Your world delivered" and actually believes it can provide television service over the same tired copper cable-based system that can't even support DSL let alone IPTV.
Qwest holds off IPTV in favor of residential high speed Internet access
It's a wise move on Notebaert's part. Residential customers need high speed Internet access first and foremost. Telcos like Qwest should be prioritizing it and speeding deployment considering they didn’t offer DSL in more than 20 percent of their service areas as of mid 2006, according to the Federal Communications Commission.
If and when Qwest wants to offer wire line-based TV service, it would be well advised to follow Verizon and utilize fiber optic cable rather than a hybrid fiber/copper play in the early stages of deployment by AT&T, dubbed Project U-Verse.
High definition TV itself needs about 9Mbs. Getting that much data over twisted copper pair that comprise the last segment of U-Verse that was originally designed to provide plain old telephone service (POTS) packaged with telephone and high speed Internet service could well prove problematic. Notebaert is in a position to watch it fail on someone's else's dime instead of investing his own shareholders' money.
Broadband boondoggle: Congressional committee peeved over misdirection of USDA funding
The Washington Post has been looking into the program, which provides grants, loans and loan guarantees to expand housing, small business, water and sewer, electricity and telecommunications services in rural areas.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Cisco working with West VA gov on broadband solution
Manchin recently vetoed legislation that would have mapped which areas in the state aren't wired for broadband service and allowed nonprofits to offer broadband service throughout the state.
While the efforts of Cisco CEO John Chambers to light up this infamous broadband black hole are laudable, I hope he doesn't neglect Cisco's own back yard in Silicon Valley and California. As reported last year, Rob Hof, manager of BusinessWeek's Silicon Valley bureau, inadvertently found himself mired on the wrong side of the digital divide Palo Alto when he moved to a new home in the city.
Concerns raised over Florida broadband franchise bill
The bill bans the government from forcing utilities to build out their infrastructure to offer services to all neighborhoods. But it also names the attorney general as the agent responsible for enforcing antidiscrimination rules, giving the office the power to fine utilities not in compliance.
The antidiscrimination provision seems to be open to some interpretation, with the antibuildout language giving companies accused of discriminating a strong leg to stand on.
Brad Ashwell, consumer advocate for Florida Public Interest Research Group, said that while rates may drop initially, he expects gradual increases over time. "This bill doesn't guarantee that everyone is going to be served or enjoy the benefits of 21st century technology."