Google, Netflix, YouTube, Facebook responsible for funding advanced telecom infrastructure, telco asserts

As net neutrality repeal nears, WV providers say internet won't change | Business | wvgazettemail.com: Frontier, West Virginia’s largest internet service provider and often the only option in rural areas of the state, sent a letter to the FCC in July applauding the commission’s proposed repeal, saying the regulations are outdated. In the letter, Frontier said it has a core commitment to “treating all Internet traffic the same regardless of content.” “Indeed, the combination of competition in the broadband market and consumer expectations would significantly discipline any company that sought to micromanage a user’s content,” the letter said. “The fundamental Internet freedoms will remain as strong as ever, whether or not they are backed by outdated Title II regulation.”

According to Frontier, internet service providers aren’t the problem when it comes to the issue of net neutrality — it’s major content providers such as Google, Netflix, YouTube and Facebook that need to be looked at. Frontier complained these companies don’t “help fund the upgrades their traffic is requiring,” adding that current FCC rules prevent negotiations relating to that from happening. The company claimed this issue prevents it from investing further in rural broadband access.

Frontier's position mirrors the that of then AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre who proclaimed in 2005 that content providers like Google, Netflix, YouTube and Facebook shouldn't be able to ride over "my pipes" without paying. Naturally AT&T like other legacy telephone and cable companies would prefer a business model based on a two sided market: assessing consumers monthly service charges for voice, video and data services on the delivery side and content providers like the aforementioned for access to their "pipes" as Whitacre put it.

That two-sided market is the fully vertically integrated business model telcos and cable companies desire because of the obvious revenue enhancement possibilities. Since telecom infrastructure is a naturally monopolistic offering, the prospect of telcos and cable companies abusing their monopoly power to exploit those opportunities concerns advocates of retaining the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's 2015 Open Internet rulemaking that regards Internet-delivered telecommunications services as a common carrier utility open to all content providers free of charge. 

New Google venture plans neighborhood "built from the Internet up."

In 2016, Google Fiber began reconnoitering away from its plan to overbuild legacy incumbent telephone and cable company infrastructure with fiber to the premise telecom infrastructure in select metro areas of the United States. Taking on incumbents in existing parts of these metros proved too slow and costly and Google Fiber had no overwhelming technological or marketing advantage relative to them.

Another Google venture takes a different tack. Rather than overlaying fiber optic telecom infrastructure on an existing neighborhood, it would build an entirely new “smart” neighborhood where there are no incumbent providers. One that’s “built from the Internet up… merging the physical and digital realms,” according to a description of the project – dubbed Sidewalk Labs – in this Slate article. A pilot to roll out the concept in an undeveloped portion of Toronto, Canada Eastern Waterfront kicked off in late 2017. (Click here for news release).

Forecast of holographic interactive video within five years a pipe dream

Magic Leap CEO thinks volumetric video will be a part of live TV in five years - The Verge: In an interview with The Verge, Abovitz said that within “two to five years,” it will be technically possible for people wearing Magic Leap goggles to watch an NBA game (or other media) live, but in a holographic, interactive form. “You can stream over the top and to the screens, the virtual screens — you can do that now,” he said. “We’re looking at, how do you derive the information to move the volumetric stuff from that? And then, how do you do volumetric live-streaming as well ... if you time where processing power is going, particularly backends, you’re single-digit years away from that happening.”

Processing power indeed continues as it has to increase. But Abovtitz neglects to consider telecommunications infrastructure deployment advances far more slowly. According to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, many millions of American homes lack telecom infrastructure capable of supporting high quality data, voice and video.

Too many remain embarrassingly served by 1990s DSL over aging copper lines, satellite Internet and even dialup. An interactive holographic experience will require enormous bandwidth only fiber optic lines can deliver. But most premises lack fiber connections and there's no coordinated national effort to modernize America's aging and outdated legacy metallic telecom infrastructure to fiber.