Industry Unlikely to Support Latest 600 MHz Band Plan Proposal
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The FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau is seeking further input on the band plan for spectrum to be freed up through the planned voluntary incentive auction of TV broadcast spectrum. That auction will give TV broadcasters the option of relinquishing spectrum in the 600 MHz UHF band in exchange for an opportunity to share in the...Learn More
Canby Telcom to Launch Broadband TV Featuring Roku Channel
Independent broadband provider Canby Telcom, based in Canby, Oregon, is set to launch a channel on the Roku OTT set-top-box, which features a package of live local broadcast channels and video-on-demand from its own local content channel CTV5. The move illustrates the emerging trend of broadband TV, where broadband carriers look to leverage the convergence...Learn More
ACSI: ISPs Rate Poorly on Customer Satisfaction
U.S. consumers are less satisfied with their Internet service providers than they are with any of the other 43 of 44 industries studied in the American Customer Satisfaction Index. ACSI measures customer satisfaction on a scale of 1 to 100 – and in the latest ACSI data released today, the average score for ISPs was...Learn More
Regulators Eliminate Incumbent Carrier Requirements
Incumbent local exchange carriers will have to comply with fewer regulations as the result of an order adopted by the FCC last week. The commission also issued two notices of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that could lead to a further reduction in incumbent telco regulatory requirements. In large part, the moves were made in response to...Learn More
FCC Report Recommends Reducing Small Telco Rate of Return
A report issued by the Federal Communications Commission last week recommends a substantial reduction in the rate of return that the nation’s smallest telephone companies earn through the inter-carrier compensation (ICC) system. Since 1990 that rate has been 11.25% but if the recommendations made by the FCC Wireline Competition Bureau are adopted that rate could...Learn More
Report: Gateways Seen as Crucial for Broadband ARPU Growth
Broadband service operators globally are increasingly making use of residential gateways to provide wireless delivery of multiscreen (mobile phones, PCs and tablets) video to viewers in the home. The percentage of operators offering such services through residential gateways will grow fast, reaching 50% by 2014 from just 6% today, according to new research from Infonetics....Learn More
4G Americas: North America Now Has 57 million 4G LTE Subscribers
Worldwide LTE connections will surpass the 100-million milestone this week, with the U.S. and Canada accounting for 57 million of the global total, according to data from Informa Telecoms & Media. There are 172 operators in 70 countries with LTE networks up and running, according to the regional industry association and the Bellevue, Washington-based market...Learn More
Former FCC Chairman and GTCR Fund See Strong Rural Cable Future
Former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt hopes this week’s acquisition of tier 2 cable company NewWave Communications by investment firm GTCR will be “the first of many.” Telecompetitor spoke this week with Hundt, who headed up the FCC during the Clinton administration and is now an advisor to GTCR. “We believe cable is the universal American...Learn More
FCC Cracks Door Open on Naked DSL, Standalone Broadband
There has been some tension in the marketplace regarding broadband and voice service, particularly in rural markets. It stems from growing consumer demand for standalone broadband – that is subscribing to broadband without the requirement for an accompanying voice line (sometimes referred to as naked DSL). Regulated rate-of-return rural carriers are challenged with this marketplace...Learn More
CEO: Hosted Services Differentiate Windstream Business Offerings
Windstream has been gradually transforming itself from a local phone company serving tier 2 and tier 3 markets to a nationwide carrier focused on business services. And according to Windstream CEO Jeff Gardner, the company’s optimal strategy in that market is to focus on customers that spend in the range of $5,000 to $10,000 on...Learn More
NTIA: 18% of Rural Communities Lack 3 Mbps Broadband
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration has done a highly detailed analysis of broadband deployment in the U.S. -– looking at broadband availability by speed, by technology, by state, by county, and by various combinations of these factors. The upshot, the NTIA said, is that although the U.S. continues to make progress on broadband deployment...Learn More
Report: Small Cells with Wi-Fi Will Reshape the Wireless Industry
Incorporation of Wi-Fi functionality into small-cell base stations “will be a game changer for cellphone service providers,” affording them the means to offload traffic from heavily congested channels while “linking together billions of devices into a single network architecture,” according to a new report from IHS. IHS expects large-scale deployment of small cell Wi-Fi base...Learn More