Uncategorized

California makes AT&T's list for limited and costly rural broadband

29 September 2017 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Taxes not included. Except in my bonus check.

AT&T says it’s official: they are launching slow, expensive wireless Internet service in rural California, and other undefined “underserved” areas, instead of upgrading ageing copper networks to modern levels. The technology is designed to support 10 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload speeds, although there are no guarantees.

The California Public Utilities Commission, on the other hand, decided to go in the opposition direction and unanimously endorsed the higher standard of 25 Mbps down/3 Mbps up yesterday.… More

CPUC changes tack, heads toward an emphatic yes, speed matters

28 September 2017 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

The latest draft of the California Public Utilities Commission’s broadband advice to the Federal Communications Commission specifically calls out speed as a key benchmark, and recommends that the standard for advanced telecoms capability remain 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload.

The first draft ducked the speed issue and focused on other metrics such as latency and dropped connections. Which are important, particularly for high end commercial and industrial applications. But speed matters and the comments that CPUC commissioners are scheduled to consider at their meeting later this morning put it at the top of the list…

The 25/3 speed tier, the FCC’s current benchmark for “Advanced Services,” represents a useful, reasonable, and forward-looking dividing point to define a “high-speed” broadband tier.

… More

Political heat rising over California broadband giveaway bill

27 September 2017 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

A so far successful attempt to funnel $300 million of taxpayer money to AT&T and Frontier Communications in exchange for substandard, monopoly broadband service is generating some unpleasant blowback for assemblyman Jim Wood (D – Healdsburg), one of its chief backers. Assembly bill 1665 was overwhelmingly approved by the California lawmakers in the closing hours of the legislative 2017 session.

It reinstates a tax on phone bills that would be earmarked for broadband infrastructure grants, made under new rules that 1.… More

Measure mobile performance, don't just assume says CPUC draft

26 September 2017 by Steve Blum
, , ,

The California Public Utilities Commission might not offer an opinion on how fast broadband service should be in order to support “advanced telecommunications capability”, but it is on track to say whether mobile and wireline service should be lumped together. According to draft comments that’ll be filed with the Federal Communications Commission if CPUC commissioners concur, the answer is a qualified no…

The CPUC should share its finding that mobile and residential broadband services are “generally not substitutes”, in order to assist the FCC in its consideration of this issue.

… More

Comcast ready to build a channel line-up of home automation platforms

25 September 2017 by Steve Blum
, ,

The home automation space is a fragmented mix of apps, platforms, gateways and products, not unlike the video content business. Comcast just purchased Stringify, a meta-platform that talks to dozens of other platforms, aggregates hundreds of products and services, and delivers them to a single smartphone app. Not unlike a cable company.

Stringify was my pick for most likely to disrupt the home automation business at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show. Funded by a $6.3 million seed funding round, led by ARTIS Ventures, it’s ripened to the point where it’s ready for harvest.… More

Rural networks cost three times more, but are feasible says Telefonica R&D chief

24 September 2017 by Steve Blum
, , ,

Higher costs, relative to the number of homes served, and lower income levels, compared to urban areas, is the fundamental business model problem that has to be solved in order to extend wireless broadband service into rural area. But it can be solved, even in some of the most extreme cases. David del Val, Telefonica’s head of research and development in Latin America, described the hurdles he’s encountered delivering Internet connectivity to remote regions, in a speech at last week’s inaugural Mobile World Congress Americas trade show in San Francisco.… More

FCC doesn't know enough about competition, or lack thereof, says GAO

23 September 2017 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

The Federal Communications Commission needs better information about broadband competition, according to a report by the federal government accountability office. Existing data shows that 51% of U.S. residents only have access to one provider that offers at least a minimum level of broadband service, which the GAO defines using the FCC’s own advanced services standard of 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speeds.

The agency collects a lot of data, including information about how many broadband providers serve a given market, but not key information about prices and service offerings, the GAO report said…

As indicated by FCC’s broadband data, competition does not exist in all areas.

… More

Electric utilities' fiber business gets harder look in California

22 September 2017 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Electric companies are often also in the telecommunications business. In California, the two biggest electric investor owned utilities – PG&E, in northern California, and Southern California Edison – both have extensive dark fiber networks that they lease out to telecoms companies. SCE became a certified telephone company and began actively marketing dark fiber nearly twenty years ago, while PG&E has moved more slowly. But their business models are converging and the California Public Utilities Commission is taking a harder look at how they might be regulated.… More

New York fines Charter $13 million for stalled upgrades

21 September 2017 by Steve Blum
, , ,

The New York State State Public Service Commission has slapped a $13 million fine on Charter Communications, as punishment for missing broadband expansion requirements attached to regulatory approval of its purchase of Time Warner Cable systems last year. According to a story by Kendra Chamberlain in FierceCable, Charter’s build out in New York fell far short…

The agreement included statewide speed upgrades reaching 100 Mbps by 2018 and 300 Mbps by 2019, and a timeline for building out its broadband network in chunks of over 36,000 new residents and businesses per year, to be completed by 2020.

… More

Peru flooding kicks Project Loon into the real world

20 September 2017 by Steve Blum
, ,

Project Loon demonstrated a real-world usage case earlier this year, when the worst flooding in decades hit Peru. The stratospheric balloon-based broadband system under development by Alphabet, Inc. – Google’s parent company – was deployed to backfill mobile networks that were damaged or overwhelmed by the disaster.

That’s according to Anne Bray, Project Loon’s business development director. She was speaking at the inaugural Mobile World Congress Americas trade show in San Francisco last week.

She said that Project Loon began working with Telefonica in Peru a year ago.… More