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New hope for New Zealand telecoms competition

18 February 2013 by Steve Blum
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Fortunately, there are better ways to spend your time in New Zealand.

New Zealand is a relatively costly place to do Internet-related business. There’s only one underseas cable linking it to the outside world, the Southern Cross, which goes from Australia to California via New Zealand.

That’s two paths in and out of the country, but one owner. It’s not a competitive market. According to Market Clarity, an Australian telecoms research company, Kiwis pay 5.8 times more than Aussies for a gigabyte .… More

Legislative push for more money, fewer restrictions for CASF


Do you think this would cover it?

A last minute push is on at the state capitol to put more money in the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) and open up eligibility. The deadline for new legislation is this Friday, 22 February 2013. The California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) and other broadband advocates are working with two key lawmakers – Senator Alex Padilla and Assemblyman Steven Bradford – to get a bill introduced by then.

Two goals are in sight: lifting the $225 million cap on CASF funding – maybe by an additional $100 million – and allowing a wider range of companies and organizations to apply for broadband infrastructure subsidies.… More

WiFi has huge role in mobile capacity management

16 February 2013 by Steve Blum
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There’s a reason Cisco bought Meraki.

Four times as much traffic goes via WiFi as on mobile data connections, when users’ Android smart phones and tablets have the capability to do both. A recent mobile data study by Cisco showed that, worldwide, the average Android owner sent 55.4 MB of data on WiFi connections and only 13.9 MB via mobile data networks on the average day in December 2012.

Cisco’s conclusion is that tablet and smart phone customers are using WiFi as a way of “staying within the limits of their cellular data plans”.… More

Mobile data caps starting to shift costs to heavier users

15 February 2013 by Steve Blum
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The whales don’t stand out as much anymore.

Three years ago, unlimited data plans accounted for 81% of monthly mobile subscriptions worldwide. Now, only 45% are unlimited, according to research conducted by Cisco.

With or without monthly caps, the growth in mobile data traffic is booming, but Cisco’s white papers shows a change in usage patterns corresponding to this business model shift.

Unlimited plans still generate more traffic per user, with an average of 1.3 GB per month versus 922 MB for tiered subscribers.… More

ViaSat's California broadband subsidy plan targets wired homes


Viasat stakes a claim from the Klamath to the Colorado.

A satellite Internet service provider, ViaSat, asked for $11.1 million in the latest round of California Advanced Service Fund (CASF) grant requests. They want to provide subsidized broadband service over a huge swath of California that begins at the border with Mexico and runs up the western half of the state all the way to Oregon, plus a few detours to the east.

They’re not asking for money to serve every household in that area, only about 178,000.… More

Northern California middle mile proposal looks fiber rich but cash poor

13 February 2013 by Steve Blum
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Our sturdy Golden Bear knows a thing or two about sparse population and public funding.

Golden Bear Broadband wants $119 million from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to build 1,000 miles of fiber backbone and lease 1,200 miles more in 16 northern California counties. That’s the real Northern California, (mostly) beyond the urban reach of the Bay Area and Sacramento region.

It’s not crazy talk. The Digital 395 project in eastern California, paid for by the federal stimulus program and CASF, is similar in size, cost and population density.… More

Twenty-seven CASF applications accepted, now open to challenge

12 February 2013 by Steve Blum
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The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has posted the official list of thirty-one projects that are in the running for California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) grants and loans. The total comes to about $256 million.

Four projects, totaling about $32 million, are listed as “pending”. That means there’s still some work to be done before the requests can be considered.

As of 12 February 2013.

The challenge clock is running on the other twenty-seven applications. Competing service providers who disagree with an applicant’s assertion that a given area is under or unserved can contest a project’s eligibility for funding.… More

Beefier mobile data networks slim medical costs

11 February 2013 by Steve Blum
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https://www.withings.com/en/press/mediakits
Download an app, upload your blood pressure.

Health care is a major driver of booming mobile data traffic. The growth in machine-to-machine (M2M) communications means we’re nearly in a world with more mobile data accounts than people, and networked medical devices, wearable and otherwise, are a principal reason.

In the same five years that’ll see a billion and a half M2M devices added to global networks, just the number of U.S. patients receiving being monitored remotely will grow to 1.3 million, according to projections just released by IMS Research.… More

Health care driving mobile M2M traffic

10 February 2013 by Steve Blum
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Bits keep you fit.

Some time this year, we’ll hit the point where there are more connected devices on mobile networks than there are people on the planet. That doesn’t mean everyone everywhere will have a smartphone. A lot of people have more than one device, of course. And a growing share of those connections don’t involve human beings at all.

According to a report on worldwide mobile data traffic just released by Cisco, 369 million machine-to-machine (M2M) devices accounted for 3% of global traffic last year.… More

HP needs more style, less substance

9 February 2013 by Steve Blum
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First new Chevy of the 80s.

Hewlett Packard is the latest high tech company to distance itself from reported labor practices used by some Chinese contract manufacturers. It’s telling its suppliers to limit the number of student-age workers, the type of work they do and the hours they work.

The email to HP’s suppliers follows similar measures by Apple and Samsung. Two weeks ago, Apple said that a labor contractor used by one of its Chinese suppliers was forging documents in order to hire underage workers.… More