Google testing white spaces cloud in South Africa

Memeburn has the story here involving the test involving the Tertiary Education and Research Network of South Africa (TENET).

The test is delivering connectivity comparable to basic Wi-Fi (2.5Mbps) to 10 schools, according to the story.

Google to Offer Internet Service in Olathe, Kansas - WSJ.com

Google to Offer Internet Service in Olathe, Kansas - WSJ.com: Google hopes its fiber initiative can put pressure on cable and phone companies to improve their networks as Americans use more bandwidth for online-video services such as Google's YouTube, among other sites.

Nonsense. Even assuming the truth of this purported rationale, Google can apply pressure all it wants, but for these publicly traded, investor owned Internet service providers -- Google included -- the real pressure is the pressure to produce quarterly earnings plus in the case of the incumbent telcos and cablecos, generous dividends.  And that imperative will always win out over CAPex to improve and build out network infrastructure.

Broadband 'black spots' across UK - Yahoo! News UK

Broadband 'black spots' across UK - Yahoo! News UK: Britons living in rural areas are stuck in "digital ghettos", an expert has warned as figures showed average broadband speeds have more than trebled in the UK.

These now reach 12 megabits per second (Mbps) - around three times the speeds recorded in 2008 and up by a third in the six months from May to November.

But "black spots" still exist across the country and users face a "postcode lottery" in terms of the service they receive, it was claimed.

More than three years ago, Prince Charles warned of the emergence of UK "broadband deserts."  Apparently he was right. 

IP may be in the "telephone" system, but many premises still only served by POTS

How the Humble Telephone Is About to Bring Internet to the Masses (Again) - NationalJournal.com: You aren’t going to wake up one morning and find every home connected to Verizon FiOS. In fact, even after the IP transition, many houses are still going to be connected to their local switch by copper.

Indeed they are.  The last mile (or more properly the first mile) often lacks the infrastructure to deliver IP-based services, leaving many American homes to Plain Old Telephone Services (POTS) that has been around for decades.  And two percent/6 million Americans involuntarily left off the Internet grid?  That seems an awfully low number given a 2012 U.S. Federal Communications Commission estimate putting the number at nearly 20 million Americans.

Online-Only TV Shows Join Fight for Attention - NYTimes.com

Online-Only TV Shows Join Fight for Attention - NYTimes.com: The companies are, in effect, creating new networks for television through broadband pipes and also giving rise to new rivalries — among one another, as between Amazon and Netflix, and with the big but vulnerable broadcast networks as well.

As Marshall McLuhan famously said, "the medium is the message."  And the medium is fiber to the premise.

Georgia House Defeats Bill to Ban Municipal Broadband Networks | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

Georgia House Defeats Bill to Ban Municipal Broadband Networks | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

Market failure and the pointless exercise of "broadband mapping" is finally starting to give way to progress.  It's about time.