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.

Satellilte Internet customers condemned to broadband purgatory

Satellite Internet providers serve about 10 percent of the U.S. that is mired in broadband black holes, according to one of them, Hughes Communications. And they believe they'll have a lock on this captive market for the foreseeable, betting the wire line telco/cable duopoly won't ever serve these areas. AT&T reinforces this grim reality, making satellite a key element of its broadband initiatives.

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.

Broadband franchise legislation or not, AT&T not expected to deploy broadband to Tennessee small towns

AT&T is threatening Tennessee lawmakers that it will not invest in deployment of broadband in smaller towns if the state legislature doesn't pass a state video franchise bill backed by the telco.

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.

Will Comcast seek California state charter?

As demand for broadband Internet access grows, California municipalities and counties will invariably find themselves under pressure to amend franchise agreements with cable companies like Comcast to require them to extend service to neighborhoods lacking cable access. Even areas where AT&T and other telcos provide broadband via Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) could clamor for cable service since it offers a proven bundle of television and Internet access at speeds higher than DSL.

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.

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.

Sorry, wrong number: AT&T tells would be residential broadband customers to go suck a satellite

If you're an AT&T residential customer who's been waiting for years for broadband, indications are you're going to have to continue to wait some more. Hapless residential customers who visit AT&T's Web site to check on the availability of AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet get this message if it isn't:

AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet

	Our system indicates that our DSL service, AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet, is not available at your location. However, let's see if we have another solution for you: You may qualify for satellite broadband from AT&T.Learn More If DSL becomes available at my location, Contact Me

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

Qwest CEO Richard Notebaert tells Bloomberg his company is holding off offering video over phone lines, concentrating instead on accelerating residential broadband 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.