Broadband

Dish Network Says FCC Spectrum Plan “Significantly Flawed”

Claims Proposal Would Force Satellite Giant to Impair Lower Block of Spectrum
By: By Mike Farrell Nov 21 2012 - 10:34am
Claims Proposal Would Force Satellite Giant to Impair Lower Block of Spectrum

Dish Network blasted a proposed Federal Communications Commission ruling on its wireless spectrum licenses, claiming that proposed restrictions are “significantly flawed” and would hamper its ability to enter the wireless broadband business.

FCC Proposes Expanding Definition of 'Unserved' for Connect America, Phase I

Looks to Get More of its $300M Allocation in Field and Building out Broadband
By: John Eggerton Nov 20 2012 - 1:44pm
Looks to Get More of its $300M Allocation in Field and Building out Broadband
 
The FCC is proposing changing the rules on its first phase of the Connect America Fund to make it more attractive to the price cap telcos it wants to build out broadband to hard-to-serve, primarily rural, areas.

The commission, which is migrating phone subsidies in the Universal Service Fund from telecom to broadband, announced in July that $115 million would be invested by companies in 37 states. But that leaves most of the money -- $185 million -- in the first round of funding unallocated.

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FCC Seeks Comment on LightSquared Proposal

Company Would Agree not to Use 10 MHz adjacent to GPS Band
By: John Eggerton Nov 20 2012 - 12:14am
Company Would Agree not to Use 10 MHz adjacent to GPS Band
The FCC has asked for comment on LightSquared's most recent effort to secure FCC permission to launch a terrestrial wholesale 4G wireless broadband service using spectrum initially licensed for satellite.

AT&T to Pump Billions Into Networks

Telco's $14B ‘Project Velocity IP’ to Expand U-verse, Wireless
By: Todd Spangler Nov 12 2012 - 1:00am
Telco's $14B ‘Project Velocity IP’ to Expand U-verse, Wireless

AT&T is doubling down on its U-verse strategy and plans to pour billions into 4G broadband. But the telco still doesn’t have an appetite for a pricey fiber-to-the-home buildout.

As part of a three-year, $14 billion capital-investment plan, AT&T said it will widen its fiber-based U-verse network by more than one-third — or about 8.5 million additional customer locations, for a total potential of 33 million homes — by the end of 2015, while boosting downstream Internet speeds to up to 75 Megabits per second.

AT&T Will Expand FaceTime App to More Plans

Critics: Only Timely Rollout to All Will Prevent Their Net Neutrality Complaint
Critics: Only Timely Rollout to All Will Prevent Their Net Neutrality Complaint

AT&T said Thursday it has decided to make Apple's FaceTime application available on all its service tiers with LTE devices, but public activist groups who had threatened to file a network neutrality complaint unless it opened the app is not yet ready to strike its flags.

AT&T Applauded for Broadband Investment Commitment

FCC, NTIA Chiefs Point to Major Broadband Investments by Industry
By: John Eggerton Nov 7 2012 - 3:22pm
FCC, NTIA Chiefs Point to Major Broadband Investments by Industry

Washington reaction was swift and positive to AT&T's commitment to invest $14 billion in building out its wired and wireless broadband networks, including expanding its U-Verse video service, which was announced Wednesday at an analyst conference in New York.

AT&T to Expand U-verse to 33 Million Homes

Rollout Part of Telco’s $14 Billion Additional Capex Over Next Three Years
By: Todd Spangler Nov 7 2012 - 2:22pm
Rollout Part of Telco’s $14 Billion Additional Capex Over Next Three Years

As part of a three-year, $14 billion capital investment plan, AT&T said it will widen its fiber-based U-verse network by more than one-third -- or about 8.5 million additional customer locations, for a total potential of 33 million homes -- by the end of 2015, while boosting downstream Internet speeds to up to 75 Mbps.

The telco outlined the plan, dubbed Project Velocity IP (VIP), Wednesday at its annual investor day in New York. Project VIP includes efforts to expand and enhance both its wireless and wireline IP broadband networks.

Internet Usage Shoots Up 122% Over Past Year: Study

Netflix Still Represents Dominant 33% Share of Peak Downstream Bandwidth, According to Sandvine
By: Todd Spangler Nov 7 2012 - 8:01am
Netflix Still Represents Dominant 33% Share of Peak Downstream Bandwidth, According to Sandvine

Fueled by Netflix and other real-time streaming media, North American Internet users more than doubled the amount of monthly data they consume over wireline networks in the last year -- to the equivalent of 81 hours of video per month, according to a new report.

Mean monthly data usage of fixed-line broadband subscribers in the region increased by 122% from the second half of 2011 to the same period this year, from 23 Gigabytes to 51 GB, according to a report by bandwidth-management equipment vendor Sandvine.

Verizon: Sandy Could Have 'Significant' Effect on Q4

Telco Says It Cannot Yet Estimate Cost of Storm Recovery
By: Todd Spangler Nov 2 2012 - 10:15am
Telco Says It Cannot Yet Estimate Cost of Storm Recovery

Verizon Communications said dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy could have a “significant” effect on fourth-quarter 2012 operating results, but that it could not yet estimate the cost.

Thousands of the telco’s employees are still working to restore service for wireline and wireless networks, with the storm directly affecting a large portion of Verizon’s Northeast footprint, including New York City and New Jersey. (Photo above: Verizon pumps out a flooded central office facility in Lower Manhattan.)

Cablevision: Half Of Our Customers Have No Power

Power Loss Is by Far Biggest Cause of Outages, MSO Says
By: MCN Staff Nov 1 2012 - 7:20pm
Power Loss Is by Far Biggest Cause of Outages, MSO Says

Cablevision Systems and Time Warner Cable were the MSOs most affected by deadly superstorm Sandy – Cablevision has about 3 million customers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, while Time Warner Cable has more than 1 million customers in the Greater New York City area.

According to both companies, most of the repair efforts have centered on restoring lost power, with little damage to their respective cable plants.

But that could mean long stretches without service for some customers in the affected areas.

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