FCC chair says USF funding should subsidize broadband

CHICAGO -(Dow Jones)- Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin on Tuesday specifically endorsed the use of money in the Universal Service Fund to subsidize broadband deployment in rural parts of the U.S.

The comments from Martin, who was speaking via a video link at the NXTcom telecommunications conference in Chicago, mark the first time he has explicitly said that the fund should be used to speed up the deployment of broadband service.

Feds betting big on WiMAX

Forbes magazine is reporting today that the Federal Communications Commission and some in Congress are betting heavily on WiMAX technology to provide a wireless broadband alternative to the telco/cable duopoly.

They aren't the only ones. Forbes reports Yahoo!, Google, eBay, Intel , Skype and satellite TV providers EchoStar and DirectTV also want a so-called broadband "third pipe" installed to break the telco/cable choke hold whose incomplete wireline systems fail to bridge the "last mile" to bring broadband to far too many residences.

The FCC wants to auction off television broadcast frequencies currently used by TV channels 52 to 69 that will become available in 2009 when TV broadcasters are required by the FCC to convert from analog to digital transmission.

Forbes reports there are concerns that telcos like AT&T and Verizon could buy up the frequencies not to use them, but to keep them off the market in order to protect their wireline-based systems, prompting consumer groups to advocate for auction rules that would disallow the practice.

The FCC is also reviewing a wireless broadband concept being advanced by a coalition comprised of Dell, EarthLink, Google, HP, Intel, Microsoft, and Philips Electronics. A prototype device has been submitted for FCC testing by the White Space Coalition that uses different transmission technology to beam ultra-fast wireless broadband via unused "white spaces" in the current analog TV broadcast spectrum. It could come on line as early as February 2009 if approved.

The next year or so will likely determine if wireless broadband can become a viable "third pipe" alternative beyond the current coffee shop and airport Wi-Fi connections and which -- if any -- of these wide area wireless broadband technologies will provide that sought after third pipe.

AT&T sells broadband at $10 a month while others go begging

I don't know which is more pathetic: the story or the headline AT&T Lures Dialup Holdouts with Discount DSL Service.

The item illustrates how blatantly distorted AT&T's broadband market strategy has become where too many AT&T subscribers can't get wireline-based broadband at any price -- even $50 a month -- let alone at a "lifeline" rate of 10 bucks a month.

And as for "broadband holdouts," the real holdout is Ma Bell herself and her intransigent refusal to deploy broadband to many neighborhoods where customers are left without a choice for wireline broadband and left twisting in the wind on the dark side of the digital divide.

Seems to me that it's time for new management at AT&T that instead of turning a blind eye to unserved markets looks for ways of profitably serving them. Selling DSL at $10 a month while leaving vast areas without wireline-based broadband simply doesn't make sense.

Clearwire in WiMAX alliance with satellite TV providers

This deal looks at bit sketchy at first glance. On one hand, it makes some sense inasmuch as many satellite TV subscribers live in areas where over the air TV broadcast reception is poor and there's no wireline broadband infrastructure from the telco/cable duopoly.

Many of these folks would likely prefer a fixed terrestrial wireless option that provides broadband faster and cheaper than satellite ISPs such as WildBlue and HughesNet.

On the other hand, however, there are few if any proven WiMAX deployments in these areas that have an established track record. I asked Clearwire how its service would overcome rugged terrain and tall trees which are often found in areas that lack wireline broadband. Tellingly, the company demurred, declining to respond to the inquiry.

Ma Bell forsakes existing customers, deploys fiber for new ones

AT&T doesn't give a rat's patootie for its existing customer base, large numbers of which have no wireline broadband options at all.

New customers however get first class treatment and state of the art fiber optic connections to the Internet.

Way to go, Ma Bell! If you don't want your existing customer base and thus don't want to invest in it, why don't you sell it off instead of letting it die on the copper vine?

Virginia governor makes broadband access a priority

The governor's office is forming a Broadband Roundtable to develop a plan for ensuring broadband access for every Virginia business. The roundtable is to be led by former Gov. Mark Warner and Virginia Secretary of Technology Aneesh Chopra.

"Broadband access is a priority for my administration, and we intend to build on the successes of the Warner Administration, which worked to install 700 miles of broadband in our rural communities," Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said in a news release.

North Carolina municipalities attack proposed state franchise bill as uncompetitive

Where the private sector telco/cable duopoly won't provide broadband Internet access, local governments that have long been in the utility business want to step up. But local government officials complain duopoly-backed legislation, the Local Government Fair Competition Act, is really protectionist and would result in less competition and less densely populated areas being cut off from broadband access.

Mooresville Mayor Bill Thunburg agreed. "Folks, this bill is a pig with lipstick on," he said. "The whole notion of this being a Fair Competition Act is really absurd."

Mooresville entered the broadband Internet business after years of struggle with private industry. Town leaders haven't been able to convince Time Warner to launch cable modem Internet service—the company couldn't make enough profit, they were told.

"This is why we get into that business," Thunburg said. "Private sector's not going to build out into rural communities or poor neighborhoods because there's no money in it for them. Municipalities serve those folks, and we can serve them better than private industry can because we can be sure that they've got fiber to the home." He urged the legislators to consider the need for economic development.

"You don't do that by slamming the door in the face of the poor people or rural people, and that's what this bill does," he said. "One thing's for sure: If municipalities are in the broadband business, big businesses have competition. Right now, in Mooresville, they don't have any competition."

For legislators representing rural areas, Mooresville's dilemma has a familiar ring. Rep. Angela Bryant (D-Halifax, Nash), who sits on the public utilities committee, says Nash County has had a similar experience.

"Technology's moving so fast, some of my cities and counties say that as far as they're concerned, broadband service is almost like electricity, water and natural gas in terms of how essential it would be for citizens to have it and how much of a deprivation it would be not to, just because private industry won't do it," she says. She'd like to find some balance between the concerns of the industry and needs of local communities. As it stands, she says, the bill "is putting us too much at the mercy of the private businesses."