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...
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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...
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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...
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Several changes in the Rural Utilities Service’s Community Connect broadband grant program announced Friday aim to facilitate the process of bringing broadband to rural communities that cannot get broadband service today. The Community Connect program pays some of the costs of deploying broadband in areas...
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The man who was charged with crafting a plan to bring broadband to all Americans isn’t happy about the way that plan is being implemented. Currently with the Aspen Institute, Blair Levin headed up the team at the FCC that three years ago created the...
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service this week announced it has awarded loans totaling $26 million to two rural telecom companies. In the announcement, the USDA also took the opportunity to note that it “remains focused on carrying out its mission, despite a...
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INDIANAPOLIS, IN – April 30, 2013 – Broadband Networks has announced Broadband Networks Wireless Internet as the new brand name for the company formerly known as Omnicity, Incorporated. Broadband Networks purchased the Rushville-based, wireless broadband Internet service provider in December 2012. Broadband Networks Wireless Internet...
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CenturyLink, Frontier and Windstream made another attempt Friday to persuade the FCC to release Phase 1 Connect America Funds for broadband construction projects in rural areas that currently do not have broadband service. The carriers are now offering to match whatever funding the commission releases...
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The rural telecom industry seems to have caught the attention of legislators. Yesterday two members of the House of Representatives announced the formation of a bipartisan working group of the Energy and Commerce Committee that will work to “promote rural telecommunication issues within the Committee.”...
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PURCHASE, NY – April 4, 2013 — BCI Broadband (BCI) has executed a definitive agreement to acquire all of the assets of James Cable in a transaction expected to close in mid-2013. BCI today completed the acquisition of the Allegiance cable systems located across the...
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Two rural telecom industry groups are asking Congress to pass legislation that would impose a 180-day time-out on the implementation of reforms to the Universal Service program. “It is more important than ever for members of Congress to ensure that specific reforms of the USF...
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Small and medium-sized telecompetitors in North America upgrading to all-fiber broadband networks are saving an average 20% annually on regional operating costs, according to a new study commissioned by the FTTH Council Americas. Surveying more than 350 North American telecoms providers, market analysts at RVA...
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